Mexico's Ministry of the Economy and Alibaba will partner to get more Mexican products onto the tech firm's popular e-commerce platforms. The move aims to help Mexico's small- and medium-sized enterprises expand internationally and in China — the world's largest consumer market with a growing middle class. Alibaba, in turn, will provide its technological expertise on logistics and payments, and it will share analytics to help Mexican firms market better to the Chinese. (cnbc.com) Amazon launches search for a 2nd headquarters in US
Amazon announced the search for a second North American headquarters on Thursday, saying it would give preference to areas with 1 million residents or more. Amazon estimates its investments in its Seattle operations from 2010 through 2016 resulted in an additional $38 billion to the city's economy. The online retailer expects to invest more than $5 billion in construction and grow this second headquarters to include as many as 50,000 high-paying jobs. Chicago, Baltimore, Nashville, Tennessee, New York City and other cities are already plugging themselves as candidates. (cnbc.com)US: Raley's develops transparency-focused shelf labeling system
Raley’s has introduced a shelf labeling system that calls out health-focused attributes like “minimally processed” and “nutrient dense,” according to a company release. There are eight different icons and more than 13,000 products that carry at least one, which appear on product price tags. Raley’s developed the system in concert with a team of scientific advisors as well as Label Insight, a firm that compiles data on more than 400,000 products. Each claim follows set criteria: To earn the “minimally processed” icon, for instance, a product cannot contain one of more than 600 synthetic ingredients, and must meet limits on added sugars and sodium. (fooddive.com) US: Food City starts home delivery of groceries
Food City is launching a same-day delivery service in Chattanooga through Instacart. The Abingdon, Va.,-based grocery chain announced Thursday that it has begun grocery delivery from its Chattanooga area stores through its website, foodcitydelivers.com and the Instacart App. Orders will be delivered to 160,000 Chattanoogans, often in as little as an hour. (timesfreepress.com) To compete with Amazon, grocers could start purchasing meal kit companiesPlease, click here to read the article.
China: Alibaba opens own shopping center
Internet giant Alibaba will soon open its own shopping center. More Mall will be part of its main office in Hangzhou and should enable the company to trial technologies it's created in the recent past. Its very own supermarket chain, Hema, will also have a spot in the shopping center. (retaildetail.eu) NZ: Pak 'n Save trials its first mini supermarket
Pak 'n Save is to open a mini supermarket, the first of its kind in New Zealand. The new concept store will open in the Write Price supermarket building on Levin's Queen St next week. Pak 'n Save Mini will stock about 2500 key products, in contrast to its larger counterpart, which sells about 8000 products. (stuff.co.nz)Venezuela's monthly inflation rises to 34 percent
Venezuela’s monthly inflation rate jumped to 33.8 percent in August, with food price rises reaching hyper-inflationary levels above 50 percent, the opposition-controlled National Assembly said on Thursday. The government stopped releasing the data more than a year ago amid a deep economic crisis, but the National Assembly has published its own figures since January. They are generally in line with private economists’ estimates. (Reuters)Tesco launches new vegetable range
Tesco have unveiled a range of fresh fruit and vegetables sculpted into fun shapes, with butternut squash stars being the first to hit the shelves. Costing £1.50 per 250g pack, the celestial-shaped vegetables will be in stores from this week, The Mirror reports. Sweet potato smiley faces will follow soon, a healthy hark back to the fondly-remembered frozen potato smiley faces that were a staple Friday night dinner for many of us back in the day. (leicestermercury.co.uk) Netto Germany appoints Torben Godskesen as CEO
Netto Germany has announced that Torben Godskesen is set to replace Paul Berg as the retail chain's CEO. Regional food discounter Netto, which is a subsidiary of Denmark's Dansk Supermarked Group, says that Germany is the second largest market for the company, making this an important position. Godskesen said that he is looking forward to the upcoming task in his new role, as the company is currently testing a new market design in selected stores in Germany. He also wants to further strengthen the position of Netto as a regional food discounter in Germany. (esmmagazine.com) Grand Frais opens first supermarket in Italy
French retailer Grand Frais has opened its first supermarket in Italy, located in Beinasco, near Turin, according to Gdoweek. The retailer first announced its plans to gradually expand its activities to Italy earlier this year. At the new Beinasco store, Grand Frais is operating under the banner 'Banco Fresco', inspired by the Italian tradition of local markets. (esmmagazine.com) Italian Food expenditure rises 2.5% in first half of 2017
Italian food expenditure has risen 2.5% in the first half of 2017, according to data from research organisations ISMEA and Nielsen, marking the highest increase in a decade. Farmers' association Coldiretti said that food spending is the main household expense in Italy, generating around €215 billion annually, and therefore these results are an important indicator of the state of the economy. (esmmagazine.com)