Belgian retailer Colruyt Group has announced that its Bio-Planet chain has opened its first city centre supermarket. The new store in Antwerp is a fully-fledged organic supermarket, which will carry over 6,000 organic and ecological products. Jo Ghilain, business unit manager of Bio-Planet, said: “People are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of a balanced lifestyle. Nutrition is a major part of that. We aim to inspire and guide our customers in this area. From now on, with Bio-Planet in Wilrijk and the new supermarket near MAS, we’ll reach our customers in the north and south of the city more effectively.”Source: esmmagazine.com
Spain: Eroski to launch local buying initiatives
Spain-based Eroski is to introduce more sustainable and locally sourced ranges, benefiting producers and consumers. Eroski will start selling the Rosa de Barbastro tomato of Aragón after making an agreement with the Rosa Tomato Association. Eroksi will sell an estimated 50,000kilos in the first year, and fully integrate it into the Natur private label. In 2017 22,000 kilos of this pink tomato were sold in Aragón. The tomato, a National Brand since 2014, will be identified with the National Quality mark “Tomato Rosa de Barbastro”. Its label will include the area, town and plot where it was produced, flag of Aragón, and logo. The agreement fits into the cooperative’s commitment to local sourcing, which drives a more sustainable primary sector and diversity of suppliers.Source: retailanalysis.igd.com
Poland: Carrefour cascades in
A 1,700 sqm Carrefour supermarket has opened in Galeria Kaskada in Szczecin, replacing Alma as the grocery anchor. “There are already three Carrefour hypermarkets in Szczecin, but now we have decided to open a smaller store ideal for everyday purchases. We will attract customers to the new supermarket by mainly focusing on our rich and diverse range of fresh products, providing consumers with what they need most: quality and attractive prices,” commented Marek Lipka, the supermarket director of Carrefour Polska. Source: english.eurobuildcee.com
Spar Cyprus sets target of opening 20 supermarkets, first this year
Spar International announced a new partnership with Ermes Department Stores, a member of Cyprus Trading Corporation, to introduce Spar-branded supermarkets on the island. The new entity, Spar Cyprus, is being designed with the aim of becoming a leading wholesale and retail service provider to independent retailers, through expert leadership, cooperation and support. The brand will be developed with local adaptation to global best practice. The partnership between the two companies is expected to bring a new dynamic to Cyprus’ competitive retail market. Spar Cyprus will focus on the opening of company-owned food retail outlets, whilst expanding the footprint of stores through actively partnering with independent retailers.Source: cyprustraveller.com
UK retail sales slow in April
The latest release from the British Retail Consortium Retail Sales Monitor (BRC-RSM) indicates that UK retail sales slowed markedly in April 2018. While the monthly data was negatively distorted by the relative timing of Easter, the three-month trend also slowed sharply, with total growth of just +0.4% (versus +1.8% to March) and like-for-likes of -0.6%. While still the fastest growing sector of the market, food and grocery slowed behind the current 12-month average. However, adjusted for the BRC-Nielsen Shop Price Index, the three month average growth was 2.0%, exactly in line with the 12-month adjusted rate. This suggests that the inflation-driven trend has peaked and that growth may have stabilised. Meanwhile non-food growth has lagged significantly, remaining solidly negative on -1.6%.Source: retailanalysis.igd.com
UK: Morrisons beats forecasts with 3.6% sales hike
Supermarket Morrisons has rung up a better-than-expected 3.6% hike in sales thanks to a resilient performance in stores and its burgeoning wholesale arm. The UK’s fourth biggest grocery chain notched up its 10th quarter in a row of rising group like-for-like sales and defied expectations of a slowdown in growth after the sector was battered by the Beast from the East cold snap earlier this year. In its update, Morrisons said supermarket and online sales growth eased slightly to 1.8% in the 13 weeks to May 6, down from 2% in the previous three months, but this was still better than forecast. The group said it was “now open for business as a wholesaler”, with the division largely behind the impressive performance, with sales up 1.8% - a surge from the 0.8% seen in the previous three months.Source: home.bt.com
Major supermarket in Spain hires extra staff for summer tourist season
Spanish supermarket giant Mercadona is hiring 9,000 extra staff in readiness for the busy summer tourist season. Director of Human Resources, Jose Elias Portales, said the objective of strengthening the current workforce of 84,000 workers is "to offer our bosses (as they call their customers) the same excellent service they receive the rest of the year when they buy daily in the more than 1,600 stores spread throughout Spain."Source: euroweeklynews.com
Ahold Delhaize Q1 sales increase as U.S. operations improve
Dutch-Belgian supermarket chain Ahold Delhaize reported higher first-quarter profit and sales citing improved U.S. operations and online sales. Net income rose 15% to 407mln euros on comparable sales up 2.5% to 14.9bln euros, slightly beating analyst forecasts. Ahold generates almost two thirds of its business in the United States where it operates the Food Lion, Stop & Shop and Giant chains and the Peapod online grocery delivery business. Net sales in the U.S. market increased 2%, excluding negative currency effects, as the company continued to face tough competition from discounters, while Peapod must compete with Amazon after its acquisition of Whole Foods.Source: reuters.com
US: Walmart ends grocery partnership with Uber
Walmart said it's ending its two-year partnership with Uber to deliver groceries to people's homes, following the demise of Uber's on-demand delivery service called UberRush. Walmart will continue to use UberRush in four US markets through June, until the service shuts down. After that, Walmart will transition to another delivery service in those markets, Walmart spokeswoman Molly Blakeman said.Source: cnet.com
US: Peapod sharpens pricing as competition intensifies
The growth of traditional grocers in the e-commerce space is forcing Peapod to get sharper on pricing, officials of owner Ahold Delhaize acknowledged. CEO Dick Boer said that recently announced deal bundles and other pricing initiatives would help the company compete in markets such as Chicago, where Peapod operates a pure-play online business facing new competition from traditional grocers using click-and-collect, and in its core Northeast markets associated with Ahold’s owned stores. There, the company is trying to get Peapod’s retail prices to better conform to its Stop & Shop and Giant physical counterparts—a job made more complicated by the use of multiple price zones across the store base.Source: winsightgrocerybusiness.com