German retailer Tegut has posted a sales increase of 1.2% for 2017, surpassing the bln euro sales mark for the first time. The retailer posted full year sales of €1.008bln, up from €996mln in 2016. The retailer, owned by Switzerland's Migros Group, increased its productivity per unit area for the fifth period in a row (by 0.9%) and generated 25.4% of its sales from organic products. The retailer also performed slightly better than its parent company, which posted a 1% sales increase for full year 2017 yesterday.Source: esmmagazine.com
India: Future Group in advanced talks to acquire Foodworld Supermarkets
Future Group is in advanced talks to acquire grocery retailer Foodworld Supermarkets, a deal that could give Kishore Biyani sway over a network of nearly 40 grocery stores in southern India, according to several people with knowledge of the matter. The supermarket chain was started nearly two decades ago as a division of Spencer & Co., part of the RPG Group, but became a separate company in 1999. It is now owned by Arko Enterprises and Health & Glow Retailing through a group of investors including veteran investment banker Hemendra Kothari and Rajan Raheja. Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com
Russia: X5 Retail Group cannot open more stores in St. Petersburg
X5 faces a competition authority restriction in St. Petersburg as it surpasses the 25% market share in that city following the acquisition of 37 Okay supermarkets. X5 exceeded the competition authorities local market threshold of 25% in the retail market of St. Petersburg. The company expects, from the FAS, a ban on any new development in the region in 2018.Source: retailanalysis.igd.com
Finland: S Group 2017: +2.3% to €11.3bln
The retailer’s supermarket business, which includes operations in Finland, the Baltics and Russia saw comparative sales increase by 1.5% to €7.9bln. Commenting on the results, CEO Taavi Heikkilä said: ‘Our sales developed in fine balance in our different businesses throughout the year. In addition to department store trade and supermarket trade, there was particular growth at ABC stations … We will continue to ensure the price competitiveness of our grocery trade and to increase our high-quality product range. The Stockmann Delicatessen stores, which were transferred to some of our cooperatives at the turn of the year, have been well received’.Source: retailanalysis.igd.com
Russia: Magnit halts negotiations for ETK
Magnit stopped negotiations on the purchase of Krasny Yar and Baton networks in Siberia. The owners of ETK, which manages these networks, decided to continue their independent development. In the fall of 2017, Magnit filed an application with the FAS for the acquisition of 100% of ETK LLC, which owns the rights to lease 153 stores and three hypermarkets in the Krasnoyarsk Territory and Khakassia.Source: retailanalysis.igd.com
India: BigBasket to invest Rs500 crore to ramp up farmer sourcing, tech
Online grocery store BigBasket expects to spend up to Rs500 crore to strengthen its technology and back-end farmer supply chain as it looks to more than double its customer base to 20mln by 2020, a top company executive said. "We are focusing significantly on strengthening our back-end farmer supply chain programme called Farmer Connect. Presently we are working with 1,800 farmers, and we will bring about 5,000 farmers into our fold in a year's time," Hari Menon, co-founder and CEO of BigBasket, told PTI here.Source: moneycontrol.com
ROK supermarket chain to close last store in China
E-Mart, a major supermarket chain from the Republic of Korea, will entirely leave the Chinese market following the closure of its last Chinese outlet next week. The outlet in Wuxi City in east China's Jiangsu Province is slated to be shut down on Jan. 31, according to a company announcement. Run by Shinsegae Group, E-Mart has been in China for 20 years. It used to have nearly 30 outlets in the country, but only six survived in 2017 due to tepid sales. The remaining five Chinese outlets have been sold to Thai conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Group.Source: xinhuanet.com
Supermarket chain Profi reaches 700 units in Romania
Profi, the biggest supermarket chain in Romania based on the number of units and localities covered, opened six new stores this week, thus reaching over 700 units. The group plans to invest over EUR 50mln this year in expanding its network, aiming to reach some 900 stores.Source: romania-insider.com
UK: Ocado to tap into Canada's online grocery market with Sobeys tie-up
Canada’s second largest food retailer Sobeys Inc has signed a deal to use the ecommerce platform of Ocado to expand its online business, sending shares in the British group up 10 percent on its latest international tie-up. Ocado, which has helped drive online shopping in Britain, one of the world’s most advanced ecommerce markets, has been to trying to sell its proprietary technology to international supermarkets in recent years, with new deals seen as key to the company’s valuation.Source: reuters.com
Amazon's automated grocery store of the future opens
Amazon.com Inc. will open its checkout-free grocery store to the public after more than a year of testing, the company said, moving forward on an experiment that could dramatically alter brick-and-mortar retail. The Seattle store, known as Amazon Go, relies on cameras and sensors to track what shoppers remove from the shelves, and what they put back. Cash registers and checkout lines become superfluous - customers are billed after leaving the store using credit cards on file.Source: reuters.com
US: Publix ranks as one of the world’s most admired companies
Fortune magazine ranked Publix No. 1 among the World’s Most Admired Companies in the food and drug stores industry category. The list of the World's Most Admired Companies is based on ratings calculated from thousands of business people within each industry. Survey respondents are asked to rate companies in their own industry on nine criteria, from investment value to social responsibility. Publix is privately owned and operated by its more than 190,000 employees, with 2016 sales of $34bln. Currently, Publix has 1,169 stores in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia. Source: businesswire.com