Dutch ecommerce top 6 remain unchanged
The 6 biggest online stores in the Netherlands in 2019 are still the same 6 as in the year before. Bol.com remains the biggest ecommerce player, with a revenue of 2.17bln euros. It’s followed by fellow Dutch companies Coolblue and Albert Heijn. Every year, Dutch magazine Twinkle ranks the 250 biggest ecommerce companies that sell in the Netherlands. In the beginning, things changed fast, as ecommerce companies come and go. But in the last couple of years, the top 6 remains quite unchanged. Just like last year, the top 6 now contains the same names: Bol.com, Coolblue, Albert Heijn, Zalando, Wehkamp and Amazon.
Source: ecommercenews.eu
Greece: BOX starts partnership with Masoutis and Kritikos
BOX, the online food order service of leading telecommunications company Cosmote, is launching its cooperation with supermarket chains Masoutis and Kritikos, for the first time offering consumers the opportunity to order all of the products stocked by those retailers with delivery in some cases on the same day. This means over 10,000 product codes from each chain are now available for delivery in more than 50 cities across Greece.
Source: ekathimerini.com
Australia: Drakes Supermarkets facing underpayment claims in class action lodged in Federal Court
Australia's culture of "insecure" work is fuelling wage theft claims against retailers, think tank the Australia Institute says, as a class action is launched against another major supermarket chain. The latest underpayment claims have been levelled against independent retailer Drakes Supermarkets, which runs more than 50 stores across South Australia and Queensland. The class action lodged by Adero Law in the Federal Court alleges Drakes workers were not paid allowances and entitlements owed from performing overtime and penalty work.
Source: abc.net.au
UK: Whole Foods Market partners with Infarm to offer a more sustainable way to shop
Whole Foods Market customers are now able to purchase a range of fresh produce that has been grown by Infarm - the world's fastest growing urban farming network. It marks the third major expansion into the UK retail space for Infarm as retailers seek ways to reduce the environmental footprint in their supply chain and develop their range of sustainable produce. Infarm has installed 2 of its modular vertical farming units in 2 of Whole Foods Market's London outlets: High Street Kensington and Fulham, so shoppers can buy fresh produce grown directly in store. The remaining 5 London stores will be supplied with produce from a local Infarm growing centre in Tottenham, providing flexible supply as and when required.
Source: prnewswire.co.uk
Amazon.se launches in Sweden
Amazon.se has officially launched. Customers in Sweden can start buying items from the local Amazon website. Amazon Sweden currently offers over 150mln products across more than 30 categories. Amazon itself announced the upcoming launch of Amazon.se, although it didn’t share any date. Most people then presumed the launch of Amazon Sweden would take place sometime in 2021. That prediction was based on the time between the announcement and the launch of Amazon in the Netherlands. That took 6 months, so now it was estimated to take the same amount of time for Amazon to launch in Sweden, the first country in the Nordics where it runs a dedicated ecommerce website.
Source: ecommercenews.eu
Australia: Coles logs bumper first quarter, sees celebratory Christmas sales post-lockdown
Australia's Coles Group Ltd said first-quarter sales jumped 10.5% as coronavirus lockdowns boosted demand for home cooking supplies and forecast a strong holiday season due to a population unable to travel abroad. The country’s No. 2 supermarket chain has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of enforced social distancing during the quarter, particularly in the state of Victoria where a second wave outbreak kept people home until this week. Coles’ supermarket sales, its main earner, rose 9.7% in the 3 months to September from the same period a year earlier, while liquor store and convenience store sales showed double-digit growth, it said in a limited trading update.
Source: reuters.com
On Alibaba’s Singles Day, Chinese consumers look to spend more, shift away from American brands
In an annual survey, 66% of Chinese consumers say they’ll be shopping for domestic brands during Alibaba’s Singles Day. This year, 57% of Chinese consumers plan to spend less money on American products, AlixPartners found. Spending overall is expected to eclipse previous records, as Chinese consumers rebound from the shutdowns during the coronavirus pandemic.
Source: cnbc.com
US: Publix expands distribution center project in Greensboro, North Carolina
Publix Super Markets plans to add a dry grocery warehouse to a new distribution center being built in Greensboro, North Carolina. Publix said that the grocery warehouse will bring another 1.2mln square feet of space to the DC. In late February, the Lakeland, Florida-based supermarket chain broke ground on a 940,000-square-foot refrigerated warehouse in Greensboro in the project’s first phase.
Source: supermarketnews.com
US: Portland-based Forager partners with Massachusetts supermarket chain
Forager, a Portland startup that connects local food producers and their markets through an online platform, has partnered with Massachusetts chain Roche Bros. Supermarkets. The partnership with the 21-store chain is the latest significant partnership for the three-year-old Forager, which also partners with Rosemont markets, the Maine Department of Corrections and MaineHealth in Maine, as well as a variety of individual food co-ops, markets and restaurants in northern New England.
Source: mainebiz.biz
US: Yesway raises an additional $235mln to accelerate its growth
Yesway, one of the largest and fastest growing convenience store operators in the United States, announced that it had completed the private placement of an additional $235mln of equity. The new capital will be used to fund an extensive raze-and-rebuild and store remodel campaign across the portfolio and pursue complementary acquisitions to further expand the Yesway/Allsup's brand presence. Brookwood Financial Partners, LLC ("Brookwood"), the private equity firm that founded Yesway, was the sole private placement agent for the offering. In total, Brookwood has raised over $642mln in equity capital for its Yesway affiliate in addition to arranging over $237mln in sale-leaseback proceeds.
Source: prnewswire.com
US: Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. reports third quarter 2020 results
Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. reported results for the 13-week third quarter ended September 27, 2020. Third Quarter Highlights: Net sales of $1.6bln; a 9.5% increase from the same period in 2019. Comparable store sales growth of 4.2% and two-year comparable store sales growth of 5.7%. Net income of $60mln and adjusted net income of $62mln; compared to net income and adjusted net income of $26mln from the same period in 2019. Diluted earnings per share of $0.51 and adjusted diluted earnings per share of $0.52; compared to $0.22 diluted and adjusted diluted earnings per share from the same period in 2019.
Source: globenewswire.com
US: Hy-Vee 1st grocer to deploy sterile cart system
Hy-Vee Inc. is rolling an automated cleaning system that fully cleans and sanitizes shopping carts after each use. By mid-November, 200-plus Hy-Vee stores across the grocer’s eight-state market area will have a Sterile Cart system up and running. According to the company, it’s the first supermarket chain to introduce the system across its company.
Source: progressivegrocer.com