Costco Wholesale has launched a flagship store on Alibaba's Tmall as it looks to further expand the products it sells to Chinese consumers, including food. Costco started selling in China three years ago, on Alibaba's cross-border e-commerce channel Tmall Global. By operating on both platforms, Costco will be able to offer nearly 800 SKUs to customers in China, about 300 of which are a part of the new Tmall store. (igd.com)UK: Morrisons sales jump
Morrisons reported a 12.7% rise in first-half profit and a seventh straight quarter of underlying sales growth, cementing a turnaround under CEO David Potts. It said on Thursday it made an underlying pretax profit of 177 million pounds in the half to July 30. That compared to analysts’ average forecast of 176 million pounds and 157 million pounds made in the same period last year. Like-for-like sales, excluding fuel and VAT sales tax, were up 2.6% over the second quarter, having increased 3.4% in the first quarter. (Reuters)Costco to offer online shopping in Australia
Costco are setting-up an online shopping website in Australia, with launch expected in early 2019. Costco are in the early stages of developing an online shopping platform in Australia in preparation of Amazon's imminent entry to the market. The retailer will build one the largest dedicated warehouses in the country on the Oakdale Estate in Sydney to service their planned online website. Costco first entered Australia in 2009 and has grown strongly, driven by both existing store growth and new store openings. (igd.com)UK: Tesco acquisition target Booker reports Q2 sales up
British wholesaler Booker Group, which has agreed a 3.7bn pound ($4.89bn) takeover by Tesco, said its second-quarter like-for-like sales rose 1.3% helped by strength in catering and retail supply. Group sales, including its Budgens and Londis stores, rose by 1.1%. Booker said the competition review of the planned merger with Tesco is progressing and it was currently going through the review process with Britain's Competition and Markets Authority. (Reuters)China's e-commerce player joins hands with Danish grocer
China's cross-border e-commerce platform Kaola.com signed an agreement on Wednesday with Denmark's supermarket chain Irma on bringing Danish brands to the Chinese market through the platform. The range of products will then gradually be extended, not least with ecological and eco-labeled groceries. (news.xinhuanet.com) Chinese web grocer’s IPO requires a strong stomach
A Chinese online grocer's flotation may struggle to pique investor appetites. Food giant COFCO wants to raise up to $600 million in Hong Kong floating its supermarket website, IFR reported on Aug. 26. Ordering fresh food online is hot, with sales in China on track to top $36bn by next year, estimates iResearch. But the group is loss-making and battling it out with rivals in a price war. Please, click here to read more at Reuters. India: Future Group plans HyperCity acquisition
Future Group is negotiating a deal to acquire large format retailer HyperCity, in an attempt to expand its presence across India. A deal is expected to be reached by the end of this month. HyperCity operates around 20 hypermarkets in a number of different cities across India; Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jaipur, Pune, Ahmedabad, Delhi and Noida in Delhi-NCR. Food accounts for around 65% of HyperCity's sales. (igd.com)Marks & Spencer Food has finally opened in UAE
The first standalone Marks & Spencer Food store in the UAE has opened up at the Dubai Marina. Back in April, M&S executive director Patrick Bousquet-Chavanne told Dubai Eye: “Marks and Spencer will be opening their first-ever stand-alone food store in Dubai Marina in a few weeks. It will be the first in the region and will have a much bigger food catalogue.” (timeoutdubai.com) 
Appel: Fresh Market to ‘double down’ on serviceThe incoming CEO of The Fresh Market pledged to “double down” on quality and service and said stores under his watch would define value “more broadly than competitive pricing.” Please, click here to read more at supermarketnews.com.
PCC rebrands to emphasize its local roots
Seattle-based cooperative food retailer PCC Natural Markets on Wednesday introduced a new name, logo and branding campaign that it said better reflects its mission and heritage. Now called “PCC Community Markets,” the co-op also announced a range of new offerings celebrating its local relationships while meeting Seattle shoppers’ growing appetites for healthful, organic and made-from-scratch food. (supermarketnews.com)