Tesco Poland: boosting profit, moving towards EDLP strategy
Tesco’s loss-making operation in Poland has been a drag on the retailer’s profitability in central Europe. Tesco Poland has managed to turn around its profitability via its three-year transformation programme, which has helped boost regional profit in 2018. Tesco has done this by reorganising its logistical and store operations to introduce cost efficiencies and offer shoppers lower prices, which help it to compete against discounters. Tesco Central Europe reported a 4.5% drop in 2018 sales at constant exchange rates, to reach GBP6.0bln (US$7.6bln). This was partly explained by a 2.3% decline in like-for-like sales, due to Tesco’s non-participation in Black Thursday promotions in the region. The performance was also affected by a 9.1% sales decline in Poland, due to the loss of 25 trading days due to the Sunday ban and the closure of 62 stores.
Source: retailanalysis.igd.com
Spain: Eroski reports €163.6mln operating profit as it agrees a debt refinancing plan
Spanish retailer Eroski reported a 19.1% increase in operating profit to a total of €163.6mln (£144.57mln) for the year ending January 2019. However, net profit for the group was down by 95% from €33.2mln (£29.34mln) in 2017 to €1.6mln (£1.41mln) in 2018. Eroski said that changes in accounting standards introduced in 2018 also affected its results, with €18mln (£15.91mln) allocated to covering risks.
Source: thenews.coop
France: Casino sells three hypermarkets to Leclerc for €38mln
Groupe Casino has announced that it has completed the sale of three hypermarkets in Castelnaudary, Anglet, and Castres in France to Leclerc members for €38mln. In January of this year, the retail group said that it was in the process of divesting six of its 'Géant' hypermarket stores to Leclerc for €100.5mln. Casino has also reiterated that this divestment is not a part of its non-strategic assets disposal plan, which was announced in June of 2018. The Géant banner is also focusing on transforming the business by focusing on strategic priorities like developing its digital resources and expanding its organic assortment.
Source: esmmagazine.com
Ibiza: Mercadona can not find staff for its supermarkets
Mercadona offered 25 jobs to staff its supermarkets in Ibiza, with fixed contracts and salaries from 1,328 to 1,800 euros gross per month, but at the moment it does not have any applicants. According to ABC, the chain concentrates some of its establishments with the highest turnover in Spain, and not only in summer. However, Mercadona has problems to complete the workforce in Ibiza and returns to publicizing job offers that it has not been able to cover since April 22. For supermarket staff, the Valencian company seeks residents on the island who have ESO (Compulsory Secondary Education), no experience is needed, the company trains employees. It offers a fixed contract and salaries up to 25,158 gross euros per year (1,797 euros per month with 14 payments).
Source: internationalsupermarketnews.com
Latvija: Maxima achieves strong growth in 2018
Maxima Latvija has demonstrated strategic expansion ambitions and reported strong growth figures in its audited results for 2018. The operations of Maxima in Latvia generated a turnover of 776.6mln Euros, which constitutes a growth of 6.4% compared to a year earlier. Maxima invested 18mln Euro in expanding and renewing its Latvian grocery retail chain, upgrading employee amenities and improving shopping ambience, and achieved a net profit of 21.9mln Euro. “2018 was a turning point for Maxima in Latvia. We achieved strong results by lowering prices, investing in improved shopping experience for our customers and better work environment for our people, and developing new store formats. This year we will continue with our focus on low prices, better customer service, strong expansion in residential areas, greater product assortment and the sustainability of our operations. Our plan is to invest more than 34mln Euro this year in expanding the store chain and improving the customer shopping experience”, comments Maxima Latvija Chairman of the Board Andris Vilcmeiers.
Source: baltictimes.com
China: Aldi Süd to open its first store
Aldi Süd has revealed it will open stores in China, with the first one opening on the 7th of June in Shanghai. China will become the 11th market where Aldi Süd operates stand-alone stores, strengthening its position as a global retailer. This announcement comes just weeks after Lidl closed its online operations in the country. Aldi Süd used a different approach when it entered China compare to all other markets where it operates. It launched an ecommerce platform on Alibaba’s Tmall Global in April 2017, where it sells both grocery and non-grocery products. The online shop was an efficient way to boost understanding of local shoppers with limited investments. It acted as a feasibility study that has led to its decision to launch its first bricks-and-mortar store in the country next week. The discounter plans to open 10 stores in the short term with an objective of 50 to 100 store openings in the medium term to ensure economic viability.
Source: retailanalysis.igd.com
Malaysia: 7-Eleven sales, profit surge in first quarter
7-Eleven Malaysia has achieved sales growth of 9% in the first quarter - and net-profit growth of 24.9%. Same-store sales rose 6.1%, the rest of the growth due to store expansion with the convenience store network now numbering 2311 stores. But CEO Colin Harvey says more improvement us yet to come: “We see opportunities for improvement and confident that our strategy roadmap of strengthening the key areas of assortment, supply chain, operational excellence, store base and digitally enabling the organisation will bear fruit in terms of financial performance and overall customer experience. We continue to look forward to the challenges ahead in ensuring that 7-Eleven remain as Malaysia’s first choice convenience store.”
Source: insideretail.asia
Georgia: Spar records strong start to 2019
Spar Georgia has had a busy first quarter of the year, having opened nine new company-owned stores, according to Spar International. It revealed that the strong performance follows on from a successful year in 2018, in which the business saw sales growth of 89.7%. Store numbers grew by more than half in 2018, increasing from 42 in 2017 to 110 at year-end. This rapid growth, according to the company, was brought about by both the conversion of existing formats and the sub-licensing of independent retailers, which led to the creation of nearly 2,000 new jobs. Spar reported that strong focus was placed on developing the retail skills of employees by offering scholarship programmes to support knowledge generation. The development of a new distribution centre complemented the growth of the retail network, ensuring high standards of service to all Spar outlets, it added.
Source: esmmagazine.com
German group Metro downsizes plans for proximity store chain in Romania
The proximity store chain LaDoiPaşi, launched by German retailer Metro in Romania and operated under franchise, plans to double the number of units over the next four years, hoping to reach over 1,700 stores nationwide. Their plans are, however, less ambitious than they were two years ago when they announced 3,000 stores by 2020. The LaDoiPaşi is currently approaching 1,000 units. The only food retailer that operates more than 1,000 stores in Romania is Profi, which operates several formats and only partially through a franchise-like system. To date, more than 860 stores have opened under the label LaDoiPaşi, and the retailer is pursuing expansion in communities across the country, both urban and rural. The LaDoiPaşi franchise is very popular in the south of the country, with 40% of the shops located in the region, 30% in the north and 30% in the west.
Source: romania-insider.com
Canada: Fresh City acquires The Healthy Butcher
Less than two months after its last acquisition, Toronto’s Fresh City is at it again. The grocer has acquired The Healthy Butcher - an organic meat retailer founded in 2005 by husband and wife Mario Fiorucci and Tara Longo - which has two Toronto locations. The Healthy Butcher’s staff were retained as part of the deal, and Fiorucci and Longo will join Fresh City’s senior management team.
Source: canadiangrocer.com
US: Tops Markets expands grocery pickup
After a successful pilot in three stores, Tops Markets LLC is expanding its grocery pickup program to an additional 16 stores in western New York. The pilot began in October 2018, after the retailer launched its delivery service in 2017. “This expansion is significant for Tops as it assists shoppers from Buffalo to Batavia, Hamburg to Niagara Falls, making their shopping experience that much easier”, said Edward Rick, director of consumer marketing and digital for Tops. The northeastern grocer is looking to expand the pickup service in the coming months to its 22 stores in the Rochester and Syracuse, New York, metro areas.
Source: progressivegrocer.com
US: Food City taps GlobalWorx DSD supply chain platform
Southeastern grocer Food City is implementing the OOS-Alert solution from GlobalWorx, the first industry collaboration platform for the store-level control of fast-moving consumer goods, across its retail locations. GlobalWorx aims to help the chain and its direct store delivery (DSD) suppliers boost revenue and bolster customer satisfaction by communicating out-of-stocks and other store service-related issues, employing a real-time actionable approach. "Our top priority is to meet and exceed the demands of our customers each time they shop with us, so we always want to address potential out-of-stock issues before they happen", said Dan Glei, SVP of merchandising and marketing at Ablingdon, Virginia-based K-VA-T Food Stores, Food City's parent company. “GlobalWorx gives us a vastly improved ability to communicate with our DSD suppliers and ensure the right product is available to our shoppers whenever they want it.”
Source: progressivegrocer.com