Costco continued its run of strong performances on a key sales metric in August, and posted significant growth in its small but expanding e-commerce efforts. The Issaquah-based warehouse giant saw comparable sales — which includes sales open at stores at least a year, as well as online sales — grow 7.3% companywide for the four weeks ended Aug. 27. The comparable-store sales grew 7.4% in the U.S. and 8.2% in Canada. (seattletimes.com) SpartanNash expands Double Up Food Bucks to 46 Michigan stores
SpartanNash is again expanding its participation in the Double Up Food Bucks healthy food incentive program, bringing on an additional 29 stores. That triples SpartanNash’s participation in the Double Up program in 2017, with 46 stores now taking part in Michigan. Double Up Food Bucks matches Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps) purchases of fresh fruits and vegetables with a financial benefit to local growers as participating stores prioritize local sourcing. (theshelbyreport.com)US: Grocery is driving e-commerce success at Walmart
A new study by Slice Intelligence shows grocery composes a large and growing share, at 26%, of Walmart’s U.S. e-commerce sales in the second quarter, according to Business Insider. Slice’s data shows Walmart.com, Walmart Grocery and Sam’s Club e-commerce sales combined grew 73% year-over-year in Q2 2017. Walmart.com represented about 50% of the company’s U.S. e-commerce sales in Q2, down from about 70% a year ago. While virtually non-existent two years ago, Slice’s data shows grocery e-commerce sales have more than doubled from June 2016 to June 2017, and now accounts for more than a quarter of Walmart’s U.S. online sales. (fooddive.com)US: Meal kit startup wins first grocery partner
Chef'd, a first-of-its-kind meal kit marketplace, is partnering with Gelson's Markets in a strategic push to expand distribution into retail. California-based Gelson's will now offer the Chef'd meal kits at the Gelson's Valley Village/North Hollywood store on Laurel Canyon Blvd., with plans to expand into other locations across the retailer's Southern California store portfolio. (retailleader.com)
Look to Spain to see Amazon's US grocery plansPlease, click here to read the article.
German Metro posts increase in Q3 sales
Germany's Metro Group has posted a 2.6% increase in sales in the third quarter of its financial year, to €9.34bn. Reported sales were up 4.9%. Reported sales in Germany were up 0.8% for the quarter to €2.97bn. Internationally, reported sales were up 7.0% to €6.37bn. It also flagged a 70% rise in online sales at its struggling German hypermarket chain Real, where like-for-like sales rose 2.5% in the quarter, recovering from a 3.4% fall in the first half. Please, click here to read more at esmmagazine.com. Carrefour sees Q2 sales up in home market France
Carrefour has reported a 1.9% increase in like-for-like sales in its home market of France in the second quarter of its financial year. Other European countries also performed well for the group in the quarter, rising by +8.6% in total and +3.4% like-for-like. Latin America saw second-quarter sales up +6.9% like-for-like and +20.0% in total, boosted by favourable currency effects. In Asia however, sales were down 4.7% on a like-for-like basis, and 2.3% overall. Overall, group sales were up 3.3% at constant exchange rates to €43.05bn in the first half of the year, or 6.2% on a current currency basis, with currency having a favourable effect of +2.8%. Looking ahead to the full year, Carrefour said that its FY 2017 results were likely to be ‘impacted by our H1 performance and an operating environment that will remain difficult in H2 in some countries. (esmmagazine.com) Coviran opens four new supermarkets in Portugal
Spanish cooperative retailer Coviran has opened four new supermarkets in Portugal during the months of July and August. The stores are located in Lisbon, Setúbal and Santarém. All of the new stores feature a butcher's counter, bakery, and fresh fruit and vegetable section. Coviran has become the third largest retailer in Portugal in terms of number of establishments, according to Nielsen, accounting for 2.15% of the sector. (esmmagazine.com)UK: Aldi cuts time it takes to pay its small suppliers to 14 days
German retailer Aldi is reducing the time it takes to pay its small suppliers to 14 days. The new terms, effective as of September 11th, will apply to 100 or so suppliers that transact up to €300,000 worth of business annually with Aldi. The terms are very competitive with industry norms. Figures from the Small Firms Association for example, indicate that on average it takes 62 days for a small firm to get paid, even though the majority of contracts offer credit terms of just 30 days. (irishtimes.com) Spar completes conversion of Billa stores in Croatia
Spar Croatia has completed the conversion of Billa stores, following its acquisition of the retail chain last December. The 40 new Spar stores are located throughout Croatia, and range in size from 500 to 1,500 square metres. Around 1,900 Billa employees have also joined Spar. (esmmagazine.com) Polish retailer Dino sees 2017 sales rising
Polish retail chain Dino, which debuted on the Warsaw bourse earlier this year, expects sales and investments to rise this year as it opens new stores, its CEO said on Wednesday. Dino reported on Tuesday a 23% increase in net profit on sales up 34% in the second quarter, sending its shares 4% higher on Wednesday. (Reuters)