Almost two years after the grocer postponed its initial public offering, Albertsons’ management and its private equity backers have put renewed plans for a listing on hold again, according to people familiar with the matter. Its own failed courtship with Whole Foods and Blue Apron Inc.’s weak IPO performance have further complicated options for a company already struggling with negative same-store sales amid a cutthroat grocery price war. In the months before Amazon’s game-changing $13.7bn takeover of Whole Foods was announced on June 16, Albertsons had been considering reviving its IPO plans and going public by the end of the year, the people said, asking not to be identified because the details are private. (Bloomberg)Report: 62% of shoppers more likely to visit Whole Foods after Amazon acquisition
Sixty-two percent of shoppers are more likely to shop at Whole Foods after the Amazon acquisition and 84% have positive feelings about the merger, according to a report by ChargeItSpot. The cell phone charging station provider polled 900 shoppers from across the country for the study. When asked what Amazon should add or change at Whole Foods stores, the top three responses were cashier-free checkout (31%), lower prices (30%) and in-store pickup for Amazon purchases (19%). (fooddive.com) US: Kroger hires Aldi vet to take over Ruler
Kroger said Wednesday that it has hired Aldi veteran Liz Ferneding to take over the vacant role of president of its Ruler Foods discount division. Ferneding, whose appointment is effective July 31, has served in a variety of leadership roles at Aldi over the past 11 years, including an international assignment in Australia. (supermarketnews.com) Walmart.com top online grocer for Fresh - research
Walmart.com is the most preferred online retailer for buying fresh foods, while Jet.com takes top spot for packaged groceries, according to a new report from Field Agent, a market research firm based in Fayetteville, Ark. The report, which compares four major ecommerce retailers – Amazon.com, Walmart.com, Target.com and Jet.com – shows that one-quarter (25%) of Walmart.com shoppers purchase fresh foods from the site, compared with 10%, 8% and 5% at Target.com, Jet.com and Amazon.com, respectively. (progressivegrocer.com) Study: Nearly all consumers find transparency in food and beverage important
Consumers are overwhelmingly interested in more transparency in food products, according to a new study from Response Media. Study results say almost everyone finds transparency important in food products — 99% for fresh food and 98% for packaged food — and 70% said their purchases are always or often influenced by transparency content. (fooddive.com)
Target's upbeat forecast drives retail stocks higherTarget Corp forecast sales to increase for the first time in five quarters, thanks to improved customer traffic and sales trends, sending its shares up as much as 4.4% and pushing retail stocks higher. (Reuters)
China: Alibaba trials its own cash register-free store
Alibaba opened the Tao Café in Hangzhou (China): customers can pay for their purchases thanks to a QR code scanned at the entrance. As soon as they leave the store with items, they are immediately paid. The 200 sqm store uses several technologies to track both the customer and the items, which limits the number of customers to fifty at a time. (retaildetail.eu) South Africa's Woolworths sees up to 10% fall in profit
Annual profit at South African upmarket retailer Woolworths Holdings could fall by as much as 10% due to increasingly difficult trading conditions at home and in Australia, it said on Thursday. Woolworths, which sells clothing, groceries and homeware, said headline earnings per share - the main profit gauge in South Africa that strips out certain one-off items - was likely to fall by between 5 and 10%. A Reuters poll of 12 analysts forecast a 6% drop. (Reuters)UK: Waitrose recruits first ever director of food service
Waitrose has appointed its first ever director of food service, which aligns with its strategy to develop its food service and hospitality proposition. Simon Burdess, vice president of restaurant and bars at InterContinental Hotels, will take up the newly created role. He will join Waitrose in September and brings a wealth of experience having previously been commercial director at Fortnum & Mason, and held a number of commercial roles at Marks & Spencer. (igd.com)Vanguard and Tesco announces data venture
Chinese supermarket chain Vanguard has announced a 50-50 joint venture on data science with Dunnhumby, Tesco's data analysis firm. The joint venture will help Vanguard better understand shopper habits and consumer behaviour so that they can target their marketing campaigns and promotions more effectively. The data analysis may also prove useful in providing important insights to drive efficiencies in the retailer's distribution and supply chain networks. (igd.com)Globus 3.0: new hypermarket concept in Russia
Globus Russia began the construction of a new hypermarket concept - Globus 3.0 - near Moscow, scheduled to open by 2017-end. The new concept will have a fresh look and feel, include in-store services shop-in-shops to develop shopper mission, and introduce technology to ease path to payment. (igd.com)Early British plums hit Waitrose shelves
British plums have hit Waitrose shelves a record two weeks early after an unusually balmy summer. Grown on a family-owned farm in Gloucestershire, this is the earliest British plums have ever been sold by a supermarket thanks to recent ‘near perfect’ growing conditions, the company said in a press release. The right mix of weather over the last few weeks, which saw bright and warm days balanced with cooler evenings, has led to a much earlier launch this year, according to the retailer. Sales of free-from products in Italy worth over €6 billion
Sales of free-from products in Italy were worth over €6 billion in 2016, representing a 2.3% growth on 2015, according to data published by Osservatorio Immagino, a joint project by GS1 Italy and Nielsen. These products accounted for 28.4% of the overall turnover of the food retail sector. (esmmagazine.com) Bigbasket-Amazon talks stuck over valuation
Online grocery firm Bigbasket’s talks with multinational e-commerce giant Amazon have come to a halt, with disputes over its valuation and differences over its operating model (OM) occupying centre stage on the negotiation table. Amazon had entered into exclusive negotiations with BigBasket for a possible takeover but the talks broke down over talks on valuation, sources familiar with these developments told FE. BigBasket is estimated to be valued at $600-700 million. (financialexpress.com) India asks Amazon to keep food business separate
The government, while clearing Amazon's $500 million (Rs 3,225 crore) food retailing proposal on Monday, asked the US giant to maintain a separate management and offices for the food retailing venture and not mix it up with its marketplace business, people with knowledge of the matter said. "The approval comes with a host of riders," said one of the people, who asked not to be named. These include the need to have totally separate companies having separate boards, staff, bank accounts and inventories. (financialexpress.com) JD.Com inks deal to build cold-chain logistics network
Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com, Inc. has announced the signing of a strategic memorandum of understanding with Yamato Holdings Co., Ltd., a Japanese logistics company, to build a cold-chain logistics network in China for the delivery of chilled and frozen goods. In addition, the two companies will cooperate to develop technologies for unmanned warehouses, autonomous driving, artificial intelligence and big data technologies, according to a company announcement. (chinamoneynetwork.com)