Amazon spent $3.2mln on Washington lobbying effort
Amazon, facing potential criticism of its plan to buy Whole Foods Markets, continued its multi-million lobbying effort - shelling out $3.2mln in the second quarter of this year - an increase from the $2.9mln spent in the first three months. Amazon has long had a presence in Washington, lobbying on a broad range of topics ranging from taxes, immigration, trade and mobile payments. (Reuters)
Walmart on Tuesday opened an e-commerce fulfillment center in Davenport, Fla.The facility is the sixth addition to the next-generation fulfillment network that Walmart is building to support its e-commerce business. The new 50-acre campus is part of a $450mln investment the retailer previously announced it is making in Florida between 2017 and 2018. (drugstorenews.com)
Kroger has finalized its purchase of 11 former Marsh supermarkets (Indiana) and announced Wednesday that it plans to invest $20mln in renovating and reopening seven of them. Marsh declared bankruptcy May 11, selling 26 of its stores and closing dozens of others before going out of business. A subsidiary of the Kroger Co., Topvalco, took possession of 11 of those stores, finalizing their deal this week. The other 15 stores were sold to Ohio-based grocery Fresh Encounter Inc. (theindychannel.com)
Activist investor Jana Partners LLC, cashed out of its position in Whole Foods Market, a regulatory filing showed on Wednesday, after the upscale grocer agreed to be acquired by Amazon.com Inc in a $13.7bn deal last month. Jana, which was Whole Foods' second-largest shareholder with an 8.2% stake, made a profit of over $300mln on the sale, according to Reuters calculations. (Reuters)
Lenta sales up 16.3% in Q2 after 'rapid growth'
Amazon, facing potential criticism of its plan to buy Whole Foods Markets, continued its multi-million lobbying effort - shelling out $3.2mln in the second quarter of this year - an increase from the $2.9mln spent in the first three months. Amazon has long had a presence in Washington, lobbying on a broad range of topics ranging from taxes, immigration, trade and mobile payments. (Reuters)Walmart opens new Florida e-commerce fulfillment center
Walmart on Tuesday opened an e-commerce fulfillment center in Davenport, Fla.The facility is the sixth addition to the next-generation fulfillment network that Walmart is building to support its e-commerce business. The new 50-acre campus is part of a $450mln investment the retailer previously announced it is making in Florida between 2017 and 2018. (drugstorenews.com) US: Kroger to renovate and reopen 7 former Marsh stores
Kroger has finalized its purchase of 11 former Marsh supermarkets (Indiana) and announced Wednesday that it plans to invest $20mln in renovating and reopening seven of them. Marsh declared bankruptcy May 11, selling 26 of its stores and closing dozens of others before going out of business. A subsidiary of the Kroger Co., Topvalco, took possession of 11 of those stores, finalizing their deal this week. The other 15 stores were sold to Ohio-based grocery Fresh Encounter Inc. (theindychannel.com) Activist Jana cashes out of Whole Foods following Amazon deal
Activist investor Jana Partners LLC, cashed out of its position in Whole Foods Market, a regulatory filing showed on Wednesday, after the upscale grocer agreed to be acquired by Amazon.com Inc in a $13.7bn deal last month. Jana, which was Whole Foods' second-largest shareholder with an 8.2% stake, made a profit of over $300mln on the sale, according to Reuters calculations. (Reuters)Lenta sales up 16.3% in Q2 after 'rapid growth'
Russian retailer Lenta has reported that total sales grew by 16.3% to RUB 85.6bn in its second quarter ending 30 June 2017. Like-for-like sales were up by 2% compared to the same period in 2016, while traffic growth increased by 2.9%. Overall, Lenta's sales have grown by 16.7% to RUB 163.5bn in the first half of 2017, with like-for-like sales increasing by 1.8% compared to 2016. (esmmagazine.com) SuperValu expects to sell € 32m Irish potatoes
Leading Irish grocery retailer SuperValu expects to sell € 32m in homegrown Irish potatoes this season, according to an announcement made on July 20. Brothers John and Chris Fortune, second-generation farmers based in Kilmore, Co. Wexford, grow the new season potatoes. (potatobusiness.com) Carrefour becomes majority owner of Romanian home delivery firm
Retail group Carrefour Romania said on Thursday it has become majority shareholder of Romanian home delivery company Bringo Magazin SRL. Carrefour has acquired a further 21% stake in Bringo for an undisclosed sum, increasing its ownership share to 51%."At present, Bringo Magazin SRL is owned by two companies: Allib Rom SRL, a company of Carrefour group, and Ascend Netsolution SRL," Carrefour said in a press release. (seenews.com) Finland: Sales at S Group increase
Finnish market leader S Group has reported its results for the first half of 2017, highlighting that sales excluding tax increased by 2.4% to €5.5bn. The retailer’s grocery sales in Finland increased by 1.6% to €3.4bn, driven by continued price cuts, particularly in Finnish produce. Commenting on the results, CEO Taavi Heikkilä said, ‘Our grocery sales continued to outperform the general market development in the field. Our customers appreciate the wider selection and lower prices’. (igd.com)Russia's X5 retail Group says Q2 sales up
Russian food retailer X5 Retail Group NV sayd its Q2 total net retail sales grew 27.7% year-on-year to 318.9 billion roubles ($5.41 billion); The retailers Q2 like-for-like sales were up 6.6% year-on-year. (Reuters)
Russian food retailer X5 Retail Group NV sayd its Q2 total net retail sales grew 27.7% year-on-year to 318.9 billion roubles ($5.41 billion); The retailers Q2 like-for-like sales were up 6.6% year-on-year. (Reuters)Growing number of consumers shopping online only
Shopping frequency at traditional full-service supermarkets has dipped by 2% over the past year, a recent Food Marketing Institute (FMI) study found. During the Food Retail Implications for U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends 2017 presentation, FMI shared that growth in digital-only and specialty retailers has begun to cut away at general brick-and-mortar’s position as primary food destinations. (supermarketnews.com) Kenya: State plans Uchumi exit after retailer's recovery
The government is set to let go of its shareholding in Uchumi Supermarkets once the troubled retailer stabilises under the ongoing bailout and restructuring plan. Trade Principal Secretary Chris Kiptoo yesterday said the shareholding exit will come after the government recoups taxpayers' funds pumped into the company over the years. Uchumi is in talks with a strategic partner to pump in fresh capital after years of struggle supported by Treasury bailouts and debt restructuring. (allafrica.com) New Waitrose campaign aims to help shoppers waste less food
Waitrose’s new campaign aims to tackle the quarter of people that throw away food every day. The supermarket highlights that 10% of all groceries are binned in the home while 89% of people say they are wasting food, with 18-25 year olds the most likely to waste food every day. (marketingweek.com) Sligro to weigh partnership or sale options for EMTÉ stores
Dutch food retail group Sligro said on Thursday it is weighing strategic options, including partnership deals and a sale, for its supermarket chain EMTÉ, which it says is too small to go it alone. The announcement comes a couple of weeks after media reports that Dutch supermarket chain Jumbo was seeking to acquire EMTÉ, possibly in cooperation with supermarket chain Plus. (Reuters)Italy: Megamark sees growth boosted by fruit and veg
Italian regional grocery retailer Megamark Group has seen a 6.3% growth in like-for-like sales during the first half of 2017, reports Affaritaliani.it. The result was achieved despite an average drop in like-for-like sales for the sector in Southern Italy of 2.06%, according to data from Nielsen. Fruit and vegetables sales grew 14.6%. Increasing attention to healthy lifestyles resulted in a sales boom for organic (+54.9%). (esmmagazine.com)India: Flipkart pilots grocery delivery
Flipkart, India's largest online marketplace, has launched a trial for grocery delivery in Bengaluru, with plans to roll out more pilots to several cities. The company has not announced any plans for a full launch, but has promised some innovative offerings utilising its existing customer data. It had mentioned earlier that meeting expectations for delivery timing is one of its key focuses. (igd.com)