News

The Federal Trade Commission has granted Kroger and Harris Teeter Supermarkets early termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 with respect to the pending merger transaction between the two companies.
 
The early termination of the HSR waiting period satisfies one of the conditions to the closing of the pending merger, which remains subject to other customary closing conditions. Both companies expect the transaction to be completed before the end of January.

Jelly Belly Candy Company is set to launch a new flavor to its collection: the Draft Beer Jelly Belly jelly bean. Jelly Belly will debut the new flavor at the Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco and ISM in Cologne, Germany.

The beer flavor has been a popular request by consumers for decades, according to the company.

"This took about three years to perfect," Ambrose Lee, research and development manager for Jelly Belly Candy Company, said. "The recipe includes top secret ingredients, but I can tell you it contains no alcohol."

Former Ulta Beauty CEO Lyn Kirby is reportedly part of a group that acquired Beauty Brands, a cosmetics chain based in Kansas City, Mo.

According to a Crain’s Chicago Business article, Kirby, along with a leveraged buyout firm in California, snapped up the majority stake from advertising executive and entrepreneur Robert Bernstein.

Now that we know the two teams that are heading to Super Bowl XLVIII Sunday, Feb. 2, Gillette is offering a chance for football fans to score last-minute tickets to the big game via Twitter.

Linebacker Clay Matthews will announce one winner each day via his personal Twitter handle, @ClayMatthews52 between now and Jan. 24.

Stater Bros. Markets, has promoted John Ciraulo to the position of VP of the meat division. He replaces Kevin Schubert, who will retire in March after 39 years of service.  

Ciraulo has been at Stater Bros. for 28 years and has progressed through a range of both retail and marketing positions. In his new position, he will oversee the marketing and retail operations of the company's meat and seafood divisions.

Ciraulo will report to EVP of marketing Dennis McIntyre.

The back and forth between Jos. A. Banks and Men’s Wearhouse continues. This time the shoe is on Jos. A. Banks’ foot, as the company’s board of directors officially rejected an unsolicited buyout offer from the Men’s Wearhouse.

Jos. A. Bank called the offer, which expires March 28, 2014, and is worth $57.50 per share, or about $1.6 billion, “inadequate and opportunistic.”

Seattle -- Starbucks Coffee Co. announced that it has rolled out an updated version of its mobile app for iOS which provides “added layers” of protection. The company said it encourage customers to download the update as an additional safeguard measure.

The news comes after reports surfaced that the chain’s mobile app was not secure and leaves users vulnerable. In a letter posted on Starbucks’ website, company CIO Curt Garne  noted the app update was being done out of caution.

New York – ShopKeep POS is introducing ShopKeep Mobile, a handheld point of sale device that will use Griffin Olli hardware with the ShopKeep POS app. Designed for the iPod touch, ShopKeep Mobile features an encrypted credit card swiper and high-speed laser barcode scanner to ring up sales right from the showroom floor.

By Greg Arnette, CTO, Sonian

In the age of digital transactions, modern retailers have more data at their fingertips than ever before, right in their point-of-sale (POS) systems. In many cases, however, businesses are using POS data solely to process sales and update inventory levels. Instead, businesses could be leveraging the purchase data to learn much more about their customers and make actionable decisions that drive bottom-line results.

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