WILTON, Conn. — Wal-Mart Stores garnered the No. 1 position in Cannondale’s 2008 PoweRanking survey of retailers, marking the Bentonville, Ark.-based company’s 10th consecutive year in that spot. The survey, released last week by Cannondale Associates here, uses feedback from trading partners to rank retailers and manufacturers according to a range of criteria relating to their strategic focus and their strength as collaborative partners. Wal-Mart was followed closely by Target Corp., Minneapolis, and then Kroger Co., Cincinnati, which saw a significant jump in its composite score. Publix Super Markets, Lakeland, Fla., rose from 7th place to 4th in the rankings this year, tied with Issaquah, Wash.-based Costco, followed by Safeway, Wegmans, HEB, CVS and Walgreens. “Retailers that excelled in the PoweRanking in 2008 have completed their own customer segmentation and begun to develop alternative store formats and merchandising platforms to address newly identified needs as a result of this segmentation work,” said Ken Harris, managing director, Cannondale Associates. Among manufacturers, Procter & Gamble, Kraft and PepsiCo maintained their positions at Nos. 1 through 3, respectively, followed by General Mills, Nestlé, Unilever, Coca-Cola, Kimberly Clark, Kellogg’s and Clorox.

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