Publix Super Markets just purchased a shopping center it anchors in Hialeah for $15.7mln. The Lakeland-based grocer paid about $245 per square foot for the 64,260-square-foot Paraiso Plaza shopping center at 3339 West 80th Street, according to property records. The seller is an affiliate of DDR Corp., a publicly traded retail-focused real estate investment trust.Source: therealdeal.com
US: Target ups its online fulfilment game
The No. 2 discount chain has expanded Drive Up, its order-online-pick-up-at-kerbside program to nearly 1,000 of its 1,822 stores. Target began testing the service last fall in its hometown market of Minneapolis-St. Paul, and immediately saw a 10% increase in week-over-week orders.Source: twice.com
US: Kroger on track in Q4, FY17
The Kroger Co. enjoyed a healthy fourth quarter and fiscal 2017, matching the expectations of the Cincinnati-based grocery giant. During Q4, which ended Feb. 3, sales rose 12.4% to $31bln, compared with $27.6bln during the same period prior, with identical-store sales rising 1.5% during the period, which Kroger CFO Mike Schlotman said the company is “very pleased with.”Source: progressivegrocer.com
UK: Ocado using technology to improve fraud detection
As the world’s largest online only supermarket, Ocado handles millions of online activities every minute as its customers navigate its website and apps, add items to their trolleys, choose delivery slots, and check out their orders. One challenge facing any retailer operating online is isolating and recognising the rare incidents classified as fraud in a smart and efficient way. Ocado now has a system that predicts results in real-time and provides the likelihood of fraud as a probability. Ocado claims that the model has been a great success, improving its precision of detecting fraud by a factor of 15x.Source: retailanalysis.igd.com
Sweden's ICA sees sales rise by 2.6% in February
Swedish retailer ICA has said that sales across its store network rose by 2.6% in February, compared to the same period last year. Like-for-like sales rose by 2.1%, the company said. Overall, sales in ICA stores totalled SEK 8.6bln excluding VAT, which is an increase of 2.6% compared with the same month in the previous year. Sales over the first two months of the year amounted to SEK 17,627mln, an increase of 2.7% compared with the previous year.Source: esmmagazine.com
German supermarket giant Aldi eyes China expansion
Aldi South, the German discount supermarket giant, is planning to open up to 50 branches in China, German press have reported. Aldi South, one of the leading low-budget supermarket chains in Germany, has put together a team for its expansion in China, the Lebensmittel Zeitung, a German weekly newspaper for executives in the food industry and in commerce, reported. It will be one of the biggest expansion plans in the history of the company, the report said.Source: xinhuanet.com
Slovakia: Terno retail chain offers new concept
In early March Terno re-opened a refurbished supermarket with the brand new Kraj concept, meaning “region” in English, in Bratislava’s borough of Devínska Nová Ves. It combines a traditional supermarket with a shop selling healthy products and another with local Slovak products. “The new concept reflects trends in the Slovak as well as global market,” said Stanislav Čajka, Terno’s general director. “Shoppers search more often for quality foods whose origin and ingredients they can check.”Source: spectator.sme.sk
Italy: Selex to add 69 stores in 2018
Selex has announced its investment in 2018 will see it open 69 new stores, including three cash and carry sites, and update 59 further sites. Of the 69 new stores, 27 will be supermarkets and 20 will be discounters. The new store and update programme will see Selex invest 50% more in 2018 versus 2017, spending €330mln. The company said its investments plans would aim to drive revenue growth of 4.2% in 2018, which would see it generate revenue of €11.22bln. Source: retailanalysis.igd.com
Germany: Rewe investing in online
Rewe's pick up service for online grocery orders will be expanded and it aims to offer it in every German city. This would require a large scale roll out and no completion date has been set for when this could be achieved. With Amazon Fresh launching in the market in 2017, German retailers have been starting to ramp up their online efforts and this latest announcement from Rewe demonstrates its commitment to the online channel. It has also increased the range available online, adding more partners to its online site.Source: retailanalysis.igd.com
Aldi expands international IT support in Hungary
Declaring itself "extremely satisfied" with the quality of IT support in Hungary, German discount supermarket chain Aldi said it is expanding its international IT support services in this country by opening a new office with a staff of at least 50 in Pécs (SW Hungary), state news wire MTI reported. Aldi is establishing a separate company, Aldi International IT Services Kft., to provide IT support for some 3,700 Aldi stores across Europe, MTI reported.Source: bbj.hu