OPERATIONS / SUPPLY CHAIN

Mountain View, Calif. - A report released Tuesday by Intuit Inc. found that small business employment continued to show growth in November, although wages were down and hours worked remained flat.

According to Intuit’s Small Business Employment Index, small business employment grew by 0.24% in November, equating to an annual rate of about 3%. This translates to approximately 49,000 new jobs created nationwide. The Index is based on figures from the country’s smallest businesses that use Intuit Online Payroll.

Washington - Amazon.com, Nordstrom and J.C. Penney are just a few of the retailers that made the grade on the list of the top 10 retailers for customer service as selected by shoppers in the sixth annual NRF Foundation/American Express Customers’ Choice survey.

The survey, which asked 9,291 shoppers which retailer provides the best customer service, was conducted by BIGresearch. In alphabetical order, the top 10 retailers for customer service are:

• Amazon.com

• J.C. Penney

Cincinnati -- The Kroger Co. announced that senior VP Robert "Pete" Williams plans to retire in May after 37 years with the company.

Williams, who began his Kroger career in 1977 as a management trainee, has served in his current role since 2007. Currently, he leads seven supermarket divisions. His replacement will be named.

Santa Clara, Calif. -- A study of some of the country’s largest retailers’ return policies has found significant failings, according to CrossView, a premier provider of cross-channel commerce solutions.
 

San Francisco -- SolutionSet, the fourth largest independent digital, data, direct and local marketing services company nationwide, announced it has been selected by Performance Bicycle to be its direct and digital marketing partner. SolutionSet will provide Performance Bicycle with database management and catalog marketing services.

Brentwood, Texas -- Tractor Supply Co., announced plans to open a regional distribution center in Franklin, Ky.

The new 840,000-sq.-ft. distribution center, expected to be in operation by the end of 2011, will serve stores in the mid-eastern United States.

 

Milford, Conn. -- Don Fertman, chief development officer for the Subway sandwich chain, is the latest executive to go undercover on the CBS television series “Undercover Boss.” Fertman, a 29 year veteran of the restaurant chain, will be seen baking bread, stocking sandwich ingredients, slicing vegetables, taking inventories and serving customers, on the episode that airs Nov. 21, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.

Hicksville, L.I. -- National Business Solutions (NBS) recently introduced its Product Protection System (PPS), a loss-prevention shelving solution that can be customized to fit any product application and planogram.

The new shelving unit helps thwart professional thieves and shoplifting groups by preventing the sweeping of product at store level, thereby eliminating the potential for a thief to dump an entire shelf of merchandise into a bag at once.