Metcash-owned grocery chain IGA has launched a new price-matching campaign, and has already moved to drop prices on more than 2000 products, yahoo.com reports. IGA, that has 800 stores nationally, claims its Price Match Promise initiative will match hundreds of everyday items. Irish grocery chain Supervalu tumbles down
Grocery chain Supervalu tumbled down this year’s Fortune 500 list to such an extent that it earned an ignominious distinction: the biggest drop in rank, fortune.com reports. The company, No. 164 in the annual corporate ladder based on sales, fell 70 spots from last year after selling off parts of its business in a corporate restructuring. It had been No. 94.US: Kroger expanding e-commerce efforts
The Kroger Co. seeks to fuel continued growth by expanding its use of digital technology, foodbusinessnews.net reports. Less than a year after acquiring Vitacost.com, Inc., an on-line retailer of natural and organic products, the Cincinnati-based supermarket chain is leveraging the company’s e-commerce expertise to test and launch new platforms. In the Denver market, Kroger has introduced a new web site with its King Soopers division. Customers in the Denver area may shop for 36,000 natural and organic products on KingSoopers.com/LiveNaturally. The products offered on the web site are free from 101 artificial additives and preservatives, according to the company. Kroger said it will test the concept in the Denver market before expanding to other markets.US: Amazon lowers prices on grocery-delivery
AmazonFresh, Amazon’s grocery delivery service which lets customers shop for both fresh produce and other packaged goods, is now being made available to Amazon Prime members in select markets for a $7.99 per delivery fee, on top of their $99 per year Amazon Prime membership, techcrunch.com reports. This is a new pricing tier for AmazonFresh, and one that may make the service more palatable to a wider array of customers. Previously, the cost for an AmazonFresh Prime membership was a much steeper $299 per year, though the push to upgrade to this tier had recently been delayed.UK: Tesco expected to reveal fall in sales
Tesco is expected to reveal a deterioration in UK trading this week, as Britain’s biggest retailer prepares to face investors angered by “excessive” boardroom pay, theguardian.com reports. Hopes of a rapid recovery under its new boss, Dave Lewis, are fading, with City analysts forecasting a fall in like-for-like sales of between 2% and 3% during the 13 weeks to 30 May. Lidl becomes second largest retailer in Bulgaria
Four years after the opening of its first store in Bulgaria, the German discounter Lidl has become the second largest retail chain in this country, only behind Kaufland, capital.bg reports. It grew by 26% in 2014 compared to the previous year, with almost 540m Lev in revenue (€276m), pushing Billa down to third place. At the end of last year, Lidl had 76 stores and the plan for 2015 is to open three new ones, although medium and long-term programmes have not yet been announced publicly.Turkey’s top 500 can’t match Walmart
The total value of Turkey’s top 500 industrial enterprises’ sales from production, only equates to 37.2% of the American retail giant Walmart Stores sales' values, as reported by turkiyegazetesi.com.tr. The American retail giant heads the Forbes 2000 list for sales amounting to $485.7bn.Poland: Dino market looking for suppliers
On the 25 September in MCC in Ożarów Mazowiecki the DINO chain will be present among the exhibitors of the Commercial Trade Centre, freshmarket.eu reports. In 1999 in the Wielkopolskie voivodeship the first DINO stores were opened. Today the chain consists of more that 120 storesDelhaize has no plans to exit Greece
Belgian food retailer Delhaize said on Friday it had no plans to leave Greece and that its stores there were prospering, although it has taken measures to deal with a possible Greek debt default, Reuters reports. Delhaize operates Alfa Beta, the second largest food retailer in the country, part of a southeastern Europe division which makes up some 14% of group sales.Romanian Mega Image to close its four supermarkets
Mega Image decided to close the four locations they have in Pitesti, according to a press release they distributed this morning, business-review.eu reports. The stores will be closed during the following weeks. An analysis of their annual strategy and their stores showed that the points in Pitesti are not yielding a high enough sales level to allow continuing of their commercial activity. CA: Loblaws workers preparing for a strike
The union representing workers at Loblaws says its members have rejected a tentative agreement reached with the company, theglobeandmail.com reports. The United Food and Commercial Workers Union posted a statement on its website saying it would be reaching out to the grocery chain about a return to the bargaining table. In the meantime the union says it’s ramping up strike preparations.Denmark: Distribution agreement with Dansk Supermarked extended
Dansk Supermarked and FK Distribution have signed an agreement for distribution of unaddressed printed matters and NejTak+ for the Bilka, Føtex, Netto and other chain supermarket stores in Denmark until 31 December 2017, globenewswire.com reports. The agreement is a renewal of the current agreement, which expires at the end of this year. X5 retail CEO criticizes Russian law to reduce supplier payments
The head of X5 Retail Group NV, Russia’s second-largest retailer, criticized the government’s proposed limits on supplier payments, saying it’s “not the best thing to do” to counter rising consumer prices, Bloomberg reports. The planned legislation caps the average bonus suppliers pay retailers to 3% of the goods’ value versus the current 10%. The bill, which aims to keep prices in check and ease access to store shelves for local producers, was passed by Russia’s lower house of parliament in May.German Metro plans to expand abroad
German retail group Metro is to invest in its online and international operations following the sale of its Kaufhof department-store chain, its CEO has said in a recent interview with the business magazine WirtschaftsWoche. "We plan an expansion of our investments in digital businesses, modernisation of older stores and more Metro Cash & Carry stores, also in new countries," he said. (esmmagazine.com)Interesting links on retail
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