Data & Analytics

For the second consecutive year, PepsiCo has named Sunsweet Growers as Hot Fill Co-packer of the Year for exhibiting superior achievements in quality and overall effectiveness across PepsiCo's beverage supply chain.

This marks the fourth time Sunsweet is recognized as Co-Packer of the Year. The three previous awards were for the Yuba City, California, facility in 2007 and 2012 and the Fleetwood, Pennsylvania, facility in 2008.

Austin, Texas - Retailers have barely reached the halfway mark in their journey to omnichannel maturity. According to the results of a new report from Starmount and Retail Systems Research (RSR) that asked retailers to rate themselves on six dimensions of omnichannel maturity, the lowest overall rankings (an average score of 2.7 on a six-point scale) were in omnichannel order and fulfillment capabilities.

In addition, 67% of retailers were “inefficient” or worse at integrating in-store and digital experiences. Other findings include:

Philadelphia – U.K. specialty maternity retailer Mothercare Plc has rejected two non-binding written merger proposals from Destination Maternity Corp. In a press release, Destination Maternity said its second proposal, delivered June 1 2014, would combine the two companies under a new U.K. holding company which would be listed in the U.S., for a total payment of $453 million to Mothercare shareholders.

New York -- Shrinkage levels average 1.27% of sales, which translates to a $57 billion loss to the industry, according to the U.S. Retail Fraud Survey, which is based on research into the systems and strategies used by 100 leading North American retailers.

Walmart is sponsoring the translation of an industry leading food fraud prevention course into Mandarin as part of a larger effort designed to position  the retailer as a leader in product quality, authenticity and safety.

Former Amazon operations executive Jeff Helms has joined crowdsourced same-day delivery start-up Deliv as head of delivery operations.

Helms spent three years at Amazon in operations management and productivity improvement roles. Prior to Amazon, he spent four years as a professor of military science at Arkansas State University. The West Point graduate also served in the military.

Salt Lake City – Overstock.com now offers free Club O loyalty program memberships to active police officers, full-time firefighters, paramedics and certified emergency medical technicians. Those who qualify for the program can enroll by visiting the first-responders sign-up section on Overstock.

First responders can have their identity verified through the ID.me digital authentication service and relayed to Overstock to receive their free Club O membership. Once individuals sign up, they enter a user name and password to receive benefits.

Minneapolis – The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is reportedly investigating whether Target Corp. adequately protected its data and informed shareholders about the possible consequences relating to its fall 2013 data breach, according to Bloomberg. The report said that Target is one of several public companies that suffered a data breach which is being investigated by the SEC.