US: Food retailers can no longer avoid mobile
Most U.S. grocery shoppers are comfortable using digital and online tools as they shop at food retailers, according to a new report from sales and marketing agency Acosta. The findings underscore how much grocery shopping is changing, and the upcoming challenges and opportunities for food retailers in dealing with increasingly connected consumers. After all, according to the new Acosta report: “The Mobile-ization of Grocery Shopping”, 89% of U.S. grocery shoppers are using smartphones, up 22% since 2015.
Source: progressivegrocer.com
US: Montana prepares for first Whole Foods
Bozeman is about to be home to Montana’s first Whole Foods Market. After Fuddruckers’s moved out of the building on the far side of the Gallatin Valley Mall’s parking lot, the upscale natural foods grocery store got approval to move in. In the meantime, Grossman Development Group are working with the mall owners to give the entire mall a facelift, or as they call it: “a Main Street retrial experience”. Redevelopment will start with Phase I, the Whole Foods building, and move toward the main building of the mall within the year.
Source: explorebigsky.com
US: Shipt will hand out holiday bonuses
Shipt will give its workers - known as "shoppers" - holiday bonuses. The same-day delivery service, which said that it has at least 200,000 delivery providers, will offer bonuses ranging from $50 to $300, with exact amounts varying by market, but always scaling based on the number of shops completed in the time frame.
Source: progressivegrocer.com
US: PriceSmart announces October net merchandise sales
PriceSmart, Inc. announced that for the month of October 2020, net merchandise sales increased 10.4% to $280.3mln from $254.0mln in October a year earlier. Foreign currency exchange fluctuations impacted net merchandise sales negatively by 3.6%, or $9.1mln, versus the same one-month period in the prior year. There were 46 warehouse clubs in operation at the end of October 2020 and 43 warehouse clubs in operation at the end of October 2019.
Source: prnewswire.com
UK: Aldi to ramp-up click and collect trial
Aldi UK, the British arm of the German supermarket discounter, will extend its trial of a click and collect grocery service by up to an additional 200 stores by Christmas, it said. Britain’s fifth-largest supermarket group, with 900 stores and an 8% market share, has been expanding its channels to customers. In April it started selling online food parcels to help self-isolating and vulnerable customers during the coronavirus crisis and has also started a rapid delivery service in partnership with Deliveroo. Aldi launched its click and collect trial from a single store in central England in September, before extending it to cover 18 stores last month. “This trial has been hugely popular so far”, said Chief Executive Giles Hurley.
Source: reuters.com
Belarus: Eurotorg sees like-for-like sales up in Q3, despite 'external uncertainties'
Belarus-based retailer Eurotorg has posted a 5.0% increase in like-for-like sales in the third quarter, despite what its CEO described as a year filled with "external uncertainties". As in many other markets, the group's like-for-like performance in the quarter was largely driven by an increase in average basket size (+10.3%), while traffic was down (-4.8%), as shoppers visited stores less but spent more due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Source: esmmagazine.com
India: Future Retail challenges Amazon in court over Reliance deal
Future Retail has challenged its partner Amazon.com Inc in a New Delhi court to stop interfering in its $3.4bln asset sale deal, the Indian company said in a statement. Amazon is locked in a bitter legal dispute with Future Group, which in August sold its retail assets to Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd. The deal breaches agreements made in 2019 by Future, according to the U.S. online retailer.
Source: reuters.com
Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Bulgaria: Maxima Grupė names Karolis Ceizaris as the new CEO of Franmax
Maxima Grupė has announced the appointment of Karolis Ceizaris as the new chief executive officer of its subsidiary Franmax. He will replace Mantas Kuncaitis, who will continue to serve as the CEO of Maxima Grupė and chairman of its board. Before joining Franmax, Ceizaris served as a project manager at Vilniaus Prekyba, the sole shareholder of Maxima Grupė.
Source: esmmagazine.com
SPAR Scotland holds virtual trade show, reports sales rise
SPAR Scotland took its annual trade show virtual, presenting a business update as well as the full financial year results. Themed ‘2020 Vision’, the event presented an opportunity for suppliers to promote NPD, new ways of working as well as sharing industry and category knowledge. Focus areas included SPAR Scotland’s growing data-driven, digitally enabled initiatives, which will support retailers and suppliers in meeting the changing customer needs within convenience retailing.
Source: spar-international.com
Dino Polska S.A. at the end of Q3 2020: consistent growth in Dino’s network and further improvement to its results
Dino Polska S.A. continued to grow its profitability in the first three quarters of 2020. Revenue in this period totaled PLN7.4bln, which was accompanied by double-digit sales growth in the current store network (LfL) of 13%. The Company also posted EBITDA growth of 42.9% year on year to PLN723mln and further improvement in its EBITDA margin of 0.7 percentage points to 9.8%.
Source: grupadino.pl
India: Flipkart Grocery sets up warehouse in Lucknow, to create over 500 direct jobs
Walmart-owned Flipkart announced the launch of its first grocery fulfilment centre in Lucknow that will create over 500 direct jobs. Spread across an area of nearly 50,000 sq ft, the facility will support Flipkart's ability to deliver a selection of grocery products to consumers in the cities of Lucknow, Kanpur and Allahabad, it said in a statement.
Source: outlookindia.com
UK: Nestlé takes over 'mindful' meal boxes
Nestlé takes a majority stake in Mindful Chef, a British supplier of healthy meal boxes and frozen meals. Waitrose also had an appetite for the meal supplier. "Mindful" meals delivered to busy millennials at home, that's Mindful Chef. Founded in 2015 by school friends Giles Humphries, Myles Hopper and Robert Grieg-Gran, the company attracted some 800 crowdfund investors - including tennis champion Andy Murray - and a participation from professional FMCG investor Piper after two successful crowdfunding rounds. Now Nestlé is grabbing the successful start-up away from Waitrose mother John Lewis. The heavily reorganised John Lewis Partnership hoped to buy Mindful Chef to help the retailer modernise and invest more in online growth. But Nestlé is focusing more and more on direct-to-consumer: the brand producer increased its interest in Freshly, an American supplier of meal boxes.
Source: retaildetail.eu