New research has revealed that UK consumers believe Sainsbury’s as the next retailer to bite the dust, retailgazette.co.uk reports. The majority of those cited that they think this will happen within five years and almost a third of the relevant respondents believed that this would happen due to the recent ‘financial losses’ of the supermarket brand. The most common reason given for the predicted end of Sainsbury’s was the recent ‘financial losses’ of the company.Kroger wants to learn from discounters
Kroger Co. is ultimately looking to either learn from or expand its hard discount chain Ruler Foods, said Michael Schlotman, supermarketnews.com reports. “If it’s not a format we should have in our arsenal and roll out in a bigger way, it’s certainly a format we should understand. An entity we merged with in the early 2000s, JayC [Foods Stores] had a few of these so we decided to expand it and see what we could make of the model, understand how the model works,” Schlotman said. Kroger is working on many other tests, he said, including one that links convenience store and grocery store business through a shared fuel rewards program.Costco: Won’t shift imports to East Coast
Costco Wholesale Corp. said it doesn’t plan to shift any of its U.S. imports to the East Coast as a result of lingering concerns over labor strife that led to lengthy shipping delays at West Coast ports earlier this year, a senior executive said, wsj.com reports. Swedish ICA launches new healthy private label range
Market leader ICA has launched a new healthy private label range, ICA Gott Liv, retailanalysis.igd.com reports. The range includes fruit and vegetable alternatives to ‘carbohydrates like rice, pasta and potatoes. The products consist entirely of raw vegetables where cauliflower rice, carrot pasta and zucchini pasta can be eaten raw as they are or slightly boiled for about 2-3 minutes’.
US: Wegmans opens first New York CityWegmans Food Markets plans to open a store in the Brooklyn Navy Yard in Brooklyn, New York, according to Jo Natale, spokeswoman for Wegmans, usatoday.com reports. The news was first reported in the New York Times and quickly spread on social media.
Roundy’s posts Q1 loss
Roundy’s reported a net earnings loss of $2.3m for the first quarter ending April 4, 2015. The company had a 1.6% decline in same-store sales, missing its target for the quarter, supermarketnews.com reports. Roundy’s said soft sales in March and April contributed to the decrease. Mariano’s had a particularly challenging quarter with a decline of 6.4% in same-store sales for the 18 locations that have been open for more than a year.Walmart tests subscription service to rival Amazon's Prime
Walmart Stores is developing a new tool to fight back at Amazon.com, fortune.com reports. The world’s largest retailer will start testing a new unlimited shipping service this summer that will cost half what the online giant’s Prime service does. Walmart and Amazon are also preparing to compete in another e-commerce arena, online grocery orders. Amazon already sells online groceries in a number of markets while Walmart has a similar test underway.Walmart and Alibaba teaming up in China
Alibaba and Walmart said that they are teaming up to allow Walmart customers in China to make store purchases using Alipay Wallet, Alibaba’s mobile payment service, qz.com reports. And to entice consumers to pay at Walmart chains with Alipay, they will get cash back of up to RMB 15 ($2.42) on their purchases for the next month. Alibaba said in a statement that the company will “explore further collaborations with the supermarket chain.”
German Edeka sales up
German market leader Edeka has reported 2% sales growth to €47.2 bn in 2014, driven by its independent retailers, which generated revenues of €23.4 bn, up 3.6%, retailanalysis.igd.com reports. Edeka opened 330 stores in 2014, taking the retailer’s total store count to 11,492 stores. Spanish Caprabo fruit and veg 20% up
Caprabo, which is part of the Eroski retail organisation, has announced that its updated stores are having a positive effect on its sales performance, and are seeing shopper numbers rise by 11% and average sales increase by 11%, retailanalysis.igd.com reports. The retailer said that while the sales increase had been seen across most categories, it had been most effective in the super fresh areas, with fresh produce sales rising by 15%, while fruit and vegetables had been boosted by 20%. Eye-tracking technology maps shopping habits
Research (done by iReach) on the shopping habits of customers in convenience stores shows that they spend €8.30, on average, every time they enter a shop, irishexaminer.com reports. Around €3.18 of the spend is attributed to impulse buys.US: WinCo opens 100th store
WinCo Foods is opening its 100th store this week — an 83,000-square-foot unit in Lewisville, Texas, supermarketnews.com reportsSweden: Axfood launches organic store
Swedish retailer Axfood has launched an organic store in Stockholm, retailanalysis.igd.com reports. Hemköp Reko. The store is 165 sq. m, stocking a range of 350 items. The majority of products are organic, while there is also a wide range of Fairtrade products and MSC certified seafood.UK: Morrisons introduces new sampling campaign
Morrisons has launched Morrisons Live, a new in-store sampling and experiential programme that is aimed at its suppliers, ventmagazine.co.uk reports. As part of the programme, a dedicated Morrisons Live team will create in-store brand campaigns for suppliers, as well as help them to identify store locations that are best suited to their offering and deliver post-campaign summary reports. New Zealand retail sales rose at a record pace
New Zealand retail sales rose at a record pace in the first three months of 2015, nbr.co.nz reports. The volume of sales rose, a seasonally adjusted, 2.7% in the three months ended March 31, accelerating from a pace of 1.9% in the December quarter, according to Statistics New Zealand. The volume of spending on food and beverage rose, a seasonally adjusted, 1.2% in the quarter for a 1.9% lift in value. 
US: C&S to close White Rose facilitiesC&S Wholesale Grocers will close three New Jersey food distribution centers it acquired in the 2014 bankruptcy of Associated Wholesalers Inc., supermarketnews.com reports.
Germany: Sales grew at NettoNetto Marken-Discount saw a 2.2% increase to €12.0 bn, operating 4,168 stores as of the end of 2014, retailanalysis.igd.com repports.
Experts: Grocery industry disruption will profit farmers
Grocers are expecting a disruption from online sales in coming years, but experts say the shift will likely profit farmers and food processors, capitalpress.com reports. The transformation of the overall retail world, driven by such companies as Amazon, will affect the food industry at a time when grocers are already facing pressure to consolidate, according to experts at a recent executive forum organized by Portland State University. While the looming changes are causing anxiety among established retailers, the creation of new sales channels is expected to loosen their grip on the market to the benefit of suppliers, experts say. Click here to read more.
UK: Londoners want fresh produce and new stores are moving in to provide it Click here to read the article.