Kings Food Markets has implemented a new advanced commerce platform that optimizes inventory, lowers costs and increases sales. Repositrak's scan-based trading (SBT) solution, from Salt Lake City-based Park City Group, gives the upscale grocer greater efficiencies in direct-store-delivery receiving, reduced out-of-stocks, lower operating expenses and no-hassle payments. It can grow sales by 3% to 10% through greater visibility to product performance.Source: progressivegrocer.com
US: Walmart is teaming up with DoorDash to grow its grocery delivery service
Walmart is partnering with DoorDash, a restaurant delivery provider, for grocery delivery in Atlanta, Georgia, TechCrunch reports. DoorDash will provide companies with its network of delivery drivers as well as a back-end platform that will give them the technology to enable grocery delivery online. This will allow grocers to rapidly build out delivery networks while keeping the customer relationships in-house.Source: businessinsider.com
Botswana's Choppies H1 profit up 19% on South African operations
Botswana’s supermarket chain Choppies Enterprises half-year profits rose 19%, buoyed by an improved performance at its South African operations, the company said. The budget retailer, with operations in seven African countries, posted headline earnings per share (HEPS) for the six months to December, of 5.36 thebe (cents) compared with 4.52 thebe for the same period a year ago. HEPS is the main profit measure used, which strips out certain one-off items.Source: reuters.com
Italy: Crai generated €6.2bln in 2017
Crai saw revenues rise 5% in 2017, reaching €6.2bln versus €5.9bln in the previous year. New stores underpinned the revenue rise, with Crai adding 272 food-focused stores and 93 drugstores. The cooperative ended 2017 with more than 3,400 stores, with new formats Cuor di Crai, Crai Extra and Pellicano adding just over 100 between them. Looking ahead to 2018 Crai said ecommerce would be a focus, with the aim of enabling online orders to be fulfilled from 250 locations by the end of the year.Source: retailanalysis.igd.com
Australia: Woolworths' new automated distribution centre
Woolworths is building a new fully automated distribution centre in Melbourne that is expected to be operational later this year. The new facility is costing AU$215mln to build and will be located on a 15.9 hectare site in Dandenong South, 35km south of Melbourne's CBD. Once live, it is believed that the warehouse will be the largest distribution centre in Australia, stocking more products than both Woolworths' Sydney and Brisbane distribution centres combined. The centre is expected to supply most of Woolworths' stores across Victoria.Source: retailanalysis.igd.com
Dansk Supermarked 2017: +1.5% to €7.9bln
Dansk Supermarked has reported that its 2017 revenue increased by 1.5% to DKK58.8bln (€7.9bln) as its profit before tax increased by 26.6% to DKK2.2bln (€295.2mln). Commenting on the results, CEO Per Bank said, ‘We are satisfied with the 2017 result, given that we were able to increase revenue both abroad and at home. On top of that, Netto Denmark had its strongest year ever and our earnings improved’. On what lies ahead, he continued, ‘We expect over the next few years to further strengthen our position in Denmark as well as continuing digital investments and increasing the pace of expansions in Sweden and Poland’.Source: retailanalysis.igd.com
UK: Co-op launches new mobile website to enable staff to manage shifts digitally
Following a successful trial involving hundreds of colleagues, the ‘Shifts’ technology has been rolled out across the organisation to allow all staff in-store to view which days they are working and how many hours they are scheduled as well as their holiday and break entitlement via their mobile phone. After the launch, the Co-op found that over 10,000 employees had registered to use the system in just over 48 hours.Source: theretailbulletin.com
Holland: Ahold Delhaize launches AI research initiative
Ahold Delhaize has struck a new partnership that will explore how artificial intelligence can be used to make product recommendations for shoppers and better manage the flow of goods. The Netherlands-based retailer is partnering with the first lab for the Innovation Center for Artificial Intelligence (ICAI), a public-private lab that officially launched at Amsterdam Science Park this week. ICAI focuses on the joint development of AI technology through industry labs with the business sector, government and knowledge institutes. It was initiated by the University of Amsterdam and the VU University Amsterdam.Source: winsightgrocerybusiness.com
South Korea: Lotte sells retailer operator in China to Wumei for $230mln
South Korea’s Lotte Shopping said that it has agreed to sell one of its six operators of hypermarket and supermarket stores in China to Wumei Holdings for about 248.5bln won ($230.2mln). Last year, Lotte Shopping picked Goldman Sachs to manage the sale of its Lotte Mart stores in China, after most of them were shut down amid political tensions between the two countries. The retailer had aimed for the sale by the end of last year. Source: reuters.com
Australia's Wesfarmers says Q3 supermarket sales up 1.3%
Australia’s Wesfarmers Ltd said its third-quarter comparable supermarket store sales rose 1.3%, after adjustments for holidays, though Bunnings UK same-store sales slumped 15.4% due to poor weather in March. The retail-to-resources conglomerate said headline food and liquor sales rose 1.9% to A$25.1bln ($19bln) for the financial year to March.Source: reuters.com