Sainsbury's will become the first supermarket retailer in the United Kingdom whose stores will be lit entirely by LED lighting.
The retailer is partnering with GE's Current division in an extensive lighting upgrade. Current will upgrade 250,000 LED fixtures across more than 450 Sainsbury's stores, cutting the chain's lighting energy consumption by 58% and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 3.4% annually.
Bed, Bath & Beyond, which missed sales and earnings expectations for its first quarter, is focusing online for growth.
Citing strong digital growth, CEO Steven Temares said on the chain's quarterly earnings call that he expects store closings to increase as leases expire and as the way customers shop continue to evolve.
The nation's retailers lost a staggering amount of money in 2016 due to shoplifting, organized crime, internal theft and other types of inventory shrink.
Inventory shrink totaled $48.9 billion in 2016, up from $45.2 billion the year before, as budget constraints left retail security budgets flat or declining, according to the annual National Retail Security Survey by the National Retail Federation and the University of Florida. The thefts amounted to 1.44% of sales, up from 1.38%.
Lowe’s Foods is taking steps to increase efficiency across its workforce.
The grocer is adopting enterprise labor planning and workforce management solutions from Logile across the chain’s nearly 100 stores operating in the Carolinas and Virginia. The solutions will help the grocer generate more accurate sales and labor forecasts, and improve scheduling at the task level across all store departments.
The Kroger Co. lowered its earnings guidance amid a decline in Q1 same-store sales as price competition in the supermarket industry intensifies.
Sales rose 4.9% to a better-than-expected $36.3 billion for the quarter ended May 20, up from $34.6 billion last year. Same-store sales excluding fuel declined 0.2%, the second consecutive quarter of decline.
The chain, which is known for its signature soups, sandwiches and salads, is slated to report digital sales well above $1 billion on an annualized basis. The chain is on track to be twice as high in two years, according to CNBC.
J. Crew's troubles showed no sign of easing in the first quarter as the retailer posted its 11th consecutive quarter of same-store sales declines.
Total sales fell 6.3% to $532 million in the quarter, ended April 29. Total same-store sales fell 9%.
By brand, J. Crew sales decreased 11% to $428.5 million; same-store sales fell 12%. Madewell sales increased 17% to $84.7 million; same-store sales increased 10%.
Eager to strengthen operations across its enterprise, Supervalu is moving to the cloud.
Through a strategic relationship with Sungard Availability Services (Sungard AS), the grocery company is replacing its mainframe technology infrastructure with a new mainframe platform that will offer cloud, back-up, and other solutions and services. The new configuration is designed to improve operations across the independent retailers it supports.
Lowe's is making another round of job cuts.
The home improvement chain is laying off some 125 information technology workers and many of the jobs to India, The Charlotte Observer reported. Lowe’s currently employs approximately 1,000 people in information and technology and analytics in Bangalore, India.
