Demand Planning

AUSTIN, Texas -- Organic and natural foods retailer Whole Foods Markets, Inc. on Wednesday reported strong gains in third-quarter sales and earnings, partly due to the inclusion of Easter sales in the quarter.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. - Regional retailer Ingles Markets Inc. today announced earnings for the third quarter ended June 28, 2003. Net sales increased 4.3 percent over net sales for the third quarter of 2002, while comparable store sales increased 2.8 percent for the same period.

ATLANTA - Manhattan Associates Inc., provider of supply chain execution (SCE) solutions, today announced that Pittsburgh-based retailer Giant Eagle has selected its suite of SCE solutions.

PLEASANTON, Calif. -- Safeway, Inc. here said its sales for the second quarter, which ended June 14, were flat, while same-store sales declined 0.5 percent. Excluding the effect of fuel sales, comparable store sales declined 1.7 percent, and identical store sales declined 2.2 percent, the company said this morning.

SAO PAULO -- Supermarket sales in Brazil might not grow at all this year, after falling a faster-than-feared 1.1 percent in real terms over the past six months, according to Joao Carlos de Oliveira, president of Brazil's Association of Supermarkets (ABRAS).

PITTSBURGH -- To support corporate-wide initiatives in enhancing total supply chain performance, Shaw's Supermarkets will implement a new solution suite developed by SmartOps Corp., a provider of enterprise-class supply chain optimization software solutions.

NEW YORK - New York-based Gristede's Foods Inc. on Thursday reported a second-quarter loss attributed to a store expansion program and a decline in same-store sales.

MONTREAL - Canada's largest supermarket chain, Loblaw Cos. Ltd., on Thursday posted 22 percent increase in second-quarter profit on a 9.2 percent rise in sales.