StoreAlliance.com, one of the first independent application service providers (ASPs) to offer an industry news portal on the front end of its online application software, announced today the launch of a new monthly service for its readers: a Consumer Price Index (CPI) report listing average retail prices for key grocery items across the United States.
Based on inflation data published monthly by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in its U.S. Cities Average Price List, the monthly StoreAlliance.com CPI report is the result of two key food industry information sources now available online: One is the web-enabled reporting of the full, 153-item CPI, which the BLS researches and generates monthly. The other is the expertise of StoreAlliance.com editor Worth Wren, Jr., a veteran food industry journalist who has been analyzing and reporting on inflation and other issues affecting food retailers, manufacturers, and consumers for the past 20 years. Wren taps the BLS’s 153-item survey to generate the 58-item grocery-specific listing provided via StoreAlliance.com.
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Offering the new monthly inflation report makes StoreAlliance.com the first online grocery news portal to publish the unique selection of grocery basket items as reported by the BLS. According to StoreAlliance.com Web Master and Executive Editor Bob Wieland, the grocery basket statistics presented in the monthly StoreAlliance.com CPI report will allow food retailers, manufacturers and consumers to compare their grocery items against the national average prices for the 58 items selected:
“At StoreAlliance.com, we are continuing to look for more and better ways to provide relevant, useful information to the people who frequent our site,” he said. “With this addition to our news portal, we are giving people in the food retailing industries inflation data tailored to some specific items that are relevant to their business. This monthly report, along with the daily flow of original, grocery-focused news stories — and industry stock quotes via C-Net Investor — is proof of our news portal’s commitment to providing new, unique and timely information to our readers in the grocery retail community.”
According to Wieland, the customized StoreAlliance.com CPI report is now available on StoreAlliance.com’s Industry News page, and a following story presents background information as to how the government branch surveys grocery prices and creates the index, based on an interview with Bill Cook, Food Section chief for the BLS Consumer Price Index branch.
“In an industry where pricing and consumer perspective is so crucial,” said StoreAlliance.com Industry Specialist, Grocery, Lyle Walker, “we see a lot of value in the ability to see this kind of detail on the products that are relevant to grocery. It gives grocery retailers and manufacturers a point of reference for the average prices consumers are paying for key items across the nation, and it provides information that can be used to gauge competitive trends, like when retailers may be using key products as loss leaders to draw traffic to their stores.”
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By GlobalDataThe StoreAlliance.com CPI report also provides a link to the government site so that interested StoreAlliance.com visitors may browse all 153 products listed and indexed by the BLS.
About StoreAlliance.com
StoreAlliance.com, an operating division of Point of Sale Limited in Israel (Nasdaq:POSI), was founded to provide centrally managed application software services and Internet-based news and information to the grocery industry. Headquartered in Irving, Texas, the Application Service Provider (ASP) operates a centrally located server facility for its visitors and subscribers and houses a team of industry journalists who deliver daily news stories through its grocery industry web portal.
StoreAlliance.com’s online suite of applications is the latest evolution in Point of Sale’s proven, 18-year history with enterprise retail technologies. These new online software applications and services can provide retailers with browser-based tools that collect, store, process and report scan-based data.
Through both its ASP offering and its front-end news portal, StoreAlliance.com is dedicated to helping food retailers and wholesalers compete more effectively in today’s demanding retail arena by simplifying some of the retail IT complexities they face in their stores and headquarters.
StoreAlliance.com is a trademark of Point of Sale Limited.
For free access to the StoreAlliance.com CPI report, visit www.StoreAlliance.com, go to “Industry News” and click “CPI: Go Comparison-Shopping With Us.”
