News

Supermarket chains among nation’s most trusted companies
Publix, Chick-fil-A, Amazon.com, H-E-B, and BJ's Wholesale Club are the nation’s most trusted retailers, according to an annual survey by the Temkin Group.

The “2016 Temkin Trust Ratings,” based on a study of 10,000 U.S consumers, benchmarks the level of trust that consumers have with 294 companies across 20 industries.
Study: And the top shopping site for teens is…
Amazon comes out on top — way on top — as the top shopping web site for teens.

That’s according to Piper Jaffray Companies’ 31st semi-annual “Taking Stock With Teens” research survey, which highlights spending trends and brand preferences amongst 6,500 U.S. teens across 46 U.S. states.

Accenture names former Oracle exec as head of retail

Jill Standish
Jill Standish has joined Accenture Consulting and been named senior managing director, retail. As the head of Accenture’s retail practice, Standish will focus on the business strategy and ongoing development and execution of retail industry strategy for clients. She will also manage the company’s retail industry client portfolio.
Study: Retail fraud up sharply

Both the volume of and monetary losses caused by fraudulent transactions have sharply increased in the past year.

According to the “2016 True Cost of Fraud Report” from LexisNexis Risk Solutions, the monthly average of fraudulent transactions has increased 32% to 206 from 156 in 2015. In addition, the monthly average of prevented fraudulent transactions has risen 33% to 236 from 177.
Starbucks’ Howard Schultz makes guest appearance — at Target HQ

Starbucks founder and CEO Howard Schultz recently touched down at Target Corp. headquarters in Minneapolis as part of Target’s series of “innovation speakers.” “With Starbucks, I dreamed of building a national brand and different kind of company, achieving balance between profit and conscience, bringing people along on the journey, and impacting the communities we serve,” Schultz said. “The kind of company my parents never got the chance to work for.
Old Navy taps Gap’s supply chief as president

Gap Inc. has named a longtime member of its executive team to head up its Old Navy brand.

The retailer appointed Sonia Syngal as global president of Old Navy, effective immediately, as it looks to reenergize its value-driven brand. She succeeds Stefan Larsson, who left last year to become CEO of Ralph Lauren Corp.

Syngal, a 12-year Gap veteran, most recently served as executive VP of global supply chain and product operations for Gap Inc.
Report: Walmart expands curbside grocery pickup

Customers in more cities will have an easier time shopping for the groceries at Walmart.
Publix names 3 new board members

Publix Super Markets added its soon-to-be CEO, current CFO and a retired Deloitte executive to its board of directors when the Southeast’s leading food retailer held its annual stockholders meeting on April 12. Publix president Todd Jones, CFO David Phillips and retired Deloitte executive Jessica Blume were elected to the board of the $32.4 billion retailer.
Facebook wants to support your customer engagement

Retailers have long been interacting with customers via Facebook, but the social network is making a big push to become a full-fledged CRM platform.

Among the announcements Facebook made at its F8 developers conference this week was a beta release of its Messenger chat platform with bots and a new Send/Receive application programming interface (API).
Top executives join A&M retail roster

Senior executives from Tuesday Morning, Bridgestone and PetSmart are among those headlining a retail conference organized by the Center for Retailing Studies at Texas A&M University’s Mays Business School.
Cheap gas doesn’t fuel sales in March

Even with fuel prices continuing to be low across the nation, U.S. retail sales were stagnant in March 2016.

According to advance data from the U.S. Department of Commerce, total seasonally adjusted retail and food services sales in the U.S. fell 0.3% to $446.9 billion compared to $448.2 billion in February 2016.

This continued shaky performance in 2016 that has included flat sales in February and a decline in January.
Publix names three new board members

Publix Super Markets added its soon-to-be CEO, current CFO and a retired Deloitte executive to its board of directors when the Southeast’s leading food retailer held its annual stockholders meeting on April 12.

Publix president Todd Jones, CFO David Phillips and retired Deloitte executive Jessica Blume were elected to the board of the $32.4 billion retailer.