Canada: The Sweet Potato introduces black plastic recycling program
Toronto grocer The Sweet Potato recently introduced a recycling program for black plastic after belatedly discovering it is not accepted by the City of Toronto. In a recent blog post announcing the program’s creation, The Sweet Potato said it was surprised to learn that Canada’s largest city doesn’t recycle black plastic. The company said it believed it had made a “prudent and environmentally sustainable choice” when selecting its own black plastic containers, only to discover it had unknowingly contributed to the problem of plastic waste. “It just seems crazy that all these people are at home with black plastic from us and it suddenly has to become garbage”, The Sweet Potato’s founder and co-owner, Digs Dorfman told Canadian Grocer. “So we just decided to let people bring it back themselves.”
Source: canadiangrocer.com
US: Wegmans announces New York City opening date
The highly anticipated opening of Wegmans Food Markets’ first New York City store has finally been given a date. The 74,000-square-foot supermarket will open on October 27 in the Admirals Row development of the Brooklyn Navy Yard. “The Brooklyn community has been eagerly awaiting the opening date for this store”, said Vice President and District Manager Todd Ferrera. “October 27 is just around the corner, and we can’t wait to celebrate with everyone.”
Source: supermarketnews.com
US: Smart & Final Q1 sees higher comps in ‘strong start’ to year
Smart & Final Stores Inc. has posted a net sales increase of 2.8% to nearly $1.05bln, with a comparable-store sales rise of 2.2%, for its first quarter of fiscal 2019 ended March 24. Also during the quarter, gross margin grew 7% to $156.3mln and adjusted EBITDA increased 3.6% to $29.6mln. Net sales growth was spurred by the rise in comps, comprising a 1.7% increase in comparable average transaction size and a 0.4% uptick in comparable transaction count, and the net sales contribution of new stores. Smart & Final banner store Q1 net sales came to $815.9mln, a 2.6% increase compared with $795.2mln for year-ago period, while comps growth for the banner was 2.4% in Q1 2019. As well as the rise in gross margin, the company’s Q1 2019 gross margin rate increased to 15% from 14.4% last year.
Source: progressivegrocer.com
US: Farmstead debuts Smart Shopping List
Online grocer Farmstead has introduced Smart Shopping List, a feature that goes beyond recommendations to actually predict what customers need based on multiple data-driven factors, among them weekly shopping history, buying signals and what’s already in their cart. “One of the biggest challenges to buying groceries online is to build your shopping cart rapidly”, said Pradeep Elankumaran, co-founder and CEO of San Francisco-based Farmstead. “Since there are no physical aisles to walk through like a traditional supermarket, and only so much scrolling one can take, it’s a true challenge to help customers find the right products at the right time while also suggesting new ones they’ll love in the few minutes they spend each week tapping buttons online.” To address this challenge, Smart Shopping List dynamically generates an endless list of heavily personalized products that customers can scroll through. These products are ranked by machine-learning algorithms based on past shopping behavior and wellness preferences, along with the collective behavior of other shoppers who purchase similar products. Farmstead users can now put their orders together much faster, because these models are helping them.
Source: progressivegrocer.com
US: Walmart, Digimarc automate markdown process for packaged fresh food
Walmart Inc. is working with Digimarc Corp., the inventor of the Intuitive Computing Platform (ICP) featuring Digimarc Barcode, to improve the management of packaged fresh food. The solution promises to reduce fresh food waste and provide everyday lowest prices by automating the markdown process. The companies' collaboration has grown through technology development and business process engineering to include waste reduction by automating various aspects of packaged fresh food inventory management. Fresh product labels can be crinkled, smudged, wrapped around edges or fraudulently altered, contributing to product shrinkage, lower inventory accuracy and customer dissatisfaction. The Digimarc Barcode for Fresh Product Labels makes scanning more reliable, simplifies operations, improves inventory accuracy and provides a better customer experience.
Source: progressivegrocer.com
US: Sprouts reports 10% sales increase for Q1
Sprouts Farmers Market has reported a 10% increase in net sales for Q1 from a year ago, for a total of $1.4bln. Comparable-store sales growth was 1.4%, and two-year comps growth was 4.1%. During the quarter, the Phoenix-based grocer opened eight new stores, one more than planned, as well as one in the second quarter, which is part of the nine new stores already announced. The company also revealed plans to open 13 more stores in the second half of the year. Gross profit for the quarter increased 9% to $484mln, resulting in a gross profit margin of 34.3%, a decrease of 30 basis points compared with the same period in 2018. According to Sprouts, this deleverage was primarily driven by cost inflation that wasn't fully reflected in retail pricing due to the competitive landscape, as well as changes in product mix.
Source: progressivegrocer.com
Amazon opens its platform to local retail market in Israel
E-commerce giant Amazon has reached out to Israeli retailers to enable them to sell directly to customers in Israel using its online platform. Amazon sent a letter to a select number of Israeli retailers inviting them to join its local delivery program that allows firms to use their current Amazon.com seller account to fulfill orders directly to customers in Israel, using local inventory. “This new service is a positive addition to the current Amazon shopping experience for Israeli customers, providing them with quicker and cheaper delivery, while also offering a great opportunity for local, Israeli businesses to grow their businesses on Amazon”, said a source close to Amazon.
Source: reuters.com
Walmart-owned Flipkart in talks to buy Indian grocery chain - report
Walmart Inc-owned e-commerce firm Flipkart is in talks to buy Indian grocery chain Namdhari’s Fresh, CNBC-TV18 reported, citing sources. Namdhari's operates over 30 stores in the southern city of Bengaluru, and the acquisition will help Flipkart expand its food and grocery segment, the report added. Walmart acquired about 77% of Flipkart for roughly $16bln last year, beefing up the competition to Amazon.com Inc in the fast growing Indian e-commerce market. Walmart, Flipkart and Namdhari’s did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
Source: reuters.com
Spar starts with online shop in Hungary
Supermarket chain Spar wants to start an online store in Hungary this year. Currently, home delivery of online groceries is already possible in some cities in Austria and Slovenia and soon, consumers from Hungary will be able to order their groceries online. Last year, the online shop of Spar registered a growth of over 50%, Kronen Zeitung writes. “You can’t overestimate that. It’s a strong growth, but still at a low level”, CEO Gerhard Drexel emphasized. “The online shop accounts for about 1% of Interspar’s total sales.”
Source: ecommercenews.eu
Singapore: Honestbee co-founder Joel Sng steps down as CEO
Online grocery and food delivery service honestbee confirmed on Thursday (May 2) that its co-founder Joel Sng is stepping down as chief executive officer. He will be replaced by Mr Brian Koo with effect from Thursday. The move is part of an "ongoing strategic review of our business", an honestbee spokesperson said in a statement. "Brian will bring his passion for our mission to his new role", said the spokesperson.
Source: channelnewsasia.com
New Zealand: Countdown March-qtr sales growth underpinned by produce
The Woolworths-owned Countdown supermarket chain lifted sales 3.2% in the March quarter, which the retailer put down to growth in fruit, vegetables and perishables. Sales across the 180 Countdown stores were $1.69bln in the 13 weeks ended March 31, up from $1.64bln a year earlier. Adjusting for Easter, when consumers typically line the aisles to stock up for the two days when supermarkets have to close their doors, the Australian company said sales were up 2.9%. Countdown's sales growth lagged behind the 4% increase in electronic card spending on consumables in the March quarter, while the supermarket's 0.6% decline in average prices compared to a 0.7% increase in grocery food prices, according to government data.
Source: scoop.co.nz