Widening gap between Aldi and Lidl in Ireland (Kantar)
Kantar Worldpanel Ireland says a record 72.4% of all Irish households shopped in a Lidl store in the last quarter, widening the gap with rival discounter Aldi. Sales growth for Aldi stand at 2.4% in the latest quarter – “a positive step up from the previous results for April, and an early sign that sales growth might be starting to improve again”, it says. (newstalk.com)
Source: Kantar Worldpanel Ireland
Whole Foods to start delivery service in London
The fresh food and organic and natural specialist retailer is offering its London customers the option to shop online (www.wholefoods.london) and have their orders delivered within 1-2 hours. Working with delivery company Quiqup, Whole Foods completed a successful trial last month and the service is offered from four branches. (researchfarm.co.uk)
Sainsbury's reported a fall in like-for-like sales over the last three months and warned of challenging times ahead. With total sales looking steady and investors fearing the worst, however, shares jumped by 2.6% in early trading. Total retail sales at the retailer were up by 0.3%, excluding fuel, in the 12 weeks to 4 June, but down 0.8% on a like-for-like basis. After including sales of petrol, the sales figures look even more disappointing with total sales down 0.1% and like-for like sales off by 1%. (cityam.com)Walmart investors are smiling once again
Walmart stock is up more than 16% this year. That makes the discount retailer the third-best performing stock in the Dow, trailing only UnitedHealth and Exxon Mobil and not by much either. Walmart has done much better than its key competitors. Target and Costco have each fallen more than 5%. Even Amazon is "only" up 7.5%. (Granted, Amazon is at an all-time high. Walmart is not.) (cnn.com)Bailian enters e-commerce fray in China
Chinese state-owned retail giant Bailian Group has launched its own e-commerce platform, aiming to boost online and offline sales. Among the 78 online applications introduced on the platform is Bailian Daojia (a home delivery service), which allows residents in Shanghai to shop for groceries and fresh food from the company's online platform and have the goods delivered from the nearest outlet within three hours. (igd.com)Tesco to sell Giraffe and Turkish chains
The UK's biggest retailer will announce this week that it is offloading its interests in Turkey and Giraffe as its CEO accelerates its exit from underperforming businesses. Migros, another Turkish-owned retailer, is understood to be the buyer of Kipa, which Tesco acquired in 2003. Dave Lewis, Tesco's boss, has also sanctioned the sale of Giraffe, which it has owned for just three years. The chain is being sold to an unidentified family office vehicle which has existing restaurant assets in the UK, sources said. (sky.com)Japan: Aeon to launch Picard frozen food store
Japanese retail giant Aeon has announced that they will collaborate with French frozen food retailer Picard Surgelés and launch the first frozen food supermarket in Japan. In Japan, there is a growing need for frozen foods requiring little preparation time. Aeon looks to tap into this market and aims to use the new format to take frozen foods to a whole new level. (igd.com)
Google has taken out the number one slot in the BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands rankings. Last time the list was released there were five Australian brands taking out the honours, this year there's only three, with Woolworths and Westpac are no longer in the top 100. (adnews.com.au)China: Ito Yokado to close another Beijing store
Japanese retailer Ito Yokado will shut down another store in Beijing, after four have been closed since 2014. Ito Yokado’s sales in China peaked in 2008, but the business has been struggling to make a profit in recent years, which has led to a series of store closures. (adnews.com.au)AU: First four supermarkets open in WA
Aldi has opened four stores on today (Wednesday), at Belmont Forum, Kwinana, Lakeside Joondalup and The Square Mirrabooka shopping centres. Aldi WA managing director WA Damien Scheidel told PerthNow he was expecting close to 10,000 shoppers at all four stores on opening day. (themercury.com.au)US: Kroger Atlanta to offer ClickList
Following its rollout in four stores in the Houston, Texas market, Kroger says it will next launch ClickList, its proprietary online grocery ordering and pickup service, in Atlanta Division stores. The first store to launch the service will be in in Cumming, Georgia. Customers can shop for more than 40,000 items on ClickList across the entire store, including fresh produce, before selecting a location and time slot most convenient to them. Items are delivered to the customer at the pickup location within minutes of arrival. (theshelbyreport.com)Covirán now third largest retailer in Portugal
Covirán is now the third largest grocery retailer in terms of store count in Portugal, with the retailer operating 327 supermarkets, accounting for a 2.13% market share at the end of 2015. In Portugal, the cooperative has 242 members, or independent retailers, while the number of local suppliers amounts to 262. (esmmagazine.com)
Ocado sinks as grocers fear new internet threat and a growing trend towards convenience stores