West Bridgewater, Massachusetts-based Cheer Pack North America (CPNA) is offering a new type of packaging—a spouted premade pouch specifically designed to meet the needs of today’s consumers. Cheer Pack pouches are portable, safe, offer a lower carbon footprint than other packaging types and are ideally suited for e-commerce. They will be available for view at […]
Category: Equipment & Technology
New Study Predicts Retail-Ready Corrugated Display Sales To Reach $1.8B In 2023
Demand for retail-ready corrugated displays is projected to increase 3.2 percent annually to $1.8 billion in 2023, according to a new study, “Retail-Ready Packaging,” from The Freedonia Group, a Cleveland, Ohio-based industry research firm. Gains will be restrained by the limited amount of floor space that can be occupied by displays, especially because most stores already use […]
Balance Innovations Helps Retailers Put Idle Cash To Use Effectively
Taking idle cash and making it available for other purposes is the idea behind Balance Innovations’ new cash forecasting capability. CEO Darren Knipp of the Lenexa, Kansas-based company, told The Shelby Report at the National Retail Federation’s 2019 Big Show, “We’ve historically provided an operational focus solution for stores to help automate their cash management, […]
Assets Of Former Zacky Poultry Company Up For Bid
Tiger Group, in cooperation with Barliant Auctions, has opened bids for a live online auction on March 5 for more than 200 units of well-maintained—as new as 2016—rolling stock and farm equipment, including truck and farm tractors, poultry haulers, feed trailers, water trucks, pickup trucks and more. The assets were formerly owned by Zacky & Sons […]
Safeway Opens Five More AI-Powered Medical Clinics In Phoenix
Arizonans living in the Phoenix area now have access to five more Akos Med Clinics, located in Safeway stores in Scottsdale (2), Ahwatukee, Chandler and Laveen. Five other locations, which opened last November, are in Gilbert, Phoenix, Glendale, Mesa and Tempe. An 11th clinic will open in Casa Grande later this month and a 12th in Boise, […]
Albertsons Cos. Using Microsoft Cloud And AI To Transform Shopping Experience
Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons Cos. is using cloud solutions from Microsoft Corp., including Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365, to provide new experiences to customers and employees. By leveraging Microsoft Azure as its preferred cloud platform, Albertsons Cos. will be able to reduce friction in the shopping experience. “We are reimagining the future to serve customers in a way […]
AWG’s Shopper Engagement Platform Drives Sales For Retailers
The Shopper Engagement Platform (SEP), the in-house loyalty and data marketing program for Kansas City, Kansas-based Associated Wholesale Grocers (AWG), has engaged more than 300 of its retailers on the program. A first to market in-house program for grocery wholesalers in the U.S., SEP is aimed at enabling independent retailers to utilize data, digital coupons […]
Grocers Need to Plumb Their Data To Better Understand Shoppers
by Sy Fahimi/SVP-Product Strategy, Symphony RetailAI Grocery retail is going through a significant reinvention as we continue to move into the era of the consumer. Retailers can succeed in 2019 by keeping data at the core of every practice in order to better understand their shoppers. Historically, retailers have large amounts of data, such as […]
Blue Diamond Expanding California Manufacturing Plant
Blue Diamond Growers, a nonprofit grower-owned cooperative and a processor and marketer of almonds, has begun expanding its processing facility in Turlock, California. The company held a groundbreaking ceremony Jan. 29 at the 200,000-s.f. manufacturing plant. The new addition is part of Blue Diamond’s continued plans to expand its value-added product lines and deliver new almond products […]
Symphony CPG|AI Welcomes Adeel Najmi And Rahul Bhattacharya
Dallas, Texas-based Symphony CPG|AI, a global provider of strategic revenue management solutions for CPG brands powered by machine learning and natural language processing, has named Adeel Najmi as chief product officer and Rahul Bhattacharya as chief analytics officer. Najmi and Bhattacharya bring with them close to 50 collective years of experience in consumer goods and […]
Grocery Outlet Partners With RangeMe For Product Sourcing
RangeMe, an online platform “revolutionizing new product discovery between product suppliers and top retailers across the country,” is partnering with California-based extreme-value retailer Grocery Outlet. “We are committed to bringing our customers premium products at tremendous value,” says Steve Wilson, SVP of purchasing for Grocery Outlet. “And part of that commitment relies on having access to […]
‘Robot Bartender’ Somabar Debuts At Gelson’s In-Store Wine Bars
Somabar, a Los Angeles, California-based startup, is hoping to make it easier and less expensive for foodservice establishments to offer cocktail programs. It’s launching what it says is the world’s first robot bartender created for beer and wine bars and restaurants, starting with its public launch at select Gelson’s Wine Bars. Somabar is operational at […]
Nestlé Becomes Founding Partner Of Loop, Debuts Reusable Ice Cream Packaging
A coalition of the largest consumer product companies, along with international recycling company TerraCycle, today unveiled what they say is a global, first-of-its-kind, shopping system called Loop. The initiative was designed to change the world’s reliance on single-use packaging, offer a convenient and enhanced circular solution to consumers, while securing meaningful environmental benefits. Announced at […]
Kroger, JTG Daugherty Racing Team Up On New NASCAR Sponsorship Strategy
The Kroger Co. and JTG Daugherty Racing are debuting a new NASCAR sponsorship strategy that “focuses on shopper themes and will help participating brands communicate more effectively with consumers.” The goal of the new strategy is to significantly increase sales for sponsor brands and for Kroger. The No. 47 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series […]
Cash Is Here To Stay—How To Deal With Rising Handling Costs
by David Johnson/Director of Business Development, G4S Retail Solutions Retail and finance experts are fond of proclaiming that cash usage in retail and restaurants is “dying” or even “dead,” and many point to the growth of credit and debit cards, the emergence of mobile payments and an increase in conversations around restaurants, grocers and other […]
Mission Foods Chooses MobileFrame For Direct Store Delivery Technology
Mission Foods, one of the largest food manufacturers in the world, has chosen the Los Gatos, California-based MobileFrame platform to develop the apps used as part of its direct store delivery process. With more than 4,500 drivers who visit at least 30,000 retail stores every day in the United States, Mexico and Central America, Mission […]
Field Agent Acquires Leading Retail Media Company Smack
Field Agent, a Fayetteville, Arkansas-based provider of crowdsourced data for the retail and consumer goods industries, has acquired the retail media firm Smack, along with its online properties and marketing products. Field Agent says the purchased affords it new opportunities to leverage its mobile panel of more than 1.4 million U.S.-based shoppers and to provide […]
Gladson Acquires ItemMaster To Expand Its Product Database And Retailer Reach
Gladson, a Chicago-based portfolio company of The Jordan Co. and Wicks Capital Partners, has acquired ItemMaster, a product content management company also based in Chicago. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The addition of ItemMaster further expands Gladson’s ability to provide accurate product data to an expanded network of market participants through its […]
StopLift’s New AI Can Detect Self-Checkout Theft, Prevent False Alerts
Retail chains can now receive real-time reporting on self-checkout theft and other scan avoidance—as well as prevent false alerts at the self-checkout—with StopLift Checkout Vision Systems’ SmartAssist artificial intelligence (AI) technology. SmartAssist AI prevents false alerts and interventions, immediately flags unscanned merchandise at the self-checkout, and alerts the attendant before the customer leaves the checkout, says StopLift. The […]
Roche Bros. Upgrading POS Technology Across Its Store Base
Massachusetts-based grocer Roche Bros. is deploying Toshiba’s retail point-of-sale (POS) technology as a means to offer shoppers faster, more seamless transactions, according to the companies. Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions’ TCx 300 POS system and accompanying TCx displays are first being deployed in seven of Roche Bros.’ 20 stores in Massachusetts; 200 additional lanes will be […]
