Business Intelligence (BI)

BUCKEYE, Ariz. — Walmart boosted its sustainable reputation Thursday with the announcement of a new solar initiative at its distribution center near Phoenix.

The retailer will outfit the DC with more than 14,000 solar panels -- making it Walmart's largest solar installation to date. The panels will cover the 1,000 sq. ft. building and parking canopies. The panels will produce up to 30% of the center's energy needs and generate up to 5.3 million kilowatt hours of renewable energy per year, according to Walmart.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Thursday it has launched an expansion of its solar initiative in Arizona at its Buckeye distribution center near Phoenix.

According to the retailer, the distribution center will feature Walmart's largest solar installation to date with over 14,000 solar panels on a 1 million-sq.-ft. building and parking canopies that will produce up to 30% of the DC’s energy needs.

The solar panels will generate up to 5.3 million kilowatt hours of renewable energy per year.

OMAHA, Neb. — ConAgra Foods has been named to two leading sustainability indices. For the second straight year the company has earned a spot on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, and for the first time, the company has been added to the Carbon Disclosure Project’s (CDP’s) 2012 Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index.

By David Zahn, [email protected]

Denver -- Junction Solutions announced that Renys, which operates 16 discount stores in Maine, has selected Junction Solutions to implement Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 and help launch its multichannel retail strategy, while automating manual processes and improving visibility and collaboration throughout its store locations.

PURCHASE, N.Y. — MasterCard  has acquired Truaxis, Inc., a Silicon Valley, California-based provider of relevant credit and debit card-linked offers to consumers through merchants and financial institutions.

CINCINNATI — Kroger attributed its gains in sales and earnings in the second quarter to cost control and increased customer loyalty and was confident enough to raise its earnings guidance.

The retailer reported net earnings of $279.1 million, or 51 cents per diluted share, compared with net earnings of $280.8 million, or 46 cents per diluted share, for the same period last year.

By Kent Smith, [email protected]

Virtually all grocery stores, especially large chain grocery operators, are dealing with the same dilemma when it comes to clustering customers by linking point-of-sale data with loyalty card program information.

And, based on the two very different types of data generated by POS and loyalty cards, it’s obvious to see why grocers are in a quandary on how to approach the issue.