OPERATIONS / SUPPLY CHAIN

Boston -- Although Target has narrowed Walmart’s basket advantage, the world’s largest retailer continues to demonstrate its price advantage, according to Kantar Retail’s semi-annual pricing study.

With an overall branded basket 2.4% less expensive than Target’s, Walmart’s overall price gap has still remained within a few percentage points of Target’s, although its lead has narrowed since the last iteration of the study. Importantly, Target’s edible basket was within cents of Walmart’s.

Woodland Hills, Calif. – Build-A-Bear Workshop is partnering with 505 Games to release an app for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch called “Bear Valley.” The app, available for $4.99 at the Apple App Store or on iTunes, lets customers create a virtual teddy bear and take it through various online experiences.

Bear Valley game features include shopping, buying and decorating a condo, performing in an outdoor theater, playing with toys, participating in scavenger hunts and playing on a playground. The game was developed by WayForward.

Houston -- U.S. Hispanics are more likely to purchase grocery foods, dairy, and bread from convenience stores (c-stores) than non-Hispanics, reports the NPD Group, leading global information company. Spanish-dominant Hispanics are more likely to make grocery item purchases at c-stores than other Hispanics, according to the NPD report entitled The C-Store Hispanic Shopper, which examines the typical convenience store shopping behavior of Hispanics by level of acculturation and how it compares to non-Hispanics.
 

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Tel Aviv, Israel – Preen.Me, a social platform for beauty consumers that offers access to personalized product recommendations, peer-to-peer recommendations, product reviews and how-to tutorials, is launching a database for select beauty brand partners.

The database will provide brands with aggregated consumer information such as actual product usage, and price sensitivity. Brand partners will also have direct access to Preen.Me users.

New York – Gilt.com is launching the Gilt Insider Program, a new free rewards program offering Gilt members the opportunity to earn points for free by interacting with the site. Activities such as making purchases, referring friends and visiting online sales earn members points they can redeem for benefits such as access to early sales, exclusive discounts, free shipping and invites to special events.

Irvine, Calif. – Showrooming is not just something afflicting large retail chains. Eighty percent of small retailers also report being affected by showrooming, with 47% indicating a moderate impact, according to new data from small business software provider Sage North America.

In addition, Sage data finds that $68 of every $100 spent at a local retailer stays in the community where it is spent, compared to only $32 out of every $100 spent at a non-local retailer.

 

Deerfield Park, Ill. – Walgreens, as well as Boston-area grocery chain Roche Bros. and convenience chain Tedeschi Stores, have indicated they will join CVS in refusing to sell the upcoming Aug. 3 issue of Rolling Stone that features a cover photo of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Walgreens made an announcement yesterday afternoon on Twitter, while the Boston Globe reported that Roche Bros. and Tedeschi would also decline to sell the controversial issue.