US: Costco Wholesale Corporation reports August sales results
Costco Wholesale Corporation (“Costco” or the “Company”) reported net sales of $13.56bln for the retail month of August, the four weeks ended August 30, 2020, an increase of 15.0% from $11.79bln last year. For the 16-week fourth quarter ended August 30, 2020, the Company reported net sales of $52.3bln, an increase of 12.7% compared to net sales of $46.4bln during the similar period last year. For the 52-week fiscal year ended August 30, 2020, the Company reported net sales of $163.2bln, an increase of 9.2% from the $149.4bln during the similar period last year.
Source: globenewswire.com
US: Target adds Good & Gather premium line in latest expansion
Target Corp. is adding a premium collection called Good & Gather Signature as part of a 600-item expansion of its year-old Good & Gather label, which will become the retailer’s largest private brand. Target said that it has begun rolling out the new Good & Gather products across nearly every food category and expects them to hit stores through the fall, expanding the brand to almost 2,000 items.
Source: supermarketnews.com
US: Instacart lands its biggest food retailer deal yet
The largest grocery e-commerce provider Instacart is teaming up with the largest convenience retailer, 7-Eleven, to essentially redefine what "convenience" means in the c-store industry. The company is bringing same-day delivery to 7-Eleven customers, often in as fast as 30 minutes. Instacart will deliver thousands of convenience, alcohol and grocery items from the chain to customers’ doors in participating pilot markets. The multi-phase launch is now live at more than 750 stores in Dallas; Miami; Baltimore; Washington, D.C.; and the surrounding areas, with plans to expand nationally to more than 7,000 7-Eleven stores across the U.S.
Source: progressivegrocer.com
US: Online grocer Farmstead dramatically expands Bay Area deliveries
Farmstead, an online grocer bolstered by artificial intelligence technology, said it has dramatically expanded its Bay Area delivery footprint, offering services in the East Bay for the first time as well as widening its San Jose scope. The company had primarily served areas such as San Francisco and parts of San Jose but now has added numerous cities in Alameda County and Contra Costa County to its delivery area. “Farmstead’s mission is to make fresh, high-quality food accessible to everyone”, said Pradeep Elankumaran, Farmstead’s chief executive officer and co-founder.
Source: mercurynews.com
New online initiative from South Korea
WeMakePrice, a South Korean ecommerce platform, announced this week that grocery shoppers can now receive a full refund for perishable goods if the products are not up to their standards. The new initiative comes after the online retailer trialed a similar service last month for meat products and nuts, which the company says was met with a warm reception. Dissatisfied shoppers can now order meat, vegetables, fruits and seafood products that are quality assurance approved and request a full refund until the following day, regardless of the reason.
Source: retailanalysis.igd.com
UK: Co-op to create 1000 local jobs as it seeks to launch over 65 stores
Co-op has plans to launch more than 3 stores a week until December to serve new neighbourhoods as part of major expansion scheme. The convenience retailer will launch over 65 new and extended stores, with more than 100 additional sites receiving major makeovers. The initiative is part of a £130mln store investment programme that will create up to 1000 jobs, which is in addition to the 1000 permanent roles that came from temporary jobs created during lockdown.
Source: retailgazette.co.uk
UAE: Waitrose & Partners opens new Dubai shop
Waitrose has opened a new convenience shop in Dubai as it continues its partnership with Fine Fare Food Market LLC (FFFM). It has become its sixth shop in Dubai and its twelfth in total in the United Arab Emirates. The 4,000 sq ft convenience shop is situated in Al Barari, in the heart of an active eco-conscious residential development. It will offer a range of Waitrose products - from its Essential Waitrose range to its Waitrose No.1 range, including fresh fruit and vegetables, freshly baked bread and Food to Go.
Source: waitrose.pressarea.com
UK: Ocado halts staff deliveries temporarily amid order backlog
Online grocer Ocado has temporarily halted deliveries to staff members to help clear an order backlog following its tie-up with Marks & Spencer. The move, first reported by Retail Week, comes as it deals with a "surge in demand". M&S has bought a 50% share of Ocado's retail business, giving it a full internet-based delivery service. But its popularity meant Ocado was unable to fulfil a "very small number" of orders when it began on Tuesday.
Source: bbc.com
Yata to launch convenience-store concept in Hong Kong
Japanese-themed Hong Kong department-store and supermarket chain Yata is set to unveil its first-ever convenience store format in Hong Kong. Dubbed the ‘Konbin by Yata’ (also Japanese for convenience store), the new format will be smaller than its usual department store standing at 3777sqft. Located within Sha Tin’s Hotel Sav, the store will be styled on a ‘quick’ shop, cook-and-eat concept with an array of Japanese merchandise, self-checkouts and instant dining spaces for the time-pressed Hongkongers.
Source: insideretail.asia
Pakistani grocery delivery startup GrocerApp raises $1mln seed led by Dubai’s Jabbar
Lahore-based grocery delivery startup GrocerApp has raised $1mln in a seed round led by Jabbar Internet Group, the startup announced in a statement to MENAbytes. It is Jabbar’s first investment in Pakistan and comes just days after it won big with the $360mln sale of Dubai-based grocery startup InstaShop (in which it was an early investor) to Delivery Hero.
Source: menabytes.com
Amazon bucks UK labour market gloom with 7,000 new jobs
Amazon brought a little cheer to Britain’s troubled labour market, saying it will create a further 7,000 permanent jobs in 2020, taking total new hires this year to 10,000. The U.S. internet giant said the 7,000 new roles will be for warehouse workers, as well as engineers, HR and IT professionals and health and safety and finance specialists. The jobs will be in over 50 sites, including two new distribution centres in the north east and central England and at corporate offices.
Source: reuters.com
Walmart's Flipkart begins online wholesale service for Indian small businesses
The Indian e-commerce company Flipkart launched a wholesale service for small businesses. The Walmart-owned firm is hoping to level the playing field against gargantuan competitors like Amazon, which leads the industry. "Flipkart Wholesale", which is available as an app for consumers' smartphones, sells retail merchandise in the cities of Bengaluru, Gurugram and Delhi.
Source: foxbusiness.com
French Carrefour to be first international grocery retailer in Uzbekistan, Central Asia
Majid Al Futtaim holding company has been diligently planning its entry into Uzbekistan for many years, CEO of Majid Al Futtaim Retail Hani Weiss told Trend in an interview. "As the exclusive franchisee to operate the Carrefour brand in over 30 countries across the Middle East, Africa and Asia, Majid Al Futtaim currently operates over 300 Carrefour stores, serving more than 750,000 customers daily and employing over 37,000 colleagues," stated Weiss. According to the CEO, several countries from the CIS region, including Uzbekistan, are included within this franchise agreement.
Source: en.trend.az