Nearly a year after A&P shut down and sold its stores in a bankruptcy auction, acquirers are still reopening sites with an eye on reintroducing competition in weary Northeast markets. Queens, N.Y.-based Food Bazaar, this week has reopened a former Pathmark in Fairview, N.J. as well as a former Food Basics site in North Bergen, N.J. Next week, some other stores will reopen. (supermarketnews.com)AU: Owner of Coles suffers biggest fall in years
Australian retail and resources conglomerate Wesfarmers, suffered their biggest fall in seven years on Wednesday, hit by weaker-than-expected quarterly sales in its Coles supermarket division. Food and liquor sales growth at Australia's No. 2 supermarket halved in July-August from the same period last year, according to figures announced by the company on Wednesday. That sparked concerns that Coles could be losing ground to its main rival Woolworths Ltd and new entrants to the market, such as German discount grocer Aldi, pushing down Wesfarmers' shares by as much as 5.2%. (Reuters)Canada: Metro's online produce gets freshness guarantee
Metro now offers consumers the opportunity to do their grocery shopping online with a guaranteed freshness promise. To guarantee freshness, employees dedicated to online grocery shopping were trained to select the freshest in-store products, like customers would choose themselves. The products selected are then kept in-store in a dedicated Tri-Zones® area: temperate, refrigerated and frozen zones. The freshness of the products is thus preserved and guaranteed, from shelf until they are collected at the store or delivered to home, delivery trucks being equipped with the same process. (news.sys-con.com) 
Austria: Hofer rewarded with 'best retailer 2016' awardHofer, Austria's version of Aldi, has been named the number one retailer in the country, in an independent awards programme. The 'Best Retailer 2016' programme involved seven categories with a total of 47 criteria. (esmmagazine.com)
Walmart's investment in Flipkart might run into trouble
Investment by the world's biggest retailer Walmart Stores Inc, in Flipkart, seems to have run into trouble with sources stating the deal is facing hiccups. Walmart was in talks with Flipkart to invest between $750m and $1bn for a minority stake. On Tuesday Flipkart's Chief Financial Officer, Sanjay Baweja, abruptly quit the company, less than two years after joining India's largest e-commerce marketplace. (indiatimes.com) UK: Tesco boss says price rises ''very likely"
Tesco's boss has warned that food prices are “very likely” to rise as Britain finalises its plan to leave the EU. Chairman John Allan said the value of the pound, and the possibility of increased inflation, would most likely have a knock-on effect for consumers. “We are trying to defend our customers from unjustified price increases, but that there will be some price increases going forward is very likely,” he told the Today programme. (peterboroughtoday.co.uk)Greenpeace asks supermarkets to do more about pesticides
Greenpeace has asked the ten leading companies to regulate the use of pesticides. The result of the Greenpeace survey conducted in Germany is as follows. The supermarkets of the Rewe Group occupy the first place with 53% of the possible points; Coop with 21% was named the last. “Pesticides do not belong in the field, or on our plates,” says Christiane Huxdorff, Greenpeace’s agriculture expert. (internationalsupermarketnews.com) Poland postpones new retail tax until end-2017
The Polish Government has decided to suspend the planned retail tax until the end of 2017. According to a statement issued by the Government, the suspension will give authorities more time to work on a new version of the tax, and provide additional time for the European Commission to complete its investigation. (esmmagazine.com)Supervalu sells Save-A-Lot for $1.3bn
Supervalu, announced the sale of Save-A-Lot business to Onex Corporation, one of North America’s oldest private equity firms, for $1.3bn in cash. In connection with the sale, SuperValu and Save-A-Lot will enter into a five-year professional services agreement, where SuperValu will provide Save-A-Lot with fundamental services and support its day-to-day operations, including information technology, payroll and finance. (risnews.edgl.com)UK convenience sector set to spread while supermarkets shrink
Convenience store space is the only UK retail sector expected to expand, according to a combination of data from the Institute of Grocery Distribution (IGD) and research by the Co-op Group. The sector is forecast to grow by 2.2%, while supermarket space is anticipated to shrink by 2% in the next three years, it was revealed during the IGD Big Debate. Fresh produce ranges have seen an increase in sales, especially of prepared products such as chilled potato items, which grew by almost 10% in the year to May, according to research company Kantar. (Co-operative News)Finland's Kesko sees net sales grow by 13.9%
Finnish retail and services group, Kesko, has seen its net sales for the nine month period from January to September rise to €7.41bn, up from €6.5bn a year earlier, an increase of 13.9%. If acquisitions and disposals are excluded, the retailer's sales grew by 2.0%. Operating profit was €187.0m, compared to €155.3m a year earlier. (esmmagazine.com) Retailers grow share with organic, clean label store brands
Food retailers are democratizing organic and “clean label” foods with a growing array of aggressively priced private labels. H-E-B recently debuted the H-E-B Select line, that excludes 200 synthetic ingredients. Earlier this year, Topco, Elk Grove Village, Ill., made available for distribution through its 40 retailer member-companies, more than 800 rebranded Full Circle Market organic and “best of nature” products. Kroger launched its Simple Truth natural and organic line, which at $1.5bn in sales, is the nation’s largest natural and organic brand, according to Jon Hauptman, senior director of Barrington, an Inmar analytics company. (supermarketnews.com) 
AU: Woolworths expected to show sales are turningAnalysts are expecting Woolworths’ first quarter sales to show signs the business is turning around when it posts results this week, while rival Coles’ strong growth is expected to ease. (news.com.au)
Canada lags behind the US and UK when it comes to online grocery shopping
Canadians are happy buying their books and music on the web, but aren’t embracing online grocery shopping, suggests a new report. According to the results of an online survey of 1,000 Canadians in August, 92% of respondents said they shopped online, but only 15% said they had bought groceries on the web. While almost 40 per cent of online-shopping spending was linked to entertainment purchases, just 4% was tied to food and groceries. (theglobeandmail.com)Google Express expands, now reaches 90% of U.S.
Only a month after Google expanded its home delivery service, Google Express, across a wide part of the Northeastern U.S., the company is today bringing its Amazon competitor to a number of new states in both the Southeast and Northwest. As of today, Google Express is launching in portions of Alabama, Kentucky, Utah, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. Google Express ditched its plans to delve into fresh produce delivery. (techcrunch.com) Food waste in high pitch at Walmart
A former employee, Daniel Schoeler who worked at almost a dozen Walmart stores in the Vancoer area is speaking out about what he calls ‘heart breaking’ food waste at the giant retailer. He told that on every shift in almost every store, he could see tons of what appeared to be perfectly good food, including fruit and vegetables, dumped into the trash even though the retailer says it only discards waste food. (internationalsupermarketnews.com)Food for thought: Supermarket data boom ripe for providing fresh market insights to suppliersPlease, click here to read the article.