OPERATIONS / SUPPLY CHAIN

Minneapolis -- Female consumers are looking for value and deeper connections, according to results of the fifth annual “What Women Want” survey. The study, conducted by Ginger Consulting, indicates that women are responsible for or influence $7 trillion of annual purchases in the U.S., including 85% of all consumer and business purchases and 60% of automobile purchases,

Boca Raton, Fla. – Office Depot Inc. and OfficeMax Incorporated have selected The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to provide integration support for the two companies’ pending merger. BCG will provide a dedicated onsite support team and work with management from both companies to establish a detailed integration plan and establish an overall vision and priorities for the merger.

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New York -- Almost all (97%) social video ad shares of alcohol brands during fourth quarter 2012 and first quarter 2013 were for four brands, Budweiser, Neft Vodka, Carlsberg and Heineken, according to a new report from Unruly Media.

Findings from “Untapped Potential: The State of Sharing in the Alcohol Sector” indicate Budweiser (59%) and Neft (24%) accounted for most of this social sharing activity.

Overall, wine brands have been the slowest to embrace social video ads, accounting for less than 1% of sharing activity.

Miami -- Burger King Worldwide announced Thursday that it has expanded its meal delivery program to include Las Vegas and Sacramento, Calif.

The BK Delivers program, which currently delivers meals to homes and offices in New York, Miami, Houston, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., will now have six participating restaurants in Sacramento and eight more in Las Vegas implementing the service.

Denver -- A study released Thursday by The Integer Group and M/A/R/C Research found that 16% of Hispanic shoppers are using their mobile devices to make purchases, compared to 12% of general market shoppers.

The Checkout ongoing shopper behavior study polls consumers nationally about their shopping attitudes, shopping behaviors and economic outlook.

New York -- A Thursday report by Bloomberg said that U.S. consumer confidence for the week ended May 19 advanced, indicating that Americans’ outlook on the economy is optimistic.

The weekly Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index increased to minus 29.4 from minus 30.2 the prior week. A measure of personal finances was positive for a sixth consecutive week, the longest stretch in more than five years, according to Bloomberg.

Chicago -- Leading retailers are much better than other retailers at collecting data, measuring activities, acting on their insights, and measuring again to see the results, according to A.T. Kearney’s 2013 Achieving Excellence in Retail Operations (AERO) Study.