According to Reuters, Casino is getting ready to carry out huge renovation works on their Géant hypermarkets in France in order to increase traffic in these stores that have already seen prices decrease hugely, capital.fr reports. The renovations will begin in September and concern all 117 stores in France. Géant represents 25% of Casino’s sales in France (excl. CDiscount) and 10% of their global turnover. The price decreases reached 15% in 2 years and effected their turnover and profitability. Germany: NettoMarken-Discount supporting farmers
Netto Marken-Discount, together with customers, have been supporting German agriculture to the tune of around €3.4m, netto-online.de reports. Maxhütte-Haidhof made the following statement back in August 2014, "Social responsibility is firmly anchored in the corporate culture of Netto Marken-Discount and is reflected in its product range strategy." The food discounter has been supporting farmers and producers in Germany with its sustainable 'A Heart for producers' initiative since 2008. The food range is to be sold at a premium of ten cents. This has made it possible for the company to provide extra payment, to the amount of €3.4M, to German farmers during the 2013 financial year.AU: Woolworths chief resigns amid plans for 1,200 job cuts
The chief executive of Australia's Woolworths, Grant O'Brien, is stepping down after nearly four years at the supermarket chain, bbc.com reports. His departure comes amid plans to cut about 1,200 jobs as part of a "strategic change" plan. Woolworths is looking to cut millions of dollars in costs and improve sales after its first-half profits fell. It hopes to win back customers from rivals such as Coles and Aldi by lowering prices and improving stores. Woolworths said it would start the search for a new chief executive. The company's head of retail services, Penny Winn, will also quit. Shares in Woolworths rose by 2.4% in Sydney trading following the news.AU: Woolworths will not be giving guidance in the future'
Woolworths will stop issuing guidance on profit results after badly missing the numbers for the current financial year, businessinsider.com.au reports.
India: BigBasket looks at ‘organic’ growth
To provide pesticide-free food, the Bengaluru-based online grocer Bigbasket.com, plans to source and sell only organic fruit and vegetables starting late next year, financialexpress.com reports. Currently, organic produce contributes only 5% of the total sales volume. "We know we are dreaming big, but over the next 15-18 months we will move to a situation where we will sell only organic vegetables and fruit, and at the price of normal vegetables". However, on its portal, the price for the organic produce is 25-100% higher compared with the other vegetables. But with scale, they will be able to bring down the cost, Menon says.UK: Aldi Shmaldi: Playing with the German discounter
Last week it was teachers, this week it's rival retailers. Aldi has suddenly become the brand to beat, cityam.com reports. Conviviality Retail – which runs Bargain Booze – has this week launched a head-to-head campaign with budget grocer Aldi, pitting its prices for big-label brands such as Carlsberg Export and Smirnoff against the supermarket's own label products. As well as pictures of the products and prices, Bargain Booze's advert asks "who?" about the Aldi own brand product, under the headline “Aldi Shmaldi”. US: Instacart partners with Smart & Final
Instacart today announced a partnership with value-oriented grocery chain Smart & Final to offer on-demand delivery, marketwatch.com reports. Beginning today, Smart & Final will bring the full breadth of its store offerings to the Instacart platform - everyday grocery items such as fresh produce and dairy, and club-sized items to stock households and offices - all at exceptional prices.New supermarket chain to bring Czech food to China
The Chinese Bainian Rongtong Investment Group (BRIG) is planning to open a chain of stores that will sell European food. Products made in the Czech Republic will be a strategic part of their offering, esmmagazine.com reports. The first supermarkets are scheduled to open 
next year in Beijing, Zhengzhou, Dongguan and Shanghai. BRIG plans to create the largest network of retail and wholesale goods from the European Union. Part of the project is to open a Metro type of wholesale chain.
Tesco amends business hours in HungaryCiting customer requests, Tesco Hungary decided to open 33 of its supermarkets as early as 5am, the British retailer told Hungarian news portal origo.hu. (esmmagazine.com)
India: Reliance Fresh Direct sees 30-50% growth
The recent Reliance AGM saw Mr. Ambani announce that the new Fresh Direct website would be 'scaled up', and that the company's retail sector has seen a whopping 30-50% growth, businessinsider.in reports. Reliance Fresh and Reliance Fresh Direct website has been plagued with problems like sourcing and storage issues. With it comes the added burden of logistics and freshness issues. That however hasn't stopped many a brave e-commerce retailer to enter grocery retail. "Food and grocery is the single biggest opportunity in Indian e-commerce today", Chairman at Technopak says.
UK: Morrisons loses another directorMorrisons has lost another member of its executive board after group human resources director Emily Lawson left the grocer, retail-week.com
AU: Metcash plans to lend 25m p/y to IGA
Metcash's plan to lend as much as $25m a year to IGA retailers to fund store refurbishments is under a cloud, as the outlook for independent retailers deteriorates amid increasing competition from Aldi and the major supermarket chains, queenslandcountrylife.com.au reports. As part of its five-year turnaround plan, Metcash plans to help scores of IGA retailers renovate their stores to improve the shopping experience and create floor space for high-growth, high-margin categories such as fruit and vegetables, meat, dairy products and ready-made meals. India: Online grocers expect private labels to rise
Private labels in daily household, personal care and food products are soon expected to drive nearly half the sales for online grocers, as they aggressively expand their portfolio for higher margins, The Economic Times reports. Several players including BigBasket, LocalBanya, MeraGrocer and ZopNow have been selling their own brands in fresh fruits and vegetables segments, which account for 10-30% of their total revenue. By entering newer product categories such as staples and FMCG, these companies expect private-label contribution to go up to 40-50% by the end of this year. Kenya: Board ejects Uchumi CEO Jonathan Ciano
The Uchumi Supermarket Board has sacked Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Ciano and the Chief Financial Officer Chadwick Okumu for alleged gross misconduct and gross negligence, allafrica.com reports. The board has appointed General Manager Owino Ayodo as the acting CEO as the recruitment of a new CEO and CFO commence immediately.Interesting articles on retail
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