Market Trends

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. has revealed plans to increase its U.K. business within the next five years, by capitalizing on new growth opportunities and leveraging its worldwide scale, at a meeting last week for the investment community held at British banner Asda’s headquarters in Leeds, West Yorkshire.

The Kroger Co. has named Michael J. Stoll CEO of The Little Clinic, the Cincinnati-based retailer’s wholly owned in-store health clinic subsidiary, and elevated Theresa Monti to the VP/corporate benefits post, Stoll’s former position.

According to Packaged Facts’ new report, “Coffee and Ready-to-Drink Coffee in the U.S.: The Market and Opportunities in Retail and Foodservice, 6th Edition,” as the U.S. economy slid deeper into recession last year, coffee marketers and foodservice operators rebounded from the sales reverses of 2008 with a range of strategies aimed at positioning even high-end offerings as affordable luxuries.

Right by Nature, Pittsburgh’s largest independent, locally owned organic and natural foods market, has expanded its product selection with a substantial lineup of mainstream supermarket products to augment its extensive local, natural and organic offerings.

Shifts in the availability of fresh foods across retail channels spurred competitive promotional strategies at supermarkets in 2009, according to recently released fresh department studies by the Chicago-based Perishables Group.

Interchange fees for PIN debit cards on the Visa network increase today, and food retailers aren’t happy.

Loyal ShopRite customer Sue Compton of Delanco, N.J., is the Grand Prize winner of the 44th Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest.

Through April 30, the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. and Zavers are teaming up for Earth Month promotion in which participating customers can receive a free reusable Elizabeth Haub bag by redeeming a paperless coupon linked directly to their shopper loyalty cards.