OPERATIONS / SUPPLY CHAIN

Pleasanton, Calif. -- Safeway Inc. said Tuesday that Steve Frisby, president of its Portland division, will assume added responsibility for the company's Seattle division.

Frisby replaces Greg Sparks, who is leaving to pursue another business opportunity.

Atlanta -- Wren Solutions said Tuesday it has launched a retail audit software offering Encapsulon Assessment, as well as a new customer relationship with Big Y, a supermarket chain operating 61 stores in Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Encapsulon Assessment enables loss prevention and store operations professionals to streamline and simplify the process of designing, conducting, and following up on audits.

Dallas -- Zale Corp. said Tuesday that it has named Jamie Singleton as senior VP and general manager of Piercing Pagoda, effective March 27.

Singleton is charged with overall responsibility for the company’s kiosk business and will report to Theo Killion, CEO.

Singleton most recently served as senior VP business expansion at CPI Corp.

New York City -- The Conference Board reported Monday that its Employment Trends Index increased 1.38% in February to 107.46, from the revised figure of 105.99 in January.

The February figure is also up 6.1% from the same month a year ago.

Purchase, N.Y. -- Less than two months after resigning as president and CEO of Sam’s Club, Brian Cornell has landed at Purchase, N.Y.-based PepsiCo where he will serve as CEO of the company’s North American food division.

Cornell will be responsible for Frito-Lay North America, Quaker Foods & Snacks North America, PepsiCo Mexico, South America Foods, PepsiCo customer teams and all of PepsiCo’s Power of One activities within the Americas.

Boston -- New research released by Brodeur Partners uncovered that Baby Boomers and Generation Y’ers think differently about the shopping experience.

According to The Brodeur Partners’ Retail Relevance Study, Boomers see the ideal shopping experience as getting a good deal on a decent product. For Gen Y, it’s more about a stimulating, sensual, “sharable” experience.

Los Angeles -- A survey released Monday by PriceGrabber said that 77% of consumers who own a tablet computer use either a tablet or a smartphone to shop.

The survey includes responses from 1,829 U.S. online shopping consumers, 22% of whom indicated that they own a tablet computer.

When consumers who use their mobile devices for shopping were asked how often they make purchases from their mobile devices, 40% said a couple times a month, 23% said once a week, 20% said a few times a year, and 10% said daily.

Columbia, Md. -- Micros Systems said Monday that Friendly’s Ice Cream has expanded its partnership with Micros through the addition to its technology solution set of online ordering and a guest loyalty program.

To support its initiative of adding to its customer base and retaining current customers, Friendly's has elected to deploy Micros webOrdering and Micros iCare Customer Relationship Management solutions.