US: Dollar General celebrates fresh milestone
Dollar General says it completed the rollout of fresh and frozen food to most store assortments during the second quarter, a period that saw the company continuing to cycle its pandemic gains from last year. For the quarter ended July 30, Dollar General's income was $637mln, or $2.69 per share, down from $787.6mln, or $3.12 per share in the prior year quarter. Sales were down 0.4% of $8.65bln. Same-store sales fell 4.7% but increased 14.1% on a 2-year stack basis.
Source: progressivegrocer.com
Shipping woes squeeze profits at U.S. dollar stores, shares slip
Top U.S. dollar companies said their full-year profits will take a bigger hit than feared due to surging transportation costs, with Dollar Tree Inc warning that an acute shortage of shipping capacity could hurt store inventories.
Source: reuters.com
US: Point Pickup acquires GrocerKey - empowering retailers to take back control from Instacart
Point Pickup Technologies, the enterprise-grade last-mile provider that returns customer control to retailers, announced that it has acquired white-label eCommerce platform GrocerKey, enabling Point Pickup to offer retailers the industry's first end-to-end, own-branded last-mile fulfillment and delivery service, enabling a seamless customer experience from purchase to delivery.
Source: prnewswire.com
US: Fareway now offers curbside pickup at all stores
Fareway Stores now offers online shopping at 126 Fareway Meat & Grocery and Fareway Meat Market locations in a 5-state region through Shop.Fareway.com or via the Fareway mobile app. With an easy-to-navigate platform, customers can still get farm-fresh produce and high-quality meat, picked by Fareway’s experts, and receive the same great to-your-car carryout service. Newly planned store locations will provide for this service upon opening.
Source: supermarketnews.com
US: Mollie Stone’s invests in digital B2B ordering platform
Mollie Stone’s Markets, an independent family-owned grocery store chain in Northern California, has invested in Vori, a digital B2B ordering platform that aims to optimize the grocery supply chain. Using this investment, Vori plans to continue to build turnkey solutions for independent grocery retailers.
Source: progressivegrocer.com
US: Nuro is building a test track and factory for its delivery robots in Las Vegas
Nuro is investing $40mln into a factory and closed-course test track for its robotic delivery vehicles. Unlike other driverless vehicle ventures, Nuro is focused on making zero-occupant, robotic electric delivery vehicles that look more like a kitchen appliance than a traditional car. The start-up is funded by Softbank, Chipotle, Toyota’s Woven Capital and others.
Source: cnbc.com
US: Schnuck Markets becomes world’s first grocer to deploy intelligence robots chainwide
Schnuck Markets, Inc. announced an industry-first chainwide expansion with Simbe Robotics to further elevate the grocer’s business operations and customer experience. Building on previous successful expansions, the multi-year full-scale roll-out will bring Tally robots to all 111 Schnucks locations across the U.S., making Schnucks the first grocer in the world to utilize AI-powered inventory management technology at scale. By incorporating Simbe’s solution into chainwide operations, Schnucks will gain even greater visibility into store conditions, with deeper levels of business insights as the retailer prepares to adjust to the quickly-evolving landscape of a post-pandemic world.
Source: globenewswire.com
Poland: Eurocash Group sees sales up 2% in first half
Eurocash Group has reported a 2% year-on-year growth in sales, to PLN12.36bln (€2.70bln), in the first half of its financial year. Consolidated EBITDA for the period amounted to PLN202.6mln (€44.3mln), down from PLN336.6mln a year ago.
Source: esmmagazine.com
China: Missfresh Limited reports second quarter 2021 unaudited financial results
Missfresh Limited (“Missfresh” or the “Company”), an innovator and leader in China’s neighborhood retail industry, announced its unaudited financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2021. Second Quarter 2021 Operational and Financial Highlights: Total net revenues reached RMB1,894.5mln (US$293.4mln) for the second quarter of 2021, representing a 40.7% increase from RMB1,346.0mln for the second quarter of 2020. Total GMV reached RMB2,313.7mln (US$358.3mln) for the second quarter of 2021, representing a 35.4% increase from RMB1,708.4mln for the second quarter of 2020. Total number of orders fulfilled reached 23.8mln for the second quarter of 2021, representing a 32.2% increase from 18.0mln for the second quarter of 2020. Average price per order was RMB96.1 (US$14.9) for the second quarter of 2021, representing a 2.6% increase from RMB93.7 for the second quarter of 2020.
Source: globenewswire.com
Spain: New EUROSPAR Supermarket opens in Valencia’s Xeraco
SPAR Spain partner Fragadis has invested in a new 3,800m² EUROSPAR Supermarket in Xeraco, Valencia, which is their largest store of this format. Building on the brand awareness generated by an existing SPAR Supermarket in the town, this store will meet the daily grocery needs of a large catchment area of nearby towns.
Source: spar-international.com
Finland: S Group posts operating profit of €45mln in first half
Finnish retail conglomerate S Group has posted an operating profit (FAS) of €45mln in the first half of its financial year, up from a profit of €35mln in the same period last year. SOK Corporation's operating result (IFRS) for the first 6 months amounted to a loss of €6mln, down from an operating profit of €1mln last year.
Source: esmmagazine.com
South Africa's Massmart H1 loss narrows as turnaround plan on track
Massmart said its half-year headline loss narrowed 40.8%, helped by higher sales despite fresh COVID-19 restrictions and amid signs that the South African retailer's turnaround strategy continues to pay off.
Source: reuters.com
Lidl sees impressive growth in France in July: Kantar
Lidl reported impressive growth in France in the period from 12 July to 8 August, new data from Kantar has shown, with the discounter seeing its market share rise 0.4 percentage points in the period. The discounter welcomed an additional 210,000 more shoppers during the P8 period, while its customer based is also becoming more loyal, according to Kantar.
Source: esmmagazine.com
China: Dada Haibo System adopted in more than 4300 retailer stores
Dada Group ("Dada"), China's leading local on-demand delivery and retail platform, is pleased to announce that its Dada Haibo omni-channel online retail operating system newly partners with several Top 100 supermarket chains in China, including Sofly Supermarket, Da Zhang Supermarket, and Hui You Supermarket. As of this August, the system has established partnerships with more than 120 large and medium-sized supermarket chains, with over 4,300 retailer stores adopting.
Source: prnewswire.com