UK: Every second counts as startups race to deliver fresh food
In a railway arch in south London, pickers and packers are in a race against time: to get fresh food to the door of Alastair Dean within 15 minutes of his order hitting an app. Their company Weezy is part of a new army of European rapid delivery firms that, backed by billions of dollars of venture capital from Europe, the United States, China and Japan, are using electric bikes and scooters to deliver groceries. They have placed a bet that demand for convenience will drive the next transformation in food retail and help crack the vice-like grip of the big supermarket stores which, in Britain, supply 95% of the country’s groceries.
Source: reuters.com
Portugal: Sonae reports first-quarter profits despite pandemic
Portugal's Sonae, which owns the country's largest food retailer, swung to a net profit of €1mln in the first quarter of its financial year on robust sales, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. The group, which runs around 300 Continente hypermarkets and large supermarkets and non-food stores such as Worten consumer electronics shops, Sportzone stores and other retail chains, reported a net loss of €59 million between January and March 2020, due to a high level of provisions as the pandemic hit the country.
Source: esmmagazine.com
South Africa: Massmart 19-week sales rise 8% on eased restrictions
Reuters reported: "South African retailer Massmart said its sales during the 19 weeks ended May 9 rose by 8% due to the easing of coronavirus-related trading restrictions. Sales for Massmart, majority owned by Walmart Inc, came in at 30.5bln rand ($2.17bln), with comparable store sales up by 8.4%".
Source: finance.yahoo.com
Family supermarket's €20mln spend with Irish suppliers
Galway-based independent grocer Joyce’s Supermarkets spent €20mln on Irish product lines in the past year, in a continued effort to support local producers during the Covid-19 pandemic. Over this period, Joyce’s Supermarkets has supported over 140 Irish producers in total. In addition to this, 10 new producers have been added as suppliers in a six-month period and as a result, Joyce’s Supermarkets has introduced over 60 new product lines to its ten stores across County Galway.
Source: irishexaminer.com
China: JD.com announces first quarter 2021 results
JD.com, Inc., China’s leading technology driven e-commerce company transforming to become the leading supply chain-based technology and service provider, announced its unaudited financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2021. Net revenues for the first quarter of 2021 were RMB203.2bln (US$131.0bln), an increase of 39.0% from the first quarter of 2020. Net service revenues for the first quarter of 2021 were RMB27.9bln (US$4.3bln), an increase of 73.1% from the first quarter of 2020.
Source: globenewswire.com
Dutch scaleup Dwarfs enters Amazon seller acquisition market
Dwarfs is a new scaleup from the Netherlands that wants to acquire and scale successful ecommerce companies that sell on marketplaces such as Amazon and Bol.com. Dwarfs has between 30 and 40mln euros to spend and wants to make 20 acquisitions just this year.
Source: ecommercenews.eu
US: Local Express launches 'LE Shipping Module' to facilitate convenient nationwide delivery of food and grocery products
Local Express (LE) announced the launch of its "LE Shipping Module" with the purpose of allowing their clients to ship products to customers located anywhere in the world using the Local Express eCommerce platform.
Source: prnewswire.com
US: Weis Markets opens 2 new stores
Weis Markets has opened 2 new stores in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania, welcoming shoppers in Bethlehem and Lower Macungie. Sunbury, Pennsylvania-based Weis Markets operates 197 stores in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Virginia and West Virginia. The company is No. 60 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2021 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.
Source: progressivegrocer.com
US: How Dollar General is disrupting grocery
In April, a team of Yale University public-health professors published a 34-page study that explained how to end the pandemic in America. The researchers’ conclusion? Dollar General. The Goodlettsville, Tennessee-based retailer is now the closest grocery store for millions of U.S. consumers; 75% of Americans live within 5 miles of a Dollar General. Adding COVID-19 vaccination clinics to Dollar General’s massive store footprint would get vaccines in the arms of the people most in need of them, thus giving America its best shot at ending the COVID-19 crisis, the researchers argued. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) quickly agreed.
Source: progressivegrocer.com
US: GrocerKey launches flexible eGrocery platform, GK Open
GrocerKey, the white-label eCommerce platform enabling brick-and-mortar retailers to build profitable businesses online, announced the availability of GK Open, a flexible eGrocery platform enabling retailers to easily add the functionality they need to deliver the optimal online experience for their customers. Retailers can choose to make customizations via self-service or GrocerKey's professional services.
Source: prnewswire.com
US: In growth mode, BJ’s announces 6 new stores and Q1 financial results
BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. has a keen eye on the future, announcing the addition of 6 new locations and reporting its outlook for the rest of 2021. In its Q1 earnings report BJ’s pegged revenues at $3.87bln, a 1.9% increase year-over-year increase from 2020. Although same store sales dipped 5.0% in the first 3 months of this year, that rate beat analysts' expectation for an 8.4% slide.
Source: progressivegrocer.com