UK: Aldi launches two-hour delivery in London
Aldi has rolled out two-hour delivery for its entire range of groceries to 20,000 postcodes across London. It’s the first time the German grocery discounter has enabled customers to order groceries online and then get them delivered at their homes. Aldi won’t handle the delivery all by itself. It has partnered with Home Run, a startup that already handles fulfilment services for M&S, Waitrose, Tesco and Whole Foods. “We are taking Aldi online in a grocery delivery first! Enjoy the amazing, seasonal fresh British produce and brilliantly low prices we all know and love from Aldi, delivered to your door in as little as 1 hour!”, the company says in a LinkedIn post.
Source: ecommercenews.eu
Belarus Eurotorg announces price range for IPO on London Stock Exchange
Belarusian food retailer Eurotorg announces: price range for initial public offering (IPO) on London Stock Exchange. Global depositary receipts (GDRs) in the offering will be offered to certain institutional and professional investors in the United Kingdom and elsewhere outside the United States, and in the United States to persons reasonably believed to be qualified institutional buyers. Total base offering size is expected to be approximately $250mln, of which $200mln is expected to be primary proceeds and up to $50mln is expected to be existing shares.
Source: uk.reuters.com
Bosnia & Herzegovina gets new supermarket chain
A new supermarket chain, launched by local retailer Tropic, has started operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Crvena Jabuka Market opened its first store in Kakanj's Real Shopping Mall. The space was previously used by Croatian grocery chain Konzum. The supermarket is spread across an area of more than 2,000 square metres, and offers an assortment of over 15,000 products. Customers also have the option to taste around 50 different ready-to-eat dishes, on a daily basis. According to Tropico, the idea is to offer consumers an ambience that combines the experience of visiting a supermarket, a traditional market, and a restaurant.
Source: esmmagazine.com
UAE: Dubai retail giant invests in Saudi grocery delivery platform
UAE-based retail giant Majid Al Futtaim has announced an investment in Wadi Group which operates Wadi Grocery, the fastest growing online grocery delivery platform in Saudi Arabia. The investment in Wadi is part of a $30mln funding round that will help fuel Wadi Grocery’s growth, a statement said. As part of the agreement, Carrefour will become Wadi Grocery’s long term strategic partner for supplying food and non-food groceries. The partnership will provide customers access to over 12,000 products, delivered within a two-hour window on the platform, the statement added.
Source: arabianbusiness.com
Denmark: Bilka halves its total food waste
Salling Group’s hypermarket banner, Bilka, has committed to halving its food waste again by 2030. The banner previously agreed to halving its food waste in 2014. Since then, it has reduced food waste by 4.193 tonnes or 52%. A further reduction would exceed the UN’s global target and produce a real reduction of 75% compared with 2014. Mark Nielson, Bilka’s director, commented, “This is an ambitious goal, but all Bilka department stores have made a huge effort to reduce overall food waste. We have taken some new workflows in use, which means that we have become much better at ordering the right amount of goods while taking advantage of goods where the packaging has been damaged, for example, but nothing fails”. To help reduce waste, Bilka lowers the price of food with approaching expiry dates. The banner also donates all unsold food to charities and farms, as animal feed, or converts it into biogas. This is a "gas fuel derived from the decay of organic matter, as the mixture of methane and carbon dioxide produced by the bacterial decomposition of sewage, manure, garbage, or plant crops".
Source: retailanalysis.igd.com
China: Tencent joins new ParknShop Yonghui JV
Tencent has teamed up with ParknShop and Yonghui Superstores to create a new combined grocery chain ParknShop Yonghui. The joint venture, valued at US$170mln, aims to help Shanghai-listed Yonghui expand its business outside of the southern province of Guangdong, as well as consolidating Yonghui and ParknShop’s businesses in the province. Yonghui gains half of the joint venture with $89.6mln while ParknShop will hold a 40% stake with cash and equity contributions amounting to $72mln, and Tencent will pay $18mln yuan for a 10% stake.
Source: insideretail.asia
Metro is said to tap Citigroup, JPMorgan for China review
Metro AG, the German big-box retailer and wholesaler, is working with Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. to review options for its Chinese operations, according to people familiar with the matter. The business could be worth about $1.5bln, based on earnings and the valuations of its rivals, the people said, asking not to be identified as the details aren’t public. Including real estate, the Chinese unit could be valued at more than $2bln, one of the people said. The company is exploring options such as selling a minority stake or finding a strategic partner for the business, people familiar with the deliberations said last month. “Metro China has been very profitable and growing constantly,” the retailer said in an emailed statement. “Since June, we've been exploring opportunities with partners to accelerate our business development in this country. The options could include various partnerships, including M&A.”
Source: bloomberg.com
US: DeCicco & Sons joins movement against single-use plastic bags
DeCicco & Sons, a chain of family-owned supermarkets in New York’s Hudson Valley, will fully eliminate single-use plastic bags in all seven of its stores within the next 30 days, joining a growing number of retailers launching similar environmental and sustainability initiatives. “We’ve decided to take this step because we take very seriously the role that we have within our communities, and the responsibility we have to be good corporate citizens,” said CEO John DeCicco Jr. “Over the last several years, we’ve undertaken quite a number of environmental initiatives. We think that being environmentally conscious is not just smart business, but that it’s an ethical imperative.”
Source: supermarketnews.com
US: Walmart eases shopping & returns through 3rd-party online vendors
Walmart is looking to dramatically ease both shopping for and returning items - from everyday goods to gifts - through its online marketplace sellers, beginning next month, just in time for the holiday season. Working with hundreds of its marketplace sellers, the Bentonville, Arkansas-based mega-retailer is making millions of products available for free two-day shipping without a membership fee. It's also simplifying the return process for items purchased from marketplace sellers, even allowing shoppers to return the products they purchased online at any of the retailer's stores.
Source: progressivegrocer.com
Amazon Prime Now reaches more Whole Foods stores
Same-day online grocery delivery through Amazon’s Prime Now service has become available at Whole Foods Market stores in another 10 cities. The companies said Wednesday that Prime Now delivery via Whole Foods has launched in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Birmingham, Alabama; Boise, Idaho; Charleston, South Carolina; Colorado Springs, Colorado; Hartford and Stamford, Connecticut; Kansas City, Missouri; Providence, Rhode Island; and Salt Lake City. The service also has been rolled out to more neighborhoods in Boston and Cincinnati.
Source: supermarketnews.com
US: Publix to build new prototype grocery store in Indialantic on State Road A1A
The mystery Indialantic grocery store has been identified: Publix will build a concept store on State Road A1A alongside the Indialantic Center shopping plaza, across the highway from Sunrise Park. "No it’s not a Greenwise, it is a Publix but nothing like anywhere around here (literally). They call it a Prototype or Concept Store, the design and products are designed around the special communities they support," Indialantic Mayor Dave Berkman posted on Facebook. "Someone mentioned they had recently been to one in Gainesville, ours will be similar but not exactly like it. I expect it will have fresh prepared foods, specialty meats/cheeses, organic, cafe seating inside and outside, etc.," he wrote. The prototype Publix may open by the end of 2019 or early 2020, said Matt Williams, partner with Matthew Development.
Source: eu.floridatoday.com