News

After 37 years with Kroger, Robert Williams is stepping down from his role as SVP of operations in May.

Williams has served in his current role since 2007 and oversees seven of Kroger’s supermarket divisions. His successor was not immediately named.

The backyard chicken movement is a consumer trend that likely went undetected by the insights teams at most retailers, but not Tractor Supply.

The nation’s leading farm and ranch store has developed an innovative promotion called “Chick Days,” and is touting the benefits of raising backyard poultry with the promotional piece, “Raise Your Roost.” A dedicate landing page at TractorSupply.com also features a wide range of chicken products to help customers raise a healthy flock.

Consumer goods manufacturer SC Johnson continues to make progress on an ambitious waste reduction goal by securing “zero landfill” status at its eighth global manufacturing facility.

The company has set a target of reducing its global manufacturing waste by 70% by 2016. From 2000 to 2012 the company reduced its waste by 62% as a ratio to production.

Mia Goldwyn was named chief content officer at StyleHaul, a company that describes itself as the leading multi-platform marketing solution for fashion and beauty brands with scale.

Goldwyn joins StyleHaul, a platform with 138 million YouTube subscribers with 53 million unique monthly visitors, from Paramount Pictures. She spent 13 years with the studio and most recently served as vp of business development, digital and insurge. In her new role she will report to StyleHaul president and CEO Stephanie Horbaczewski.

To survive the long, bumpy ride through the recent recession, many retail logistics executives focused on cost reduction. This necessary objective drove important changes in supply chain strategy, from network right-sizing to innovative warehouse automation and energy-efficiency tactics. A “lean and mean” supply chain model arose, and quickly became vital to survival.

At the recent Oracle Industry Connect Conference held in Boston, a number of speakers from prominent retailers including Kohl’s, Hot Topic, and C. Wonder extolled the virtues of “vanilla” implementations of enterprise systems. In this context, vanilla means implementing an enterprise platform with all or many of that vendor’s applications, minimizing customization or use of one-off “best of breed” solutions.

Austin, Texas -- Whole Food Market will purchase four stores from New Frontiers Natural Marketplace. The stores, which average 22,000 sq. ft., are located in Flagstaff, Prescott and Sedona, Ariz.; and San Luis Obispo, Calif. The two companies expect the transaction to be finalized in the next few weeks.

The stores will continue to operate under the New Frontiers Natural Marketplace banner until they are re-signed as Whole Foods Market stores.

By Pat Dermody, president, Retale

This is not a lecture about embracing digital. Chances are you have already heard that, read that, maybe even repeated it to yourself. If not, you had better hurry up.

Houston -- The Men's Wearhouse, Inc. has engaged the advisory firm, AlixPartners, to support its integration of Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc. Jos. A. Bank's store banner will remain in place and management will consist of executives from both companies.

New York -- Just one-quarter (25%) of consumers consider loyalty programs important when choosing a restaurant. According to a new study from Deloitte, 50% of survey respondents said they belong to at least one restaurant program, a much lower rate compared with those of other sectors, such as airlines (78%) and hotels (70%).