France: Groupe Casino announces a refinancing of its debt
Groupe Casino has announced the launch of a refinancing to extend the maturity of its debt and reduce its costs, the French retailer said in a statement. Following similar measures implemented in December 2020 and March 2021, Casino has said that the current refinancing of its debt includes a tap of its Term Loan B of maturity August 2025 for a targeted amount of €400mln.
Source: esmmagazine.com
Czech Republic: Lidl starts to sell ugly fruit and vegetables boxes at 25CZK
Lidl officially launched its special vegetables and fruit boxes. It wanted to prove that unattractive produce is just as edible. These special boxes are put on the shelves every day, with various “ugly” - but still edible - vegetables and fruits. The weight of 1 box is about 3 kilograms. “The positive feedback that we have received off the back of our trial has been incredible; from our colleagues who are showing so much passion for them, to our customers who were getting in touch from the get-go asking where they could get one”, Eliška Froschová Stehlíková, head of CSR projects at Lidl, commented.
Source: praguemorning.cz
Italy: SPAR partner to deliver groceries within 35 minutes in partnership with Glovo
SPAR Italy regional operator, Maiora, is launching a quick commerce (Q-commerce) service in partnership with multi-category home delivery platform Glovo. Through this new service, SPAR customers will receive their groceries within 35 minutes of placing an order on DESPAR a Casa, Maiora’s e-commerce platform.
Source: spar-international.com
Chinese startup Meicai picks banks for Hong Kong IPO
Meicai, a Chinese startup that connects restaurants with vegetable producers, has picked banks for its proposed Hong Kong initial public offering, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The Beijing-based company has selected China International Capital Corp., Citigroup Inc. and Nomura Holdings Inc. to work on the first-time share sale, the people said. Meicai could raise $300mln to $500mln, they said, asking not to be identified as the information is private.
Source: bloombergquint.com
SPAR wins 2 prestigious Scottish Green Apple Awards
SPAR Scotland has won 2 accolades at the 2021 Scottish Green Apple Environment Awards. The SPAR regional operator was awarded the ‘Environmental Best Practice Distribution Gold Winner’ for its partnership with the Dundee West End Community Fridge. They were also crowned the overall Environmental Best Practice National Green Champion.
Source: spar-international.com
Grocery sales decline as Irish shoppers embrace festivities: Kantar
Irish grocery sales fell by 4.8% year-on-year over the latest 12 weeks to 31 October, according to the latest data from Kantar, however spend is still up 8.9% versus the same period in 2019. According to Emer Healy, retail analyst at Kantar, the full easing of COVID-19 restrictions in October as well as “a well-timed bank holiday weekend” saw shoppers “making the most of newfound freedoms”.
Source: esmmagazine.com
South Africa: Shoprite sees 9% growth in quarterly sales
South Africa's largest grocery retailer Shoprite Holdings Ltd reported a 9.3% rise in its 1st quarter sales, helped by robust trading in its supermarkets in South Africa. Shoprite, which has more than 2,800 stores in 13 African countries, also said its supermarkets division in South Africa was on track to open the planned 131 new stores in the current financial year, which began on 1 July.
Source: esmmagazine.com
Morrisons to co-own world leading soft plastic recycling site in UK
Morrisons will become the 1st supermarket to own its own recycling operations through the acquisition of a significant stake in a new recycling site in Fife. The site will reprocess ‘hard-to-recycle’ soft plastics. Uniquely within the industry, Morrisons already owns 18 of its own food making sites.
Source: morrisons-corporate.com
Amazon UK takes on Tesco, Sainsbury's, Co-op with hundreds of grocery stores
Amazon UK is planning to open more than 260 Amazon Fresh grocery stores before the end of 2024. These will be all cashierless, tapping the e-commerce giant’s Just Walk Out technology, the company said in internal documents, according to a Business Insider report.
Source: retailtechinnovationhub.com
Russia’s largest supermarket chain, Perekrestok, prioritises digitalisation and omnichannel, says CEO
Vladislav Kurbatov, CEO of Perekrestok, part of the X5 Group - Russia’s largest food retailer - on digitalisation, omnichannel retailing, promoting conscious consumption and a new Garden concept for small format stores.
Source: retailtimes.co.uk
Britain's Tesco increases dominance with 12-week sales rise - NielsenIQ
Tesco, Britain's largest retailer, was the only one of the country's big 4 grocers to grow sales in the last 12 weeks, increasing its sector dominance in the run-up to Christmas, data from market researcher NielsenIQ showed.
Source: reuters.com
Grocery store CEO: How we're dealing with food shortages and higher prices
Nicholas Bertram reported: "For The Giant Company, our cost inflation has accelerated during the past 5 months and is around 4% - more than triple the 2020 rate of 1.2%. Hopefully the inflation rate has peaked, but there does not appear to be any real deflation on the horizon. Most of the factors driving price increases are beyond our control - like ongoing labor shortages, limited availability of raw ingredients, freight and packaging constraints, and unpredictable weather events. The more it costs to make an item and get it to its final destination, the higher the price goes".
Source: edition.cnn.com
US: Southeastern Grocers rolls out local supplier program
Southeastern Grocers Inc. (SEG) will host a
local supplier sourcing event to enable area businesses to provide stores with a larger range of local products. The Local Supplier Connect program will give companies within SEG’s 5-state market area the chance to be featured on Fresco y Más, Harveys Supermarket and Winn-Dixie store shelves.
Source: progressivegrocer.com
America forgot the cranberries! Shipt introduces inaugural 'Thanksgiving Most Forgotten List'
Shipt, the multi-retailer, same-day delivery company and holiday shopping accomplice, is announcing its inaugural Thanksgiving Most Forgotten List, a list of grocery and household items that people most often forget or purchase last-minute as they shop and prepare for the Thanksgiving holiday. The shoppable list is based on a survey of 2,100 Americans and proprietary Shipt data. Cranberries top the list as the most forgotten Thanksgiving item.
Source: prnewswire.com
US: Dollar General reaches impressive retail milestone
Dollar General Corp. has reached a milestone that not many retailers can claim. The discount retailer has recently opened its 18,000th store in Gulf Shores, Alabama. To celebrate the opening, customers were provided with complimentary gift cards and tote bags filled with vendor products. The company also marked the momentous occasion by donating $18,000 to Gulf Shores Elementary School, which aims to support ongoing literacy and education programs within the school district.
Source: progressivegrocer.com