Australia: Woolworths fails to impress with April showing over Coles
Australia’s biggest supermarket chain Woolworths Group offered a less upbeat reading of sales so far in April than rival Coles Group as shopping patterns return to pre-pandemic levels, sending its shares lower. Coles, Australia’s No. 2 grocer, had said in a quarterly trading update that grocery sales since the start of April were up 4%, but Woolworths called conditions “volatile” and with sales “broadly flat”.
Source: reuters.com
UK: Asked about Kretinsky, Sainsbury's says it talks to all major shareholders
Sainsbury’s Chief Executive Simon Roberts said the supermarket group talked to all its major investors regularly and Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky was no different. Asked by Reuters if there had been any contact with Kretinsky since he raised his stake in Sainsbury’s to just under 10% earlier this month, Roberts said: “We meet and talk with all of our major shareholders on a regular basis and so as with all our shareholders we would do that also with Vesa”, he said. Vesa Equity Investment is Kretinsky’s vehicle.
Source: reuters.com
Germany: Aldi Süd saw organic offering grow in 2020
Aldi Süd expanded its organic assortment in 2020 to approximately 450 products amid the coronavirus pandemic. The discounter added around 100 new products to its assortment last year, it said. The company saw a 20% growth in sales in the organic segment in this period. The top sellers in the organic category at Aldi Süd include eggs, carrots, lemons, ground beef and whole milk.
Source: esmmagazine.com
Russia: Magnit sees like-for-like sales up in first quarter
Russian retailer Magnit has posted a 4.1% increase in like-for-like sakes in the first quarter of its financial year, with average basket sizes 14.9% higher than this time last year, the group said. Like-for-like traffic to its stores was down 9.4% however, continuing the trend seen in recent quarters in which shoppers have visited stores less, but purchased more.
Source: esmmagazine.com
Organic food and drink in favour with UK shoppers
Waitrose reported: "New research revealed by Waitrose this week, has shown that after a year of lockdowns there has been a sharp rise in shoppers turning to organic food and drink. A quarter of those questioned increased the number of organic items in their shopping basket or bought organic produce for the first time over the past 12 months. The OnePoll research, commissioned for our weekly in-store newspaper, Waitrose Weekend, also revealed that 61% of people would like to buy more organic products in future. A growing interest and demand for organic food and drink is also reflected in sales for our organic range, Waitrose Duchy Organic. Sales of the range, which this month revealed a new look, are up over 10 % compared to last year with popular categories including organic chicken up over 35% and organic fruit up 15%".
Source: waitrose.pressarea.com
South Korea: What is Shinsegae’s e-money?
Emart, the grocery retail chain owned by Shinsegae Group in South Korea, has announced that it would give customers “e-money”. Emart recently announced that if customers have found the same products being sold elsewhere at a cheaper price, they will match the difference by giving customers online credit points known as e-money. The new policy applies to both its physical stores and its mobile app. Shoppers can save up to 3,000 points to be used within a period of 30 days.
Source: retailanalysis.igd.com
Australia: Harris Farm Markets announces its first Gold Coast store
Family-owned and operated Harris Farm Markets has announced its first store for the Gold Coast will be located at Capri on Via Roma, with 10 local staff already recruited from the departing tenant, The Greener Grocer. The famed local produce and grocery market opened its first store in Queensland in Brisbane’s Clayfield in November last year and will open its flagship store in West Village at West End mid this year. When the Isle of Capri store opens later this year, more than 300 locals will be employed across the 3 Queensland stores, and the stores will showcase fruit and veg from more than 320 Queensland growers.
Source: shoppingcentrenews.com.au
Walmart de Mexico quarterly revenue slides on weak Central America sales
Walmart’s Mexico unit said its first quarter revenue fell slightly from a year ago, hit by weaker sales in Central America where economies have suffered from pandemic lockdown measures. Walmart de Mexico, known locally as Walmex, brought in revenue of 170.76bln pesos ($8.36bln) in the January-to-March period, down 0.3% from a year ago. While total sales in its main Mexico market grew 0.5%, sales in Central America, home to about a fourth of the retailer’s stores, fell 2.7%.
Source: reuters.com
Canada: PlantX expands reach with Hudson’s Bay Marketplace
E-commerce retailer PlantX Life is setting up shop at Canada’s oldest retailer, Hudson’s Bay. The Vancouver-based company, whose PlantX e-commerce platform is dedicated to plant-based products from hundreds of brands, is now a seller on Hudson’s Bay Marketplace.
Source: canadiangrocer.com
US: In-store shopping will make a comeback in 2021 according to new Inmar Intelligence survey
Inmar Intelligence, a data-driven, technology-enabled services company, released findings from a new survey, which shows that over a quarter (27%) of consumers plan on doing most of their grocery shopping in-store once they are fully vaccinated and over a third (38%) will be doing a combination of online and in-store shopping.
Source: globenewswire.com