Waitrose launches purple sweet potato
Supermarket giant Waitrose has launched a purple sweet potato which shoppers can enjoy until the end of April. Gemma Hodgson, Waitrose Potato Buyer, says: "Our customers are always on the search for something new and these purple sweet potatoes tick that box, blackmorevale.co.uk reports. While overall sweet potato sales continue to perform well, up 23%, this new variety should create a bit of a talking point on the plate!" The Netherlands: Albert Heijn packaging fewer vegetables
Albert Heijn customers will find string beans, winter carrot and pointed cabbage on shelves without packaging from now on. The coming weeks, more and more fruit and vegetable products will be in stores without packaging. This way, Albert Heijn contributes to the reduction of packaging waste. Germany: Aldi Süd introduces organic vegetables in cardboard
German discounter Aldi Süd has been selling organic vegetables in the cardboard combisafe packaging from SIG Combibloc since February, German website bio-markt.info reports. This packaging alternative to classic preserve boxes ma
de of metal, provides comparable product protection and equal shelf life to packaged food, but at the same time has environmental benefits. When compared to other packagings for food with a long shelf life, combisafe saves up to 54 percent in CO2 emissions, and up to 59 percent in fossil fuels.German consumers 'spent most' with Edeka
German consumers spent around €247 billion on groceries in 2014, 6% more than last year, according to a recent market study published by German journal Lebensmittel Zeitung. Out of the leading retail groups, consumers spent the most with Edeka last year, which, combined with its Netto discount arm, accounted for more than a fifth of the overall money spent. Retailer Rewe came in second together (alongside subsidiary Penny), followed by Schwarz Group stores Lidl and Kaufland, Metro Group and Aldi were fourth and fifth respectively, esmmagazine.com reports. However Aldi still is the market leader amongst the discounters. The highest level of growth, however, was recorded by Dennree and Alnatura, two German supermarkets that specialize in organic products. Target to raise hourly wages at US outlets
Target, the second-largest discount retail chain, will raise employee pay to at least $9 an hour this year, esmmagazine.com reports. Walmart, Target’s biggest rival, revealed plans in February to boost hourly pay to at least $9 by April and then to $10 by next February. UK: Aldi unveils £2.5 mln easter ad campaign
According to esmmagazine.com, the Gerrman discount giant Aldi will tonight launch its Easter sales push in the UK yesterday with a reported £2.5 million TV advertising campaign.
Sonae expands Meu Super store franchise in Portugal
Sonae is strengthening its strategic investment in the Meu Super franchise in Portugal, esmmagazine.com reports. Over the past few months, the banner has been extended and is currently present in 18 districts of mainland Portugal and Madeira, employing about 600 people. Last year, the Meu Super portfolio doubled in size with the opening of 70 stores and Sonae has set the objective of reaching 200 stores by the end of the year. Jerónimo Martins to take Ara nationwide in Colombia
Portugal-based Jerónimo Martins’ director for Colombia, Pedro Albuquerque Veloso, has said that the retailer will invest €300 million until 2020 to expand the Ara chain nationwide in the country, retailanalysis.igd.com reports. Veloso said that Jerónimo Martins will open 50 new stores in 2015, expanding its presence from the 84 it ended 2014 with. Veloso noted that Ara would look to enter a new region annually in the timeframe to 2020.
Lidl to invest €32.7 mln in Croatia in 2015
German hard discounter Lidl has announced plans to invest HRK 250 million (€32.7 million) in its Croatian unit in 2015. Last year, Lidl Hrvatska, in cooperation with local suppliers, exported over HRK 40 million (€5.2 million) in Croatian products, esmmagazine.com reports. Since entering the Croatian market in 2006, Lidl has opened 86 stores and two distribution centers, and employs over 1,700. Wal-Mart de Mexico to taper investment plans in 2015
Mexico's biggest retailer Wal-Mart de Mexico, said Wednesday that it plans to taper its expansion plans this year, making capital expenditures of $813 mln this year, slightly less than in 2014, including $370 mln to open stores, nasdaq.com reports.Next on Target's plate: Revamped groceries
Target Corp. has a food quandary. Six years after it began adding more groceries to its stores, executives say they missed the mark, startribune.com reports. Its food section is neither as extensive as Wal-Mart’s, they say, nor as distinctive as Trader Joe’s. “We’re not really special and we’re not a full grocery,” John Mulligan, Target’s chief financial officer, said at a recent investors conference. “So we’re sitting in the middle of no man’s land.” Fixing food is a crucial piece of the puzzle as Target aims to reinvent itself. Last week, the Minneapolis-based company cut 1,700 headquarters employees in a move executives described as an effort to improve efficiency. UK: 500 new Lidl distribution centre jobs
Up to 500 jobs will be created after supermarket chain Lidl announced plans for a new distribution centre in the West Midlands. Ingo Fischer, from Lidl UK, said the new warehouse would help service the firm's stores in the West Midlands region, the BBC reports.
Belgium: Delhaize officials tout revamped Food Lion
Delhaize officials including CEO Frans Muller and U.S. CEO Kevin Holt showed off a comprehensive rebranding underway at its Food Lion chain this week, supermarketnews.com reports. It will affect everything from how cakes are decorated to the uniforms its cashiers wear, underpinned by an effort to expand longstanding equity in convenience and price. US: Circle K acquires Tiger Tote stores
Roy Cole, CEO of Johnson Oil Company of Gonzales, announced Tuesday that its 21 convenience stores have been sold to Circle K’s United States division, gonzalesinquirer.com reports. “Subsequent to this transaction, Couche-Tard’s network in the Circle K Southwest Division would include a total of 335 company-operated stores and 67 locations under wholesale or franchise agreement,” said Kelly McGuire, vice president of operations for the division. “These stores occupy strategic locations within their respective trade areas.” Pan-Asian Farm picks Telstra to go cloud
Pan-Asian retailer Dairy Farm Group has selected a multi-million dollar managed private cloud solution from Telstra, to help drive growth and enhance customer engagement, enterpriseinnovation.net reports. SPAR willing to seek EU help protesting Hungary's supervision fee
Austrian food retail chain SPAR is willing to go take its case as far as Brussels it fails to come to terms with the Hungarian government on the supervision fee food retail chains are to pay that the company claims causes it competitive disadvantage, Hungarian business newspaper Világgazdaság reported on Wednesday, citing remarks made by the Chairman of SPAR’s Supervisory Board. (portfolio.hu)
Norway: Blue Ridge launches supply chain analytics at Rema Distribusjon
Blue Ridge, a global Cloud supply chain planning and analytics provider, today announced that Rema Distribusjon has adopted the Blue Ridge Supply Chain Analytics solution. The food distributor plans to capitalize on actionable insights related to the supply chain, in-store conditions, and supplier collaboration, globenewswire.com reports.