Online supermarket and grocery store Mart.ng has launched in Abuja, claiming to deliver all ordered items within one hour. Mart.ng began life offline in November of last year, taking orders via phone and WhatsApp as it moved from house to house marketing its services. Due to demand, however, it decided to launch an online store this year, which went live earlier this month. “The company believes in high quality and exceptional customer service, and most importantly, we believe shopping is a right, not a luxury, so we strive to deliver the best products at the most affordable prices, and ship them to the customers regardless of the time of the day,” co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Frank Umeadi told Disrupt Africa.Source: disrupt-africa.com
Spar Netherlands: new distribution centre for northern Netherlands region
Spar Netherlands has announced that it will develop a logistics hub in Heerenveen in order to support the current growth of its logistics processes. The company said it requires the new facility to take the pressure off the distribution centre in Waalwijk, due to an addition of more than 100 Spar Express locations. Containers from the Waalwijk distribution centre will be transported to the hub via cross-flow docking processes, and then delivered to stores in the Northern regions of the Netherlands. The opening of the new hub will create extra space in the distribution centre in Waalwijk so that logistic processes can operate more efficiently.Source: esmmagazine.com
UK: Ocado to be propelled into FTSE 100 after international deals
Ocado is set to be catapulted into the FTSE 100 for the first time after a string of high-profile international deals led to its shares soaring. The online grocer secured a deal with US giant Kroger earlier this month, which resulted in its share price rising by more than 40%, embarrassing short-sellers in the process. Now, Ocado looks set to be promoted to the FTSE 100 when a reshuffle of the blue-chip index takes place on Wednesday. Laith Khalaf, senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Ocado looks likely to enter the FTSE 100 for the first time after a sensational year which has seen the share price treble.Source: independent.ie
Bingo outperforms rivals in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Two of the three leading grocery retailers in Bosnia and Herzegovina posted revenue growth in 2017, with Bingo outperforming its competitors in terms of profit generation. Tuzla-based Bingo ended 2017 with a 13% increase in total revenues to BAM 1.03bln (€526.6mln), while operating profit also increased by 8.6% to BAM 89.4mln (€45.7mln), according to local news local portal Capital.ba. Rival Konzum, owned by Croatian retailer Agrokor, reported a 29% annual drop in revenues, to BAM 521mln (€266.3mln). Operating profit fell by 7% to a negative BAM 41mln (-€20.9mln). Elsewhere, the annual revenues of Mercator (also part of Agrokor Group) increased 59% on 2016 to BAM 70.6mln (€36mln). Operating profit fell by 4.4% to a negative BAM 3mln (-€1.5mln).Source: esmmagazine.com
Croatia: Agrokor to be taken over by creditors under proposed debt settlement plan
Indebted Croatian food group Agrokor will be taken over by a new Dutch-based company, owned by creditors, under a proposed debt settlement plan announced. Agrokor, the largest company in the Balkans with 60,000 staff, was put under state-run administration in April 2017, crippled by debts built up during an ambitious expansion drive. The draft debt settlement plan, drawn up by Agrokor’s crisis management team, proposed that a company to be called Aisle Dutch TopCo would offer a debt-to-equity swap or convertible bonds to creditors. The debt settlement deal would become effective next year after the appeals period expires, the team said.Source: reuters.com
Japan: Aeon revenue, earnings increase in Q1
Aeon Co (M) Bhd's net profit rose slightly to RM27.94mln in the first quarter ended March 31, 2018, from RM26.20mln recorded in the same period last year while revenue increased to RM1.11bln from RM1.08bln, previously. The Japanese retailer said its retail business revenue registered RM943.9mln, which was higher by 3.4%, year-on-year, mainly due to the opening of a new store in September 2017. Revenue from the property management services segment recorded a growth of 4.2% at RM170.4mln mainly due to contributions from its new shopping mall, as well as, contributions from shopping malls that were renovated and expanded in previous year. Source: malaymail.com
AUS: Drakes Supermarkets announces 550 job boost for Adelaide’s north
Independent grocery retailer Drakes Supermarkets has received council planning consent to build a new $80mln distribution centre in Adelaide's north, which it says will create up to 250 ongoing jobs. The centre, to be located on a 17-hectare site in Edinburgh North, will create 300 jobs during construction and an additional 120 to 250 ongoing full-time positions once the centre is open in June next year. Source: indaily.com.au
France: Intermarché prepares store formula for the elderly
French supermarket group Intermarché will launch a new store for seniors, called “Bien Chez Moi”, which will combine products and services fit for an older clientele. The “active seniors” store will be about 200 sqm and open in Intermarché’s shopping gallery in Flers (Normandy). The retailer had already organized a senior workshop last week, according to local paper Ouest France. The seniors were allowed to discuss the store’s name, its logo, product range and planned services. They were also asked whether they were willing to pay for the service formula. Source: retaildetail.eu
Online grocer Nemlig is Denmark’s best online store
The winners of the FDIH E-handelsprisen 2018 were revealed and online supermarket Nemlig.com won the main award. “We are very happy and super proud to win the Golden Prize”, Nemlig.com’s CCO Mikkel Pilemand said after he won the gold ecommerce award, which is meant for Denmark’s best online store. “We invest a lot in developing our services so we can make online shopping even easier for consumers and so it’s great that others acknowledge our work.” It wasn’t the only award that Nemlig won. The online supermarket also went home with an award for best B2C business (with a revenue of over 50mln Danish kroner, or 6.7mln euros). The winner of that award was decided by a jury of ecommerce experts, while the winner of the gold ecommerce award was decided by a jury of twelve chairmen who had to choose from all the category winners.Source: ecommercenews.eu
US: Randalls to close third store since April
Randalls is closing its third Houston-area store this year as the longtime local grocer continues to struggle in a hyper-competitive market. A brightly colored liquidation banner was recently stripped across the Randalls at Coles Crossing in suburban Cypress, and it will close in June. Last month, the company shuttered stores in Garden Oaks and in Stafford, leasing those locations to a Hispanic grocery chain called El Rancho. Despite the closures — which together will bring the chain’s local store count down to 26, half what it was in 2005 — a representative said that Randalls remains committed to the region.Source: houstonchronicle.com
CAN: Amazon reportedly opening Ottawa-based distribution centre
Amazon is opening a distribution centre in Ottawa’s east end that is expected to create approximately 1,000 jobs, according to several news reports. Though the e-commerce giant has yet to confirm the news, Orléans MP Andrew Leslie told CBC News that Amazon planned to take over a warehouse located near Highway 417.Source: canadiangrocer.com