Trading Partners

Supermarket industry sales increased 5.2 percent in 2008, and identical-store sales rose 4.5 percent, but these gains were offset by the 5.7 percent food-at-home inflation rate last year, according to “2009 Food Retailing Industry Speaks: Annual State of the Industry Review,” released late last week by the Food Marketing Institute (FMI). Adjusted for inflation, sales declined 0.5 percent and identical-store sales fell 1.2 percent.

A new white paper revealing previously unpublished strategies for succeeding at consumer centricity was released this week by Toronto-based retail advanced analytics firm Precima. The paper, “Winning at Consumer Centricity: 10 Tips for Retailers and Manufacturers” is available now for a free download at precima.com/10tips.

Roche Bros. Supermarkets, Inc., an 18-store regional grocer based in Wellesley Hills, Mass., has plans to replace its legacy pricing and store back-office systems with a centralized, rules-based pricing and inventory management solution.

The vendor and retail communities require clarity to see beyond the economic climate of today and embrace the silver lining of the changing behaviors of consumers. That was the key takeaway after 24 hours of in-depth sessions at The Nielsen Company’s Consumer 360 Conference in Orlando, Fla. Attendees were handed the tools to succeed. They’ve discovered those tools will be used to reconstruct their relationships with their customers.

The alcoholic beverage category may suffer an economic hangover, according to new research released yesterday by the Nielsen Company at the Nielsen's Consumer 360 Conference.

Spartan Stores, Inc. has expanded the deployment of its business intelligence solution to provide enhanced reporting capabilities for its retail operations and distribution network.

The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) yesterday drew attention to three private-sector initiatives aimed at improving the safety and security of the U.S. food supply.

DemandTec, Inc., a provider of on-demand optimization solutions for retailers and consumer products manufacturers, released the latest update to its software-as-a-service suite, which has been deployed and is in use by DemandTec customers.