Industry News


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Today's PM Edition (Click HERE)


Wal-Mart brings back goods as shoppers turn to Lowe’s, Walgreen

(Bloomberg) Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s biggest retailer, is bringing back some products it had removed from shelves last year as shoppers turn to competitors for a wider selection of merchandise (Click HERE for full story.)

Male call: Marketers jump on men's grooming trend
(Ad Age) It's a beautiful time to be a man -- or at least to market to men -- as personal-care marketers rev up for what looks to be the biggest array of product launches for men in nearly a decade and maybe ever. (Click HERE for full story.)

Cross-marketing can be 'win-win' for Winn-Dixie
(The Florida Times-Union) As Winn-Dixie jostles for an edge in the hypercompetitive battle for supermarket shoppers, the Jacksonville-based company is forging partnerships with other businesses that have their own products and services to sell. (Click HERE for full story.)

Discount grocer SmartCo to open 5 Front Range stores
(The Denver Post) A California-based warehouse grocer plans to open a new chain of discount stores along the Front Range. (Click HERE for full story.)

 

Want to shop? There's an app for that
(Oregon Business News) View full sizeIn the world of Web-friendly mobile phones, retailing regains a certain level of mystique. (Click HERE for full story.)


Today's AM Edition


Light helps keep spinach full of vitamins: study

(Reuters) Supermarket lights help keep spinach fresh and producing new vitamins, U.S. government researchers reported on Wednesday. (Click HERE for full story.)

 

Diet Coke eyes 'Next Gen' consumers

(Brandweek) Diet Coke will make an appearance at this year's Oscars. A new 60-second spot for the soft-drink brand will debut during the awards ceremony on Sunday, March 7. (Click HERE for full story.)

 

Mining the U.S. generation gaps
(Nielsen wire) Understanding shopping and media habits at different ages can help marketers optimize critical assortment, pricing, promotion and advertising decisions by crafting targeted strategies and niche offers that reflect deal propensity, trip frequency, channel predilection, average spend and media usage. (Click HERE for full story.)


Whole Foods market: G'day, mate -- pass the plonk
(Marketing Daily)
Whole Foods Market plans to spend the next two months plugging Australian wines in its stores, some with such tantalizing brand names as Innocent Bystander, Shoofly and Big Woop. (Click HERE for full story.)

Tireless employees get their tribute, even if it’s in felt and polyester
(The New York Times)
A popular new reality series on CBS, “Undercover Boss,” shows senior managers working incognito as everyday employees. As for employees who are not secretly C.E.O.’s, they have champions, too, in marketers that are devoting ad campaigns to workers. (Click HERE for full story.)

03.08.10

Today's PM Edition (Click HERE)


Branded Foods Gain
(The Wall Street Journal)
Consumers appear to be slowly returning to big-name brands after fleeing to lower-cost, private labels in the past year.

 

Store brands rose at a slower 3.2% pace at retailers for the four-week period ended Feb. 20, according to a Thursday report released by Credit Suisse analyst Robert Moskow. Such brands account for about 20% of unit sales of food. Figures exclude sales at Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

 

The increase is down from a 4% gain in January and a roughly 6% gain, excluding dairy, last July. At the same time, branded-food unit sales rose 2.4% for the February period compared with a 0.2% drop for the four weeks ended Jan. 23. Mr. Moskow said the gains, in part, could be due to shoppers stocking up on items before and during the recent winter storms.

 

Brand-name-food and consumer-goods companies have been offering more coupons and other discounts to regain shoppers that have opted for less-expensive, private-label products. Executives from H.J. Heinz Co. and other food companies have recently said that they hope more promotions—not price increases—will help drive sales this year.

 

On Thursday, Richard Wolford, Del Monte Foods Co. chief executive officer, said that the company is winning back some market share from private-label. (See related article on page B7.)

 

Steve Burd, Safeway Inc. chief executive officer, said last week that the supermarket chain's private-label sales are still stronger than those of branded companies. However, the private-label growth is "maybe not as strong as in previous quarters," Mr. Burd said.

 

He also said the grocery chain has already noticed the increased promotional activity from branded-food companies.

 

For grocers, giving back market share to pricier branded items isn't a bad thing. Over the past year, supermarkets lowered private-label prices to widen price gaps with branded goods. Grocers sought to gain leverage when negotiating prices with big-name suppliers.

 

Why Bertolli is using webisodes to promote frozen dinners

(Brandweek) Bertolli wants consumers to swap pizza for ready-in-12-minutes Italian meals on Oscars night. The Unilever-owned frozen foods brand is launching a new campaign, called “Italy is Served,” during the awards ceremony this Sunday.  (Click HERE for full story.)

 

Sainsbury to add electronics, sports gear online, forgo clothes

(Bloomberg BusinessWeek) J Sainsbury Plc, the U.K.’s third- largest supermarket owner, plans to expand non-food products such as electronics, entertainment and sports equipment on its Web site and won’t add clothing for now. (Click HERE for full story.)

 

Retailers see best month in 2 years

(The Tennessean) Retailers' slow but steady recovery gained more ground in February, with the nation's merchants posting their best sales results in more than two years. (Click HERE for full story.)

 

Tops to sell 6 stores to Price Chopper Inc

(Watertown Daily Times) Tops Markets has agreed to sell six former P&C Food stores to Schenectady-based Price Chopper Inc. for $14 million, including five stores in the north country. (Click HERE for full story.)


OfficeMax counting on women, other stores to grow sales

(Reuters) OfficeMax Inc. laid out a plan for increasing its sales in coming years by offering more in-store services, targeting women and taking its goods beyond its own stores. (Click HERE for full story.)

A new web initiative will enlarge Sears' vigorous online marketing plan
(Medill Reports Chicago) Need a plumber? Screen their bids to fix your faucets at servicelife.com. House cleaning tips? Ask an expert at managemylife.com. (Click HERE for full story.)

 

Duane Reade opens new Chelsea store location featuring expanded fresh food and grocery offerings

(Duane Reade/Marketwire) Duane Reade, New York's largest drug store chain, announced the opening of its newest store, featuring the debut of a greatly expanded fresh food and grocery offering that includes fresh sandwiches, single-serve entrees, baked goods and freshly packed salads and vegetables. (Click HERE for full story.)

 

FDA recalling dips, salad dressings and soup mixes

(The Baltimore Sun) The Food and Drug Administration Thursday announced a potentially massive recall of foods made with a commonly used food additive that may be contaminated with salmonella. (Click HERE for full story.)

 

New consumer guide to recalls available online

(Supermarket News) New online materials from the Partnership for Food Safety Education here have been designed to orient consumers to the need to take notice of recalls and to take action to identify whether a recalled product is in their home. (Click HERE for full story.)

Today's AM Edition

World’s most admired companies

(Editor’s Note: CVS is tops on the list, along with Tesco, Kroger, and Safeway)
(Fortune)
(Click HERE for full story.)

 

Tea it up!

(Convenience Store News) More c-store customers are chugging back ready-to-drink (RTD) iced tea, sometimes in place of carbonated soft drinks and even bottled water. (Click HERE for full story.)

 

Sargento rolls out reduced-sodium cheeses
(just-food) US cheese specialist Sargento Foods has introduced a series of reduced-sodium products targeted at health-conscious consumers in the US. (Click HERE for full story.)

Hellmann's light mayo to use cage-free eggs
(Supermarket News) Unilever will begin using 100% certified cage-free eggs in its Hellmanns' Light Mayonnaise recipe in the U.S., it announced recently. (Click HERE for full story.)

03.05.10

Today's News PM Edition (Click HERE)


F.D.A. cracks down on Nestlé and others over health claims on labels
(The New York Times)
The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday released 17 warning letters to food manufacturers, making good on a vow to crack down on misleading labels on food packages. (Click HERE for full story.)

 

RadioShack could be target for takeover

(Fort Worth Star-Telegram) Shares of Fort Worth-based RadioShack jumped Wednesday as investors speculated about a possible takeover of the electronics retailer. (Click HERE for full story.)

 

Wholesale clubs' profit grows as grocery supermarkets slide

(USA Today) A steady stream of shoppers looking for deals on necessities has helped wholesale club operators Costco Wholesale and BJ's Wholesale Club deliver profit gains while many of their grocery competitors struggle. (Click HERE for full story.)

Market Street debuts nutritional scoring system in Dallas area
(The Dallas Morning News) Market Street is scoring the food on its shelves to help shoppers make quick decisions about groceries that provide the biggest nutritional bang for their bucks. (Click HERE for full story.)

Boston Market tests '$2.99 Meal Deals'
(Brandweek) Boston Market thinks it may have found a way to get cash-strapped consumers to visit its restaurants. The fast-casual chain today (Wednesday) rolled out a nationwide promotion, dubbed "$2.99 Market Meal Deals," which offers smaller portions of four menu favorites at $2.99 each. (Click HERE for full story.)

Golub Corp. begins move to new Schenectady headquarters

(Times Union) The Golub Corp., parent company of the Price Chopper grocery chain, has begun moving into its new headquarters in Schenectady. (Click HERE for full story.)

 

Discount stores look to expand in West Michigan
(The Grand Rapids Press) Good news for shoppers and realtors, several discount retailers are looking to expand in the West Michigan market. (Click HERE for full story.)

Unilever: Brands must move past TV spots
(Brandweek) Unilever's creative agencies need to "move past their reliance on the 30-second spot" and focus more on social media efforts to keep up with modern consumers. (Click HERE for full story.)

Kosher supermarket plans to become nation's largest
(The Baltimore Sun) Seven Mile Market, a kosher supermarket in Pikesville that has drawn Jewish residents and others from around the region, plans to move and double in size - likely making it the largest operation of its kind in the nation. (Click HERE for full story.)

                    

Time to put money into marketing?

(Entrepreneur.com) When a recession hits, the first thing most businesses do is cut back on marketing. But when the economy starts bouncing back, marketing typically gets put on hold until the owner is convinced that a steady stream of sales is coming through the door. (Click HERE for full story.)



Today's AM Edition



Supervalu launches pet-supplies line

(American City Business Journals) Supervalu Inc. is launching a store-brand line of pet food and supplies featuring nearly 100 cat and dog products, the company said Tuesday. (Click HERE for full story.)

TreeHouse closes acquisition of Sturm Foods
(The Business Journal of Milwaukee)
TreeHouse Foods Inc. said Tuesday that it has completed its $660 million acquisition of Sturm Foods Inc., a private label manufacturer of hot cereal and powdered soft drink mixes in Manawa in Outagamie County. (Click HERE for full story.)

 

Coffee price wars not yet hurting Dunkin Donuts

(Reuters) Despite efforts by McDonald's Corp (MCD.N) to undercut competitors on price, Dunkin's market share in coffee is steady and growing, Mark Nunnelly, managing director at Bain Capital, said at the Reuters Private Equity and Hedge Funds Summit in New York. (Click HERE for full story.)

Tomatoes get sliced from menus
(The Wall Street Journal) A shortage of tomatoes from weather-battered Florida is forcing restaurants and supermarkets to ration supplies amid soaring prices for America's most popular fresh vegetable.

 

Fast-food restaurant chains such as Wendy's have stopped automatically including tomatoes in sandwiches; now customers have to know to ask.

 

Even then, consumers might not get what they usually do. At Lloyd's, a white-tablecloth restaurant across the street from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, signs went up this week warning that only plum tomatoes are available.

 

"People love having tomatoes in their salad and in sandwiches but we want people to know ahead of time that the quality just isn't what they are used to," said Sam Berngard, president of Taste America Restaurant Group LLC, which operates Lloyd's and two Chicago seafood restaurants.

 

Subway is continuing to offer tomatoes on its sandwiches but the chain is using different varieties to ensure that it has enough on hand.

 

Fresh tomatoes are in short supply because of the unusual spell of freezing temperatures that hugged Florida in January. The cold temperatures that dented citrus production also destroyed roughly 70% of the tomato crop in Florida, which is the largest source of U.S.-grown fresh tomatoes this time of year.

 

Reggie Brown, executive vice president of Florida Tomato Growers Exchange, a Maitland, Fla., trade group, said Tuesday that a 25-pound box of tomatoes is trading for $30, compared with $6.45 a year ago.

 

Some restaurants have been told they would have to spend up to $45 for a box of tomatoes in recent days. "Doesn't matter though, because there isn't anything to sell," said Mr. Brown, who calculates the state's shipments are running at about 30% of normal.

 

Florida's weather woes aren't having much impact on prices of tomato-derived products, such as ketchup and sauce. Many of the country's processing tomatoes are grown in California but these tomatoes have different qualities than those typically eaten fresh.

 

Prices of fresh tomatoes are expected to fall sharply by April as farmers in southern Florida begin harvesting a new tomato crop, the condition of which so far appears to be normal. Still, Florida growers worry that they will have permanently lost even more market share to Mexican-grown tomatoes by then.

 

According to the U.S. Agriculture Department, about one-third of fresh vegetables such as tomatoes, bell peppers and sweet corn consumed in the U.S. this time of year come from Florida farms. About two-thirds of this type of produce is imported, and most of that is from Mexico. In recent weeks, weekly vegetable shipments from Mexico to the U.S. have soared by as much as 50% over year-ago levels, according to the USDA.

 

Publix Super Markets Inc., a Lakeland, Fla.-based chain with stores throughout the southern U.S., said Tuesday that it is paying more to import tomatoes from Mexico due to the Florida shortage.

 

"We expect we'll have a similar situation with corn," said Publix spokeswoman Maria Brous. "The severely cold weather from the South will continue to have an effect."

 

So far, many grocers are absorbing most of the tomato price increase rather than pass it along to their customers. Supervalu Inc., the supermarket giant headquartered in Minneapolis, said Tuesday that it is holding price increases on its fresh tomatoes to less than 5%. "At this point, we're anticipating that situation to stabilize in mid-April," a Supervalu spokeswoman said.

 

The Florida tomato industry has a big reach even though it is relatively tiny; most of the crop is produced by roughly 100 farming operations spread across 40,000 acres of land.

 

The USDA calculates that the January freeze cost Florida vegetable producers about $300 million, with tomatoes generating about half of that total loss.

 

According to the USDA, the value of U.S. fresh vegetable production was $10.4 billion in 2009, led by tomatoes, head lettuce and bulb onions. The USDA said Florida produced $1.4 billion worth of fresh vegetables last year.

 

C&S to supply Ukrop's; Supervalu to cut jobs
(Supermarket News)
The 25 Ukrop's stores in greater Richmond, Va., recently acquired by Giant-Carlisle will be switching suppliers, the company said Tuesday. (Click HERE for full story.)

 

FDA survey finds more Americans read information on food labels
(PR Newswire)
A majority of consumers read food labels and are increasingly aware of the link between good nutrition and reducing the risk of disease, according to the latest survey of dietary habits released today by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (Click HERE for full story.)

03.04.10

Today's PM Edition (Click HERE)


Walmart v. Best Buy: The new battle of the geeks

(Bnet.com) Best Buy and Walmart are fighting on a new front: trying to become a place for high-tech consumers to shop for futuristic electronics. (Click HERE for full story.)

 

New data: Feb. retail sales rose in many sectors
(The Associated Press) Snowstorms that shut in East Coast shoppers last month also chilled sales at women's clothing stores but most retail sectors saw gains in February compared with a year earlier, data released Wednesday show. (Click HERE for full story.)

 

With Cub buys, Coborn’s keeps on trucking

(Finance & Commerce) Coborn’s takeover of St. Cloud market raises questions about Cub store development – or the lack of it. (Click HERE for full story.)

 

Buy a bottle of wine and donate clean water

(Springwise) Some 42,000 people die each week for lack of clean water, and the majority of them are children under 5 years old. Aiming to help alleviate this problem, online wine vendor CellarThief donates 100 days' worth of clean water for every bottle of wine it sells. (Click HERE for full story.)

 

Is Acme's owner shopping for a buyer

(Philadelphia Inquirer) It was Las Vegas, Valentine's week, and the headliners were big: Former President George W. Bush kicked things off as keynote speaker. Singer Paul Anka serenaded a black-tie crowd with old classics such as "Put Your Head on My Shoulder." (Click HERE for full story.)

 

Tops brand items being sold at P&Cs
(Watertown Daily Times) Area P&C grocery stores have started to carry some Tops-labeled food products, an outward sign to customers that Tops Markets, Buffalo, now owns the grocery chain. (Click HERE for full story.)

Today's AM Edition

3-minute lesson on internet marketing

 (Small Business Trends) A few weeks ago Shawn Collins, co-founder of Affiliate Summit, was kind enough to send me a review copy of  “Internet Marketing from the Real Experts.”  This softcover book is a collection of tips from well-known Internet marketers. (Click HERE for full story.)

 

"Because It's the Right Thing to Do"

(Submitted by Roy Timmerman, Director, Japan ADS)

(CFO.com) In 1984, Richard Galanti was a young investment banker at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette when a Seattle-area start-up retailer invited him to become its vice president of finance. (Click HERE for full story.)

 

M&S aims for most sustainable by 2015
(The New York Times)
Marks & Spencer is to step up its plans to go "green" by opting for more sustainable ingredients and agreeing a living wage for suppliers in its bid to become the world's most sustainable retailer by 2015. (Click HERE for full story.)

P&G launches whitening collection
(Drug Store News)
Procter & Gamble is going 3-D with its new Crest and Oral-B 3D White collection, which launches this month. (Click HERE for full story.)

 

Can pizza chains keep serving it up?

(The Wall Street Journal) As restaurant sales across the country continue to shrink, pizza chains are nabbing a bigger share of the pie. But new investors may be late to dinner.

 

Domino's Pizza Inc. is expected to report fourth-quarter earnings of 25 cents a share on Tuesday, according to analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, compared with 17 cents a share a year ago, and revenue of $437.5 million, up 2.2%.

 

It is a respectable performance amid a difficult year for the restaurant industry. Overall sales fell 1.2% in 2009 and traffic was down as much as 4% at its third-quarter nadir, data from the NPD Group show.

 

Against that backdrop, Domino's and its two main rivals, Papa John's International Inc. and Pizza Hut, which is owned by Yum Brands Inc., have emerged in relatively good shape.

 

The "quick-serve" category has held up better than its full-service counterpart, and sales are expected to rise 3% this year compared with 2.5% for the overall industry, according to the National Restaurant Association.

 

Pizza sales could outperform in 2010 thanks in part to a marketing blitz. Domino's, for example, has been touting its pizza "turnaround" aimed at winning over critics and new customers.

 

Papa John's founder and chief executive, John Schnatter, said in a conference call last week that heavy marketing from Domino's and Pizza Hut "was like a light switch" that turned pizza sales from running 5% to 6% below their year-ago levels to 5% to 6% above them in the early weeks of 2010.

 

The growth, he said, is "good for everybody" and is helping to expand pizza chains' market share at the expense of other types of fare.

 

Analysts expect similar optimism on Tuesday from Domino's.

 

But high hopes already could be baked into shares of Domino's, which have surged 52% this year to close at $12.74 Monday.

 

Morgan Stanley analyst John Glass points out that Domino's shares are trading at a relatively cheap 13 times expected 2010 earnings, but look pricier when accounting for the company's debt-heavy structure.

 

In addition, there is no guarantee customers will stick around without costly new marketing efforts.

 

Investors thinking about buying a slice of the sector now might want to wait for assurance that the pizza party can last.

 

New chocolate bar bubbles up

(The Boston Globe) A Salem company has hit upon a sweet idea: making money from air. Bubble Chocolate - chocolate infused with air bubbles - is looking to make its mark as the first successful aerated chocolate bar to hit the American market. (Click HERE for full story.)

 

Expect more joint marketing by PepsiCo, FritoLay

(The Dallas Morning News) Now that PepsiCo Inc. has acquired its two largest bottlers, there will be "a lot more joint marketing" of PepsiCo drinks and snacks made by its Plano-based unit, Frito-Lay Inc., PepsiCo's chief executive said Monday. (Click HERE for full story.)

03.03.10

Today's PM Edition (Click HERE)


7-Eleven looks to expand

(The Asbury Park Press) Where you might see an empty store, convenience store chain 7-Eleven sees opportunity (Click HERE for full story.)

 

Safeway 1st Grocer to be founding member of The Sustainability Consortium
(Progressive Grocer) Safeway, Inc. yesterday became the first U.S.-based retail grocery chain and manufacturer of private label merchandise to join The Sustainability Consortium, a science-based group of companies working to develop a more sustainable global supply chain. (Click HERE for full story.)

App Watch, New York Edition: Fresh Direct
(The Wall Street Journal) Since online grocer Fresh Direct opened in 2002, many New Yorkers have grown accustomed to ordering their groceries from their computer. Now, with the company’s new app, customers can also order from their iPhone.

 

The app is for current customers only; non-customers who download the app will be prompted to go to the Web site. That’s for the best, because the app’s big selling point lies in its ability to suggest items based on previous buys. The app’s first screen highlights earlier orders, special deals and a scrolling list of “favorites.” (This blogger apparently has a penchant for milk, chocolate pudding and … fennel. Strange but true.)

 

Fresh Direct CEO Rick Braddock says the company’s database — it tracks every purchase a customer has ever made — provides one of the biggest benefits of online shopping as compared with a traditional store. “We’re using the customer’s own shopping behavior to give them a better experience,” he said.

 

As with the Web site, the app includes ratings of perishable goods such as fruits and vegetables and highlights the products that raters have deemed best for delivery the next day. The items are rated on a scale from one to five stars, and Mr. Braddock says the rating system has solved one of the biggest hurdles the company faced — getting people to order food without seeing it first. The company, which has filled more than 10 million orders since 2002, says that more than 60% of customers use these ratings when making decisions.

 

There are some features of the Web site that aren’t available in the app. Most noticeable is the lack of a browsing menu. On the site, people looking for, say, Fresh Direct’s microwave meals might go to the “Heat & Eat” section and browse. On the phone, there is no such section, and searching for “heat and eat” or “four-minute meals” gets you nowhere, although specific meals can be found using keywords. Fresh Direct’s executives tout the time-saving benefits of a system that knows what you typically shop for, but there’s still something to be said for a bit of browsing.

 

All in all, the Fresh Direct app is a helpful addition for those who order from the company. It might not replace the Web-based ordering system for everyone, but it is particularly useful for those times when you realize you’ve forgotten an item but aren’t near a computer.

 

The app, which was developed by Schematic, was planned after Fresh Direct found that about half of its customers use the iPhone. Dean Marano, Fresh Direct’s chief information officer, said the company did not seriously look at developing a BlackBerry app. “The experience just isn’t there, because of the feel of it,” he said. Still, Fresh Direct is considering expanding beyond the Apple platform — to Android.

Farm Fresh president Ron Dennis to retire

(Daily Press) The grocery business was a lot simpler more than 50 years ago, when Farm Fresh president Ron Dennis started in the business. (Click HERE for full story.)

Digital coupon redemption value beats newspapers
(MediaPost) According to statistics from Coupons.com, the Grocery iQ smartphone app grew 170% in value during 2009 to more than $858 million. (Click HERE for full story.)


Navarro drugstore chain ready for a face-off with competitors
(The Miami Herald) Navarro Discount Pharmacies wants to be known as more than just the store where abuelita shops. (Click HERE for full story.)

Hhgregg: Making its move into local electronics market
(The Roanoke Times) In the retail world of laptops, flat-panel televisions and shiny, stainless steel refrigerators, Hhgregg may be considered a small player by some standards. (Click HERE for full story.)

Inside Eddie Lampert's Brain: His plan to make Sears both bigger and smaller

(bnet.com) Eddie Lampert says less is more when it comes to Sears. (Click HERE for full story.)


Today's AM Edition

Nestlé hopes to spread Wonka magic to high end

(Brandweek) Wonka, the Nestlé candy brand, is making a bigger play in the premium chocolates category, a surprise move, given the economic downturn and the brand's traditional focus on kids. (Click HERE for full story.)

 

Customer Service Champs 2010
(Editor’s Note: There are a lot of food companies on this list, including Publix, Wegmans, Starbucks, and Panera Bread)

(Business Week) Our fourth annual customer service awards are a mix of repeat stars and first-timers who know how to treat consumers right. Click HERE for full story.)

 

Cause effect: Brands rush to save world one deed at a time

(Ad Age) Is it possible to have a coffee, buy a car or go shopping without saving the world? Not these days. (Click HERE for full story.)

 

That's Advertainment
(Brandweek)
A couple of characters in the CBS sitcom Gary Unmarried rip into buckets of KFC's grilled chicken -- the takeout bags and logos clearly visible in the camera frame -- and rave about how tender and delicious it all is. (Click HERE for full story.)

Pepsi backs 2010 outlook, closes bottler purchases
(Reuters)
PepsiCo backed its outlook for 2010 and said it saw earnings per share rising at a low double-digit rate on an constant currency basis in 2011 and 2012. (Click HERE for full story.)

Lowe’s puts its focus on knowing the customer’s wants
(The New York Times)
The bar in “Cheers” was supposedly where everybody knew your name. A leading home-improvement retailer plans to present itself as the place where everybody knows which type of washer you need, which type of insect is infesting your garden or which shade of purple a teenage girl can paint her room without driving her mother crazy. (Click HERE for full story.)

03.02.10
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