SpartanNash announced that it has completed the previously announced acquisition of certain assets of Caito Foods Service (“Caito”). Under the terms of the agreement, SpartanNash acquired Caito’s produce distribution business, fresh cut fruits and vegetables business and the company’s newly constructed Fresh Kitchen facility which is designed to process and package fresh-prepared foods, as well as the logistics business of BRT. (SpartanNash)Budget fruit and vegetables help Aldi notch up record sales
Aldi notched up record sales over the Christmas period after shoppers snapped up both luxury products and cut-price fruit and vegetables. The German supermarket said total UK sales were more than 15% higher during December compared to the same month in 2015. The firm's "super 6" campaign, which reduced the price of six festive fruit and veg lines to just 19p in the two weeks before Christmas, saw it sell 4.5 million packets of carrots, two million packets of Brussels sprouts and two million packs of parsnips. (manchestereveningnews.co.uk)Nisa's fresh produce sales rise almost 18%
A major distributor to the UK independent and convenience retailing sector, Nisa has reported like-for-like sales through its central distribution service up 2.2% in the 10 weeks to 1 January 2017, showing a healthy performance through the key festive trading period. One key area driving growth was Nisa's fresh produce ranges which registered a 17.7% rise over the 10 weeks. This was driven by Nisa's 'Festive 5' offer, featuring five key Heritage own label produce lines. (igd.com)Spanish Mercadona signs food safety accord
Spanish retailer Mercadona and the government of the Castilla-La Mancha region have signed an agreement to guarantee the security of food products, financialfood.es has reported. The agreement assures the rapid communication of any health alerts, to ensure that unsafe food is not placed on store shelves. It establishes the proper procedure to follow if either party becomes aware of unsafe items in the region. (esmmagazine.com) Egypt urban consumer prices rise fastest in at least 6 years
Egypt’s urban consumer prices rose the fastest in at least six years in December, fueled in part by a 28.3% increase in food costs following the central bank’s decision to abandon currency controls two months ago. (esmmagazine.com) Albertsons in online program benefitting low-income shoppers
Albertsons is helping expand online grocery purchases to low-income individuals nationwide. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has selected Albertsons Companies to participate in the online purchasing pilot for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) — a service targeting low-income households. (chainstoreage.com) Morrisons beats forecasts with strong Christmas
Morrisons raised its profit forecast on Tuesday after new ranges and revamped stores helped Britain's fourth biggest supermarket beat expectations for Christmas trading with its strongest underlying sales performance for seven years. The group said sales at stores open over a year, excluding fuel, rose 2.9% in the nine weeks to Jan. 1, the bulk of its fourth quarter, ahead of analysts' average forecast of 1.1% growth and a third-quarter rise of 1.6%. (Reuters)Sligro Food Group sees decline in food retail sales
The Sligro Food Group, based in The Netherlands, has recorded a revenue of €2,813m for 2016, representing an increase of 5.4% compared to the same (52-week) period in 2015. In addition, the group recorded an overall organic growth of 2.3%, with the strongest organic growth (3%) occurring in the last quarter of the year. (esmmagazine.com) Trump speaks with Alibaba
Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba Group, met with the president-elect, Monday, at Trump Tower to pitch plans on how to create 1 million American jobs by helping small businesses sell to China. In recent years, China’s strengthening middle class has increased demand for U.S. products such as fresh fruit, cosmetics and baby supplies, Alibaba says. (latimes.com) Door to Door Organics replaces Relay Foods in Mid-Atlantic
Relay Foods, an online-only grocery delivery service operating in a handful of Mid-Atlantic markets, is retiring its name and adopting the go-to-market strategy of its new parent company, Door to Door Organics. Charlottesville, Va.-based Relay, which merged with Louisville, Colo.-based Door to Door Organics last summer, also said it will exit the North Carolina and Lynchburg, Va., markets effective Jan. 15. It will also end its delivery to “pickup spots” and will instead focus solely on direct home delivery. (supermarketnews.com) Metro Group sees sales up marginally in Q1
Metro Group has seen like-for-like sales growth of 0.1% across its operations for the first quarter of the year, reporting €17bn in sales for the period. While this was down 0.4% in local currency terms, the previous year’s total included sales at Metro Cash & Carry Vietnam, which has now been sold. ‘Adjusted for this portfolio effect, business in the Christmas quarter developed positively,’ Metro Group said in a statement. Sales at its Metro Cash & Carry and Media-Saturn operations were up marginally on the prior year, however Real saw ‘declining sales’. (esmmagazine.com)Swedish Netto to focus on organic
Discount retailer Netto is renewing its focus on organic, as it launches a new organic range in Sweden and is running an organic-themed competition in Denmark. Netto is launching a new organic private label range this year, Go Eko (Go Organic), as it looks to capitalise on the growing popularity of organic products in Sweden. In 2015, Swedish sales of organic food products reached €2.2bn, an increase of 39% versus the previous year. Organic’s share of Sweden’s grocery market also reached 7.7%, an increase of 2.1% versus the previous year. (igd.com) US: Costco records sales gains by winning over young customers
The Christmas 2016 selling season was very good for Costco. Sales rose 2% overall, 1% in the U.S., 5% in Canada 5% and 1% in “other” regions for the 18 weeks ended Jan. 1, 2017. It is important to note that sales increased in the five weeks of December. Total sales in the December period increased 3%, 3% in the U.S., 7% in Canada, while “other” dropped 3%. (forbes.com) UK supermarkets show fastest growth level since Summer 2014: Kantar Worldpanel
According to the latest Kantar Worldpanel market share figures for the 12 weeks to 1 January, UK supermarkets are growing at the fastest rate since June 2014. An additional consumer spend of £480m at the tills during Christmas has driven sales up by 1.8% for the period. (esmmagazine.com) 
Amazon gets patent for mega-droneThe Amazon Technologies Inc. patent describes a large and robust flying drone made up of numerous smaller drones, designed to make long-distance flights or to carry heavy packages. (livescience.com)
Tesco to axe 1,000 jobs as it shuts distribution centres
Tesco is shutting two of its UK distribution centres in a move that will create more than 1,000 redundancies at the supermarket chain. At the same time Britain's biggest grocer is axing its warehouse relationships with logistics experts DHL and Wincanton and bringing all of those operations in-house. The moves are part of a plan masterminded by Matt Davies, Tesco's UK and Ireland boss, to simplify its 'behind the scene' operations and adapt them to the increasingly online world. Please, click here to read more at telegraph.co.uk. Finland: S Group cuts prices of over one hundred home-grown vegetables
The S Group has announced that it will reduce the prices of almost 900 common grocery items, including those of more than 100 home-grown vegetables, at S-markets, Prisma hypermarkets, and Alepa and Sale corner shops. The prices of home-grown cucumbers, for example, will drop by 41% and those of home-grown apples, potatoes and tomatoes by roughly 20%, according to Helsingin Sanomat. (helsinkitimes.fi)Giant Eagle planning to close five supermarkets
Giant Eagle plans to close five supermarkets and four GetGo locations in Ohio, Maryland and in Altoona, the O’Hara-based grocer said. Three supermarkets and one GetGo are located in central Ohio; two supermarkets and one GetGo are located in northeastern Ohio. (post-gazette.com)
Wal-Mart CEO: We’ll be shopping very differently in 10 years
