US: Cardenas Markets is growing and keeping life flavorful
Cardenas Markets, a Hispanic grocer, opened its newest store last week in Las Vegas, making this its fifth store in that market and 56th overall. This store opening was the first of four new stores planned for 2019, each located in separate regions: Las Vegas, Nevada; Concord, California; Tucson, Arizona; and Victorville, California. “We are thrilled to introduce our new Keep Life Flavorful design to our customers across all of our existing markets, as well as new markets that we are considering”, said John Gomez, Cardenas' CEO. With the Las Vegas opening, Cardenas unveiled its new “Next Generation” concept that will set the standard for all new stores moving forward, as a press release stated. This new design intends to elevate the customer experience and increase its reach across all demographics.
Source: delimarketnews.com
US: PCC Community Markets seeks Living Building Challenge certification
Seattle-based PCC Community Markets, the country’s largest community-owned grocery, is pursuing the Living Building Challenge (LBC) Petal Certification, run by Living Future Institute, the world’s most rigorous green building standard. PCC is the first grocery in the world to pursue certification. “We set high standards for the food we allow on our shelves, and we believe that our stores should be held to equally high standards”, said Brenna Davis, PCC’s VP of social and environmental responsibility. “In partnership with the International Living Future Institute, we are reimagining how grocery stores are built - using less water and energy, designing refrigeration systems that have a reduced climate impact, utilizing building materials that protect human health, and creating spaces that nurture a deeper sense of connection to the environment and our community.”
Source: progressivegrocer.com
US: Target’s top same-day service expands to more stores nationwide
Available coast to coast, Drive Up allows guests to place an order, pull up to their local store and have a team member bring the order to their car in less than 2 minutes for free. Drive Up is expanding to bring even more guests their fastest Target Run yet - now at more than 1,250 stores. Now, the speedy service is available in: Maryland: Annapolis, Frederick, Hagerstown, Salisbury, Silver Spring; Virginia: Charlottesville, Fairfax, Falls Church, Harrisonburg, Fredericksburg, Lynchburg, Richmond, Roanoke; Texas: Galveston, Laredo, McAllen, San Marcos; Georgia: Albany, Valdosta; Florida: Fort Meyers, Sarasota/Bradenton; California: Redding, Santa Rosa, Simi Valley.
Source: corporate.target.com
US: Walmart posts best U.S. Q1 comps in almost a decade
Aided by its embrace of new processes and technologies, Walmart Inc. has reported a U.S. comparable-store sales increase of 3.4% for its first quarter of fiscal 2020, the mega-retailer’s best Q1 comps in nine years and the fourth straight quarter above 3%. Further, according to the company, U.S. operating income was better than expected, seeing a 5.5% rise. At the same time, Walmart U.S. ecommerce sales growth of 37% was due to strong growth in online grocery, in addition to the home and fashion categories on Walmart.com. As of Q1, the company had about 2,450 grocery pickup locations, almost 1,000 stores with grocery delivery, and more than 900 pickup towers.
Source: progressivegrocer.com
Amazon invests in Deliveroo food courier
Online giant Amazon has announced a big investment in food courier Deliveroo. The exact figure was not given, but Amazon is the biggest investor in Deliveroo's latest round of fund raising, which in total raised $575mln (£450mln). Deliveroo said it would use the money for international expansion, improving its service and to grow its delivery-only kitchens business. Several existing US investors also contributed to the fund raising. The amount of capital invested in Deliveroo since it was founded in 2013 now totals more than $1.5bln, and the firm is one of Europe's fastest growing technology companies.
Source: bbc.com
India: BigBasket launches services in Kochi
Online grocery market BigBasket has launched its services in Kerala. Hari Menon, co-founder and CEO of BigBasket, said that he will be setting up a collection centre near Kochi to collect fresh vegetables and fruits to cater to the local market. Customers can now shop online through the BigBasket app or the website for more than 22,000 products that include fresh fruits, vegetables, grocery and cosmetics. With its foray into Kochi, BigBasket now has presence in 26 cities in India.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Croatia: Agrokor pares cons net loss 76.5% y/y in 2018
Agrokor Group said its consolidated net loss narrowed 76.5% year-on-year to 1.4bln kuna ($211.7mln/188.8mln euro) in 2018. The food-to-retail group's operating profit increased by 22% on the year to 2.4bln kuna in 2018, Agrokor said in an annual financial report. Consolidated revenues slightly decreased to 38.8bln kuna last year, as compared to 39.5bln kuna in 2017. Agrokor's total assets dropped to 31.74bln kuna in 2018, down 10.1% year-on-year, while total liabilities fell 3.1% to at 54.1bln kuna. On April 1, Agrokor was succeeded by a new company, Fortenova Group, as a settlement deal with Agrokor creditors took effect.
Source: seenews.com
EU judges say Poland's retail tax is not state aid
European Union judges ruled that Poland could tax larger retailers more heavily than smaller ones, overturning a decision from state aid regulators and raising the possibility that the currently suspended tax regime could be reinstated. The policy was one of the Law & Justice (PiS) party’s main election promises when it came to power in 2015, part of a raft of measures designed to fund generous social spending pledges, which in the end it succeeded in financing without the implementation of the retail tax. Under the scheme, retailers with monthly revenue of over 170mln zlotys ($44mln) were to be taxed more heavily than their smaller counterparts, but in 2017 the European Commission ruled that the measures constituted state aid, illegal under EU law.
Source: reuters.com
UK: Asda releases Q1 results and reinforces its focus on customers
Walmart has published its earnings returns for the first quarter of 2019 including financial results for its UK business, Asda, for the period 1st January 2019 to 31st March 2019. With an adjustment for the later Easter versus 2018, the UK supermarket delivered a 0.5% like-for-like sales growth excluding petrol over the first quarter of 2019. Without the Easter adjustment Walmart reported a sales decline of 1.1%. During the Walmart earnings call, Walmart CEO and President Doug McMillon said: "In the UK, we are disappointed that the proposed merger of Asda with Sainsbury’s isn’t happening because it would’ve been good for customers and the businesses. Asda continues to focus on delivering against our strategy and has built momentum in the business, which is impressive."
Source: corporate.asda.com
South Africa: The SPAR Group LTD interim results for the six months ended 31 March 2019
The SPAR Group LTD reported: Global wholesale turnover EUR35.8bln, +3.8% year-on-year. Ranking in turnover: SPAR SA - 2nd; SPAR IRE - 10th; SPAR SWZ - 17th. Group: Overall strong performance; turnover up 8.6% to R54.3bln. Continued capital investment in wholesale capacity and retail offering. Southern Africa: Strong total turnover growth of 7.7%. Excellent performance from TOPS at SPAR liquor +19.3%. Build it continues to beat expectations +8.3%. Ireland: Excellent H1 performance. Value enhancing acquisitions and integrations. 4 Aces Wholesale business and Corrib Foods. Switzerland: Weak first half, but well positioned for better H2.
Source: investor-relations.spar.co.za
Carrefour China extends its smart distribution strategy
Right in the centre of Beijing, on Wangfujing Avenue, Carrefour opened a new concept store in China at the end of April, the first in China, covering 680 square meters. 7000 products, including 70% from abroad. Abandoning the traditional tricolour logo (blue, white, red), the Wangfujing store has adopted a golden logo. Instead of creating a hypermarket covering 8,000 square meters and covering more than 30,000 products, this relatively small new Carrefour store aims to attract customers who prefer quality products. The store has a rest area inside the store where consumers can sit, eat and drink. The Wangfujing shop also offers an oenology class once a month, a store employee said. This is a new model Carrefour store in China, after the launch in May 2018 of “The Market” in Shanghai, the fruit of cooperation with the Chinese Internet giant Tencent. The Wangfujing store uses three e-payment systems: payments with Wechat, Alipay, as well as the mini-program “Scan and go” developed by Carrefour China and Tencent, and proposed on Wechat for a payment made by scanning the code of products, to avoid the long queue to make the payment and bring a more convenient shopping experience.
Source: internationalsupermarketnews.com
Dubai’s Majid Al Futtaim has acquired Saudi grocery delivery platform Wadi.com
As reported by MENAbytes last month, Dubai-based Majid Al Futtaim has acquired the Saudi online grocery delivery platform, MAF’s CEO Alain Bejjani confirmed, speaking to reporters during a media roundtable. The CEO apparently did not share the details about acquisition but said it was completed earlier this year.
Source: menabytes.com
China: Alibaba Group announces March quarter and full fiscal year 2019 results
Alibaba Group Holding Limited announced its financial results for the quarter and fiscal year ended March 31, 2019. In the quarter ended March 31, 2019: Revenue was RMB93,498mln (US$13,932mln), an increase of 51% year-over-year. Annual active consumers on our China retail marketplaces reached 654mln, an increase of 18mln from the 12-month period ended December 31, 2018. Mobile MAUs on our China retail marketplaces reached 721mln in March 2019, an increase of 22mln over December 2018. Income from operations was RMB8,765mln (US$1,306mln), a decrease of 5% year-overyear mainly due to our US$250mln settlement of a U.S. federal class action lawsuit. Adjusted EBITDA increased 29% year-over-year to RMB25,166mln (US$3,750mln). In the fiscal year ended March 31, 2019: Revenue was RMB376,844mln (US$56,152mln), an increase of 51% year-over-year. Excluding the effects of consolidating acquired businesses, revenue would have increased by 39% year-over-year. Annual active consumers on our China retail marketplaces reached 654mln, an increase of 102mln from the 12-month period ended March 31, 2018. Mobile MAUs on our China retail marketplaces reached 721mln in March 2019, an increase of 104mln over March 2018. Income from operations was RMB57,084mln (US$8,506mln) and adjusted EBITDA increased 15% year-over-year to RMB121,943mln (US$18,170mln).
Source: alibabagroup.com
Belgium: Lidl expands trial with home deliveries by bicycle
A trial project in which Belgians can get their Lidl groceries delivered at home by a bike courier, is a great success - the chain says. The project is expanded with more available products and (later) to more cities, but there is a price to pay. It is not a fad, but here to stay: home deliveries by bicycle are tested and approved in Belgian cities - see the experiments by Delhaize and Coolblue in Brussels. Lidl joined in as well, with a trial in Ghent starting last October, and now expands the test as it turned out to be quite successful - mainly with young families who order on Sundays to get the items delivered on Monday. Currently, the most popular groceries to be home delivered by Lidl are fruit and vegetables.
Source: retaildetail.eu