OPERATIONS / SUPPLY CHAIN

Job cuts come to Dollar General's headquarters
Dollar General is rightsizing its expense structure by eliminating several hundred positions at its home office.
Sears ‘hears’ need for better picking with Honeywell voice-directed solution
No matter how good a retailer’s seamless experience is, without the correct product it falls apart.

Sears Holding Corp. is trying to ensure the right products are picked for the right customers with new Honeywell Vocollect voice-directed picking solutions. The retailer is working with Speech Interface Design (SID) to implement the solutions in two of its regional specialty distribution centers (RSCs) and its largest retail distribution center (RDC) in the coming months.

Starbucks CIO makes quick-service landing

Curt Garner, who first announced he would leave his current role as CIO of Starbucks Corp. in June, has revealed his next professional stop.

Garner will join Chipotle Mexican Grill as CIO effective Nov. 23, and become the company’s first executive with that title. Chipotle appears to want to duplicate some of the IT-related success Starbucks has had in areas such as store operations and customer experience.
Q&A with HRC Advisory CEO Antony Karabus: Many retailers underestimate importance of remodels

HRC Advisory’s annual CEO and CFO survey revealed a major disconnect between capital investments, retail growth and operating strategies.

Chain Store Age spoke with HRC Advisory CEO Antony Karabus about the survey.

What did you find most surprising about the survey results?
Report: Kroger offers full benefits to transgender employees

Kroger has announced that it had added transgender health benefits to one of the company’s health insurance plans, according to Forbes. "Beginning January 1, 2016, medical procedures including surgery and drug therapy for gender reassignment will be covered up to a $100,000 lifetime maximum for eligible associates and their dependents,” the company wrote on their employee social network. (Forbes)
Wakefern puts three execs in new roles

From left: Paul Gotthelf, Bob Rohlander and Roger Savoia

Wakefern Food Corp. announced Monday that it had promoted three of its executives to new leadership roles.
Kohl's adds more same-day markets

Kohl’s is speeding up its digital overhaul and expanding a new service that aims to attract shoppers who want their purchases to arrive as quickly as possible.

The company announced it will expand its partnership with Deliv to offer shoppers same-day delivery service. Deliv currently powers Kohl's same-day service in San Francisco, the San Francisco Bay Area and Chicago. The service will now expand to Boston, Brooklyn/Queens, Los Angeles, Miami, Northern New Jersey, and Philadelphia in the coming weeks.
Study: Millennials don’t want plastic

Physical credit cards may be going the way of DVDs and floppy disks.

According to new analysis from Bankrate.com cited by PayPal, 63% of millennials do not have a credit card. However, that does not mean they are abandoning credit-based purchases.

Millennials are now the fastest growing segment of PayPal Credit shoppers, rising to 33% of the total in 2015 up from 28% in 2013. Rather than shunning credit altogether, this influential group is turning to alternative credit services to help manage their finances.
Sears Holdings makes big moves on home front

Sears holdings has made a key acquisition to bolster its connected home effort and named a new executive to lead its home service division.

The retailer said it hired former Best Buy executive Sean Skelley as president of its Home Services division. Skelley spent 20 years at Best Buy but most recently served as senior VP of service solutions for Asurion, global provider of device protection and support services for smartphones, tablets, consumer electronics and appliances.
A new ‘fresh’ era begins at Publix

An executive who played a key role in helping Publix deliver on its “where shopping is a pleasure” brand promise has stepped down after nearly half a century with one of the nation’s best supermarket operators.

David Bridges, VP of fresh product business development at Publix will retire effective Jan. 1, 2016 and his role will be filled by Chris Litz who currently serves as a regional director of Publix Atlanta Division.