Whole Foods has announced a partnership with electric vehicle charging company Blink to begin installing the EV charge points at its US stores. Three Whole Foods Markets have received the Blink chargers so far, all of which are in Pennsylvania. There are plans to install more as well, with Whole Foods saying the blink chargers will be integrated into a new stores’ infrastructure when it opens. “Whole Foods Market has always been on the frontlines of innovation in sustainability, and so we are eager to be working with them on their new locations,” said Blink CEO Mike Calise.Source: hybridcars.com
US: Lidl commits to U.S. as focus sharpens
As it approaches the close of an eventful first year in the U.S., Lidl is continuing to refine its offerings and explore ways of adapting to shoppers in its newest market, a spokesman told WGB. “We absolutely feel there is a huge opportunity in the U.S. market, and we’re taking a long-term view of expansion,” Will Harwood said. “We’re continuing to be agile, we’re continuing to adapt, and we’re continuing to look at increasing our flexibility.”Source: winsightgrocerybusiness.com
Walmart India cuts losses by 27% in FY17
Walmart India, which runs cash-and-carry stores in the country, narrowed its losses by almost 27% during FY17 compared to the 12 months in the previous fiscal, according to its financials with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) sourced from data-tracking platform Tofler. The company posted a loss of Rs 75 crore for FY17. It also witnessed a 10% revenue growth for the fiscal ending March 2017 as compared to previous 12 months. The company registered total revenues worth approximately Rs 3,641 crore of which Rs 1,921 crore was contributed by food sales and the Rs 979 crore was by FMCG, among others. Total expenses clocked by the company during the same period come up to Rs 3,716 crore.Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com
Israel: Online supermarket Co BringBring challenges the big chains
An Israeli online food retail startup called BringBring is trying to prove that a venture providing online shopping can be profitable. The startup, in which food and beverage giant Coca-Cola Israel (Central Bottling Company) has invested, promises to facilitate supermarket deliveries to the consumer within only four hours, by sending them from nearby supermarkets. BringBring CEO Ofir Steinberg said, "Instead of operating warehouses and storing stock, we created a decentralized network of dozens of supermarkets, while we handle the ordering and payment process. We connect the order to the nearest supermarket and process the order. We are not a delivery or logistics company. From the consumers perspective, the experience is that of an online supermarket."Source: globes.co.il
Irelands 1st initial coin offering Zeto to raise €20mln in funding round
Smart refrigeration company Zeto will be among Ireland’s first companies to successfully raise multi-million euro investment through an initial coin offering (ICO). The company, which provides real-time smart monitoring for the retail refrigeration industry, initiated the ICO process by offering a pre-sale round this week. Within a number of days, Zeto has already raised €500,000 from the cryptocurrency community with investors in Brazil, Australia, Oman, Spain among others availing of pre-sale discount. Zeto expects to raise €20mln in total by the end of the ICO process in July 2018.Source: irishtechnews.ie
Australian retail sales stall
Australia’s retail sales report for March has come in below expectations. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), sales were flat in seasonally adjusted terms, coming in below the 0.2% gain forecast by economists. Despite the soft March report, annual growth in sales actually accelerated, lifting to 3.2% from 3% in February, the fastest increase since July last year. “While there was a rise in food retailing of 0.7% in March all other industries fell,” said Ben James, ABS Director of Quarterly Economy Wide Surveys.Source: businessinsider.com.au
Dubai retailer allocates $20mln for Ramadan savings campaigns
Dubai retailer Union Coop announced price reductions of up to 75% on more than 15,000 products, with a budget of AED75mln ($20.4mln) allocated towards several Ramadan promotions. The announcement was made in a press conference held by Khalid Humaid bin Diban Al Falasi, CEO of Union Coop, Ahmad Hassan Alzaabi, director of Consumer Protection Department at Dubai Economy, and a number of officials and media representatives. Al Falasi said: "All our upcoming Ramadan campaigns and initiatives fall in line with our objective of spreading community happiness, which are part of Union Coop's continued efforts towards easing the burden on consumers, who get high-quality products/ commodities at competitive prices." He said Union Coop's Ramadan plan includes nine promotional campaigns that will see the price reduction on more than 15,000 food and non-food products, by 25-75%.Source: arabianbusiness.com
Belgium: Carrefour franchiser Mestdagh cuts 450 jobs
Belgian supermarket group Mestdagh, which runs 83 Carrefour stores in the French speaking part of the country, has revealed the plan with which it wants to become profitable again. 450 jobs will be cut, but no stores will be closed. CEO Guillaume Beuscart also announced he wants to open all stores on Sundays as well, according to television chain RTBF. Moreover, he aims for all the redundancies to be voluntary rather than forced. People who choose to stay, will have to become more flexible and lose their coffee breaks. All these measures would allow Mestdagh to keep all the stores open. Source: retaildetail.eu
Australia: 7-Eleven fights back with new format stores
Convenience chain 7-Eleven is investing in innovation to ensure its network of franchised and corporate stores stays ahead of the game, according to its CEO Angus McKay. Describing the retail landscape as “brutal”, McKay said agility is an essential element of today’s retail scene. “We’re investing in becoming better retailers,” he said. Actions include turbo-charging the food on the go offer, doubling its coffee output to an average 500 cups a day per store under the Coffee 500 project banner, adding daily fresh bakery items, introducing a parcels locker service, trialling digital payment options and providing a fuel value proposition. With 32.1% market share on the eastern seaboard, up 2.1% from 2017, 7-Eleven claims to be the fastest growing convenience store chain in Australia.Source: retailnews.asia
Indonesia's retail sales up 2.5% y/y in March, survey shows
Indonesian retail sales grew 2.5% in March from a year earlier, a central bank survey showed, up from February’s figure. Growth was mainly supported by higher sales of motor vehicle spare parts and accessories, food, beverages as well as tobacco, it said. A weak increase in consumption has kept down Indonesia’s growth rate, with the country’s first-quarter GDP growth coming in at 5.06% year on year, from 5.19% in the preceding quarter. Source: reuters.com