Supermarket & Grocery Industry News

With Wal-Mart gung ho on organics, suppliers and retailers alike will need to rethink their strategies.

In a new industry study, GMDC says grocers can boost GM sales if they seize the seasonal opportunity more aggressively.

Healthy snack manufacturers and retailers have started wooing the back-to-school market with new products, packaging, promotions, and displays.

BRUSSELS, Belgium and LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. -- GS1, the not-for-profit organization that develops global standards for the identification of goods and services across supply chains, yesterday issued the GS1 Data Quality Framework, which includes a best-practice protocol for companies to establish, implement, maintain, and improve their data quality management systems.

WASHINGTON -- With the threat of avian flu carrying the potential to disrupt business practices worldwide, the National Retail Federation (NRF) has added a special session exploring this potential pandemic to the programming at its 2006 Loss Prevention Conference and Exhibition, June 5-7 at the Minneapolis Convention Center in Minneapolis.

WATFORD, England -- International food and grocery research firm IGD here has forecast in a report that Wal-Mart will be the first global retailer to enter the Indian food and grocery retail market. Although the Indian retail sector, which is worth U.S. $203 billion according to the firm, is now closed to foreign direct investment, the government could allow international retailers to enter the market in the next year.

LOS ANGELES -- As part of its continued commitment to fighting hunger in the local community, Kroger-owned Ralphs Grocery Co. plans to mark National Hunger Awareness Day on June 6th with donations of cash and food totaling $4 million.

CINCINNATI -- The Kroger Co. here cut the ribbon a 101,000-square-foot Marketplace format store in Dublin, Ohio, which marks the third such unit in the central part of the state. Kroger's other area Marketplace stores, which combine general merchandise with grocery, are located in Clintonville and Columbus.