Supermarket & Grocery Industry News

DEERFIELD, Ill. - Retailer-owned wholesale grocery cooperative Unified Western Grocers Inc. has signed a three-year service agreement with efficient market services, based in Deerfield, Ill., to license ems' ScanLink service for use throughout its network of independent retailers.

DETROIT -- At a time when consumers are increasingly choosing one-stop-shopping, Kmart Corp. is putting its supercenter expansion plans on hold.

LAKELAND, Fla. -- PublixDirect, the online arm of Publix Super Markets, announced that it will begin accepting manufacturer coupons from consumers shopping over the Internet.

MINNEAPOLIS -- As supermarket retailers across the board reel from dismal quarterly results, one of their key suppliers is hardly singing the Pepsi Blues.

LANSING, Mich.-- Leaders of two Michigan retailer groups called a white paper issued by Attorney General Jennifer Granholm a "slap in the face to the retail industry."

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Grocery Manufacturers of America today endorsed the U.S. Department of Agriculture's national organic program as a way to provide consumers with accurate labeling information about organic foods and ingredients.

AUSTIN, Texas -- Some 55 percent of Americans have tried organic foods and 87 percent of regular organics buyers rate them as being of higher quality. Those are the findings of a just-released nationwide survey commissioned by Whole Foods Market, a natural and organic foods supermarket chain based here.

WASHINGTON - Approximately 47 percent of out-of-stocks are caused by inadequate store ordering and forecasting, and 25 percent by poor shelf management, according to a new study by GMA, Food Marketing Institute and CIES -- The Food Business Forum, that examines the issue globally.