US: Brookshire’s announces home delivery through Instacart in Commerce and Sulphur Springs
Brookshire Grocery Co. has introduced same-day home delivery through Instacart at the Brookshire’s Food Stores located at 1603 Culver St. in Commerce and 809 Gilmer Rd. in Sulphur Springs. Customers can use the Instacart service to order and pay for an assortment of meat, produce, grocery, bakery, deli, household, health/beauty, baby, and pet items (alcohol, tobacco, lottery tickets, gift cards and other select items are not available for delivery through Instacart) from Brookshire’s. An Instacart personal shopper will visit the selected store to fill the order and then deliver the groceries to the customer’s home during their scheduled delivery timeframe.
Source: frontporchnewstexas.com
US: Whole Foods prices down 2.5% from last year
Whole Foods prices have dropped an average of 2.5% compared to last year according to a note from Morgan Stanley, CNBC reported. Parent company Amazon raised Whole Foods prices in February of this year citing increased packaging, ingredient and transportation costs as the reason. It then announced price cuts on hundreds of products in April. According to the note from Morgan Stanley, Whole Foods groceries now cost about 12% to 13% more than conventional grocers, down from 20%.
Source: grocerydive.com
Canada: IGA will accept reusable containers for food purchases
Beginning September 16, all IGA food stores in Quebec will allow customers to bring their own reusable containers for some food purchases. The food retailer’s announcement comes after the Metro chain adopted the same policy last April. IGA had been testing the policy in several stores for the past few weeks and will now extend it to the entire chain in Quebec. Reusable containers will be allowed for bulk food purchases and fruits and vegetables. They will also be permitted at self-serve counters. The containers must be made for food storage, clean, without dents or stains or other impurities such as rust. They must have a lid or seal and be free from any bar code. Clients will have to weigh their empty container before filling it.
Source: montrealgazette.com
Holland: Albert Heijn cuts 150 managerial posts
Dutch supermarket chain Albert Heijn wants to simplify its organisation and cuts 150 managers' posts. They are redirected to other jobs in the company, that emphasises it does not want to lay off anyone. The Ahold Delhaize subsidiary wants to shorten its internal lines of decision and starts a reorganisation that makes 150 managers redundant. Those are mainly working in the HR and Finance departments in Albert Heijn's headquarters in Zaandam, but also in the operational and regional management teams throughout the Netherlands. Afterwards, other parts of the organisational structure will be looked at as well: in several teams, "jobs will change, old jobs will end and new jobs will start", the retailer told RTL Z.
Source: retaildetail.eu
New Zealand: Sales volume rise boosts Countdown supermarkets' result
Woolworths' New Zealand Countdown supermarkets eked out a small gain in annual earnings as it sold a greater volume of goods at lower prices. The local unit of the Australian retailer reported earnings before interest and tax of $296mln in the 53 weeks ended June 30, up an adjusted 1% from the 52-week period a year earlier. Sales rose 2.4% on an adjusted basis to $6.71bln. Countdown's volume of comparable transactions rose in each of the retailer's New Zealand quarters of its financial year, ranging between 0.2-3.2% growth. However, average prices contracted in each quarter by 0.3-1.8%.
Source: nzherald.co.nz
France: Casino’s Franprix enters into a partnership with Hema
Groupe Casino’s convenience banner Franprix has joined forces with the Dutch retailer Hema with an aim to expand its non-food assortment from the latter’s products. The new assortment will be available initially in few stores from the beginning of September 2019.
Source: kantarretailiq.com
China: Hong Kong retail sales drop by steepest in 3-1/2 years amid protests
Hong Kong’s July retail sales sank by the most since February 2016 amid anti-government protests that have gripped the Chinese-ruled city for months. Retail sales in July fell 11.4% from a year earlier, government data showed, as social unrest hurt consumer sentiment and visitor arrivals started to fall.
Source: af.reuters.com
HelloFresh expands to Sweden
HelloFresh has set foot in Scandinavia. The German meal kit delivery service has launched in Sweden. “We are sure Swedish customers will love our product, and we can’t wait for them to try it”, co-founder Thomas Griesel commented. HelloFresh thinks Sweden offers great potential for the introduction of its meal kit service, partly because of the approximately 4.7mln households in this Scandinavian country. In order to deliver meals as soon as possible, the German food company has put a new distribution center into operation in Helsingborg. All meal kits for the Swedish market will be produced here, while most ingredients will also come from Swedish providers.
Source: ecommercenews.eu
Holland: Lidl to combat food waste with massive discounts
Lidl is taking on the fight against food waste by experimenting with selling products for only 25 cents on their expiry date. The experiment, called 'Don't waste me, I'm still good', launched in 20 stores in the Gooi region and around Amersfoort this week, RTL Nieuws reports. The experiment includes products like bread, meat and 2 kilogram boxes of fruit and vegetables. "With meat we of course also tell people to use it immediately or freeze it", a Lidl spokesperson said to the broadcaster. The supermarket chain is also joining the Too Good To Go app, which puts cheap meal boxes together with food that restaurants and supermarkets would normally throw away. Albert Heijn and Jumbo already collaborate with the app.
Source: nltimes.nl
UK: McColl's Retail Group sees like-for-like sales down in Q3
UK convenience retailer McColl's has posted a 2.2% decline in like-for-like sales in the third quarter of its financial year. In a trading update, the company reported a 3.6% decline in total revenue for the 13 weeks ended 25 August 2019. The retailer attributed the decline to uncertainty surrounding Brexit and the poor summer weather. Chief executive, Jonathan Miller, said: "As we outlined in our interim results, this has been a highly unseasonable summer for the retail sector and our sales performance reflects both this and the ongoing macro-economic uncertainty." The retailer's year-to-date like-for-like sales declined marginally by 0.1%, with total revenue down 1.2%, mainly because of ongoing store renovation.
Source: esmmagazine.com
Poland: Eurocash Group with growth in revenue and EBITDA in second quarter and first half of 2019
Eurocash Group’s revenue in the second quarter of 2019 reached PLN6.44bln (USD1.6bln), nearly 12% higher than in the same period of 2018. In the entire first half of 2019, consolidated revenue amounted to PLN11.92bln, up by 11% y/y. Consolidated EBITDA, calculated in accordance with the IFRS 16 standard that went into effect this year, reached PLN216mln in the second quarter of 2019, while EBITDA prior to IFRS 16 grew by more than 8% y/y to PLN126mln. In the first half of 2019, Eurocash Group generated PLN338mln in EBITDA, while EBITDA pre-IFRS 16 was PLN160mln, i.e. 2% higher than in the preceding year. Consolidated net profit in the second quarter of 2019 reached PLN47mln, and nearly PLN50mln on a pre-IFRS 16 basis, denoting growth by 38% y/y. In this year’s first six months, Eurocash Group’s net profit reached PLN7mln and nearly PLN16mln on a pre-IFRS 16 basis (compared to just under PLN18mln in the previous year).
Source: grupaeurocash.pl