A new supermarket is set open on the site of an historic police station in a West Wales town. Co-Op has announced that it will close its current Ammanford store and open a new shop at the former home of the town’s police station and magistrates' court. The Victorian police station was demolished in 2004 and the supermarket chain will now hope to breathe life back into the site with an “improved shopping experience” compared to the one they currently offer at the existing store - a couple of hundred yards away on College Street in the middle of town.Source: walesonline.co.uk
Romanian retail sales growth eases for third month
Romania's retail sales growth moderated for the third straight month in March, figures from the National Institute of Statistics showed. Sales of food, beverages and tobacco grew 11.9% annually in March and those of non-food products climbed by 4.6%. Month-on-month, retail sales increased 0.6% from February, when it decreased by 2.8%.Source: markets.businessinsider.com
Carrefour China launches new concept store
Carrefour has launched Le marche, a new concept store located in Shanghai on no.18 North Pusong road. Carrefour officially opened Le marche on 27 April. Its latest concept store combines retail and foodservice in a stylish setting to deliver a better shopping experience. Customers can purchase fresh and live seafood and have it prepared and dine in store. Offering a ready-to-eat experience in stores is gaining popularity. Carrefour's Le marche Tianshan store offers a strong bakery, fresh and healthy fruits and vegetables, latest electronics and an abundant selection of imported items.Source: retailanalysis.igd.com
China: JD.com opens its largest unmanned store in Xiong’an new area
China’s second-largest e-commerce company by sales, JD.com, has opened its first unmanned store in Xiong’an New Area, a new district being built just south of Beijing that the central government intends to develop into a new economic hub. JD.com opened the 246 square metre (2,648 square foot). high tech retail venue on Tuesday, according to an article published on the company’s website, creating the e-commerce giant’s largest outlet in its growing chain of staffless stores.Source: mingtiandi.com
Eurostat reports Eurozone retail sales up 0.1% in March
Volume sales in the eurozone increased by 0.1% in March when compared with February this year, statistics from Eurostat show. The statistical office of the European Union attributed the increase to a rise of 0.2% in food, drinks and tobacco. However, non-food products fell by 0.5%. Latvia (+2.3%), Portugal (+1.8%), Austria and Sweden (both +1.3%) recorded the highest yearly increases in the total retail trade volume. Decreases were observed in Ireland (-1.7%), Poland (-0.8%), the United Kingdom (-0.7%) and Germany (-0.6%).Source: esmmagazine.com
China: Alibaba's annual revenue up 58%
Alibaba has reported a 58% increase in annual revenue (US$39,898mln) for the fiscal year ending 31 March 2018. Revenue from core online commerce (marketplace) activities rose 60% to US$34,120mln and from cloud computing by 101% to US$2,135mln. Digital media and entertainment sales rose 33% to US$3.119mln. The number of annual active consumers on Alibaba Group’s China retail marketplaces reached 552mln, an increase of 98mln from the 12-month period ended 31 March. Alibaba's Hema stores blend online and offline retail to provide a seamless experience for consumers. The retailer has been expanding quickly, having recently entered four new cities (Xi'an, Nanjing, Wuhan, Guangzhou) and extending its network to 46 stores in 13 across the country. In FY2018, Alibaba added 17 new stores, and another 23 have opened in the first four months of 2018. Only in January, Alibaba announced that it would launch 30 new stores in Beijing before the end of the year. Hema recently unveiled 24-hour delivery service. Furthermore, Hema Cloud provides shoppers access to products that may not be present in a physical store.Source: retailanalysis.igd.com
US: Blue Apron makes retail store debut at Costco
Blue Apron has begun piloting meal kits at select Costco Wholesale Corp. stores on the West Coast, marking the meal service company’s first retail store distribution. The test kicked off April 28 at 15 Costco warehouse clubs in the Pacific Northwest and three in the San Francisco Bay area.Source: supermarketnews.com
Report: Online US grocery sales will increase 10 times faster than in-store
Online grocery sales will increase at 10 times the rate of in-store sales over the next five years, according to a report from consulting firm Brick Meets Click. The firm forecast e-commerce sales growth at 13% per year compared to 1.3% for store sales. Brick Meets Click also projects that e-commerce will account for 8% of U.S. grocery sales by the end of 2022 — up from 5% at the end of last year. The firm notes that online food purveyors that utilize a common shipping carrier, like Amazon.com and meal kit companies, will experience slower growth than so-called "in-market" companies that fulfil via direct delivery and store pickup. However, these in-market players also face stiffer competition, with large cities offering an average of ten online grocery options. “As a market develops in this way, it attracts an expanding online shopper base; however, it will also trigger switching from one provider to another among existing active shoppers as they look for a service that better fulfils the promise of a better shopping experience,” David Bishop, partner with Brick Meets Click, said in a statement.Source: fooddive.com
US: Supervalu completes sale of 21 Farm Fresh stores
Supervalu announced it has completed the previously announced sales of 21 of its 38 Farm Fresh stores to three different retailers: Harris Teeter, Kroger Mid-Atlantic Division, and Food Lion. “I appreciate the team’s work timely completing these transactions,” said Mark Gross, Supervalu’s President and CEO. “Every day we’re working to continue the rapid transformation of our business, and the exit from our Farm Fresh banner is another step forward in becoming the grocery supplier of choice for retailers across the country.” Supervalu is continuing to pursue the sale of several remaining Farm Fresh stores to current and prospective wholesale customers. Source: businesswire.com