China: Alibaba looks to take this year's $25bln Singles Day sales event international
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba said that its upcoming mega-shopping event will be the largest-ever in terms of "scale and reach" as it looks to continue growing what has become a multibillion-dollar sales day. The event, which takes places on November 11, is Alibaba's day of massive sales across all of its platforms and has been compared to Black Friday in the United States. Widely known as "Singles Day," the event is also known as the 11:11 shopping festival because of the date it takes place. It's the 10th anniversary of the event, which was created by current Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang in 2009. Back then, Singles Day brought in $7.8mln in gross merchandise value. Total GMV generated in 2017 was $25.3bln. In comparison, online sales for Black Friday in the U.S. racked up $5bln last year, according to data from Adobe.
Source: cnbc.com
Carrefour Poland launches a new health application
Carrefour Poland has launched its ‘Healthy Apka’, an educational game that promotes healthy eating habits for children. The game aims to educate children about the nutritional value of different foods. The player must collect ‘healthy’ products to gain energy and avoid ‘unhealthy’ products, which can reduce energy and end the game sooner. Healthy Apka also includes a food encyclopaedia listing all healthy and unhealthy products in the game with their descriptions. The game is free and downloadable from the App store and Google Play.
Source: retailanalysis.igd.com
UK: B&M acquires French discounter
UK discounter B&M has acquired 95 stores from French retailer Babou. Babou's 95 stores have been acquired by B&M for a sum of €91.2mln. The deal was paid for in cash, financed by a load facility, and included the refinancing of Babou's debt. Turnover for the French retailer in the year ending 31 January 2018 was €347.1mln (c.£303.1mln). This equates to c.10.2% of B&M's latest FY18 group turnover at £2.98bln. Talking about the acquisition, B&M chief executive Simon Arora has said, "B&M has made no secret of its European growth plans since its initial public offering in 2014. We are delighted that discussions with Babou over a 3 year period have led to today's transaction, which provides us with a platform for future growth in a large and attractive market whilst also providing a stable and logical new owner for Babou."
Source: retailanalysis.igd.com
Dutch online store Superwinkel expands to Germany
Superwinkel.nl, an online department store from the Netherlands, has expanded to Germany. Last month, the ecommerce company opened the digital doors of Supershop.de. This is not the first time the retailer sells in Germany, as it has been selling products through Amazon Germany since October 2017. Selling products through Amazon.de was a way for Superwinkel to gain experience with selling online to German customers. Earlier this year, co-founder Roy Roes told Dutch magazine Twinkle that the company would prefer not to sell through Amazon. “We don’t believe in these types of marketplaces. If you take yourself seriously, you shouldn’t make your opponents, like these platforms, any stronger.”
Source: ecommercenews.eu
Ireland: Dunnes reclaims top supermarket spot
Dunnes Stores has reclaimed the top spot in the Irish grocery market for the first time since February, the latest grocery market share figures from Kantar Worldpanel show. For the 12 weeks to October 7, Dunnes claimed an overall market share of 22.1%, while Tesco dropped to second position with a 21.5% share. It was closely followed by SuperValu with 21.4% of the market. The biggest mover in the latest 12 week period was German discounter Aldi which after posting strong growth now holds 11.8% of the Irish grocery market. It just passed its rival Lidl, which registered a market share of 11.7%.
Source: rte.ie
South Africa: Steinhoff says 85% of creditors accept restructuring extension
South African retailer Steinhoff, said that 85% of creditors support extending its debt restructuring by one month. The retailer had asked creditors for an extension to November 20 as it negotiates documents required to implement the plan.
Source: reuters.com
Russia's Magnit says net profit up 10% y/y
Russian retailer Magnit said its net profit stood at 7.6bln roubles ($116.4mln) in the third quarter, up 10% year on year. The retailer’s third-quarter core earnings were up 5.3% year on year, while sales were up 8.4% at 310bln roubles, Magnit said.
Source: reuters.com
Philippines: More tie-ups for honestbee as it aims to saturate Cebu’s market
More local food brands and supermarkets are going on board the online delivery service provider honestbee. According to Cat Avelino, honestbee’s branding and communications manager, their list of partners in Cebu has grown to already more than 300. When the app was first launched in Cebu, their first area of expansion outside Metro Manila, last February, they only had close to a hundred local brands. “Our priority now is really expanding our presence. For Visayas, we are only in Cebu. Our priority is to saturate the market. In Cebu, we want to expand our coverage,” she said in an interview.
Source: cebudailynews.inquirer.net
Cloud helps South African food retailer streamline operations
To maintain its competitive edge, food retailer giant the Spar Group wanted to streamline its IT operations by adopting the cloud as part of its digital transformation strategy. Spar deployed Microsoft Office 365 and is using Microsoft Azure to reduce physical servers by a third and virtual machines by half in two years. This enabled Spar to reduce its system setup time from hours to just minutes, and with Microsoft Professional Direct support, Spar is able resolve Azure issues thanks to quick access to Microsoft professionals.
Source: itweb.co.za
US: Publix to promote Kevin Murphy to president
Kevin Murphy will take on the role as president of Publix Super Markets effective January 1, the Lakeland, Florida-based retailer said. Murphy currently is Publix’s SVP of retail operations; he will be taking the president role from Todd Jones, who will continue as CEO. Murphy, 48, began his career in 1984 as a front service clerk in Margate, Florida. He worked in various positions before being promoted to store manager in 1995. He was promoted to Jacksonville Division district manager in 2003, Atlanta Division regional director in 2009, Miami Division VP in 2014 and to his current position in 2016.
Source: winsightgrocerybusiness.com
US: Raley's enhances shopper experience with new website
Raley's has launched a new website with the intent of enhancing the customer experience through a revamped ecommerce interface and a design that helps shoppers better understand the grocer's vision and purpose surrounding health and wellness. Designed to deliver a personalized, time-saving digital shopping experience no matter when, where and how people shop, the site, which is also mobile-friendly, aims to be more personal for each user. It integrates personalized offers, regularly purchased products and more. The website also showcases the ways that the West Sacramento, California-based grocer makes a difference for its people, the communities it serves and the planet overall. It shares Raley's stories, offers customer inspiration and enhances transparency about the grocer's products.
Source: progressivegrocer.com
US: Ahold Delhaize’s RBS commits to removing artificial ingredients from all private brand products for consumers by 2025
Retail Business Services, the services company of Ahold Delhaize USA, announced a landmark commitment to make the private brand products it provides to local brands and their customers cleaner and more natural by 2025. The company, which provides private brand products as a service to Ahold Delhaize USA brands Food Lion, Giant Food, GIANT/MARTIN’S, Hannaford, Peapod and Stop & Shop, has committed to removing all of the following from all of its private brand product lines: synthetic colors, artificial flavors, artificial preservatives, artificial sweeteners, MSGs High fructose corn syrup. As part of this commitment, Retail Business Services also plans to continue product innovations that reduce salt and sugar, advance transparency and sustainable chemistry practices used in products and packaging, and dramatically reduce plastic and packaging waste. The company also plans to produce more allergen-free products and will further strengthen its guidelines for Nature’s Promise, its free-from and organic brand.
Source: internationalsupermarketnews.com
US: UNFI completes transformative acquisition of Supervalu
United Natural Foods, Inc. ("UNFI" or the "Company") announced it has completed the previously announced acquisition of Supervalu Inc. for $32.50 per share in cash, or approximately $2.9bln, including the assumption of outstanding debt and liabilities. The completion follows the satisfaction of all closing conditions including approval of the transaction by Supervalu shareholders and receipt of all necessary antitrust approvals.
Source: prnewswire.com