Norway: Coop pays record purchase dividend to members
Coop Norway has paid what it has described as a 'record' purchase dividend to its 1.9mln members, totalling NOK1.3bln (€130mln) for 2021. In addition, during the past year, members received coupon and membership discounts totalling more than NOK1bln (€100mln), which means that members received a total membership dividend of NOK2.5bln (€250mln), which is 4.2% higher than the previous year.
Source: esmmagazine.com
Saudi Nana raises $50mln to scale its e-grocery service in the Kingdom
Riyadh-based Nana, the grocery shopping and delivery platform, has raised SR188mln ($50mln) in a funding round led by FIM Partners and STV - bringing its total funding to SR300mln to date.
Source: arabnews.com
EU: Online shopping ever more popular 
Online shopping is continuing to grow in the EU. High street shopping affected by the COVID-19 restrictions and changes in habits and preferences had consequences on e-commerce. In the 12 months prior to the 2021 survey, 90% of people aged 16 to 74 in the EU had used the internet, 74% of whom had bought or ordered goods or services for private use. Online shopping increased by 1 percentage point (pp) compared with 2020 (73% of internet users) and by 11 pp compared with 2016 (63%). The highest shares of internet users who bought or ordered goods or services over the internet in the 12 months prior to the survey were recorded in the Netherlands (94%), Denmark (92%) and Sweden (89%). On the other hand, fewer than 50% had shopped online in Romania (44%) and Bulgaria (42%).
Source: ec.europa.eu
SPAR China partner opens membership-based warehouse supermarket
SPAR China partner in Shandong, Jiajjayue, has opened its 1st membership-based warehouse supermarket. Located in Hongyang Plaza, Jinan City, the SPAR Jiajiayue Member Store brings members an exclusive shopping experience and more differentiated services.
Source: spar-international.com
Germany: Kaufland completes integration of 58 Real stores
German retailer Kaufland has announced that it has completed the integration of 58 Real stores under its banner over the past 12 months. The company commenced the project on 1 February 2021 and has since renovated more than 325,000 square metres of sales space.
Source: esmmagazine.com
Finland: K Group's trend review
As part of its 2022 trend review, K Group conducted a survey to which 1,279 Finns responded. Hit product groups from K Group’s sales data: Berry mixes +54%; Chinese cabbage +41%; Processed lettuce and cabbage +24%; Peppers +23%; Broccoli +21%; Small citrus fruit +15%.
Source: kesko.fi
UK: Co-op launches new incubator programme designed to help smaller businesses
Co-op has launched its new incubator programme, known as ‘The apiary’, designed to search for, support and mentor smaller, innovative and exciting enterprises. The 1st phase of the scheme has seen 9 small businesses partner with the Co-op with each at a different stage in their development.
Source: retailgazette.co.uk
Carrefour makes metaverse move as it buys land in The Sandbox
Carrefour has bought land in The Sandbox, a virtual gaming world where players can build, own, and monetise their experiences. Elodie Perthuisot, Chief E-Commerce, Digital Transformation and Data Officer and EXCOM member at Carrefour, said in a LinkedIn post: “This is our 1st move in the metaverse on The Sandbox. A virtual field and above all a field of innovation for Carrefour, in line with our digital transformation strategy.”
Source: retailtechinnovationhub.com
BigBasket establishes presence in 18 tier-2 and 3 cities across India
Online supermarket player BigBasket announced that it has expanded its pan-India coverage in the last one year, and is now delivering in 18 new Tier-2 and 3 cities. The company records over 7mln customers orders per month and the demand has considerably gone up in the post-Covid scenario. These new cities include Bhubaneswar, Guwahati, Jamshedpur, Anand, Rajkot, Ambala, Tiruvallur, Chengalpattu, Raipur, Bhilai, Allahabad, Kota, Kakinada, Nashik, Kolhapur, Rajahmundry, Amravati and Tumkur.
Source: business-standard.com
Are grocery and foodservice still mutually exclusive?
Chris Fiander, Marketing Manager for Westpak Group Ltd reported: "Supermarket home delivery is something we’ve all become very accustomed to, and it’s easy to see why - determining the delivery date and time-slot for your weekly shop is the ideal convenience for fitting-in with our ever busy lifestyles. In addition to their convenience, these delivery services are also typically defined by their uniformity. That is, the experience offered by each grocery retailer is largely very similar with the customer journey following an almost standardised process".
Source: westpakuk.com
E-commerce pushes Google and YouTube to record profits
Alphabet has achieved record profits as it was able to sell more ads than expected, pushed forward by the growth of e-commerce. The owner of Google and YouTube now sees NFTs as new source of revenue.
Source: retaildetail.eu
Brazil: Food retailer GPA sees online sales rising fivefold in 4-5 years
Brazilian food retailer GPA SA expects e-commerce sales to jump by more than 5 times over the next 4 to 5 years while maintaining margins, Chief Executive Jorge Faical said. Speaking at a Credit Suisse online event, Faical said that digital sales across the sector have tripled since the beginning of the pandemic, to about 1.5% of total sales. At GPA, where the largest shareholder is France’s retailer Casino, 9% of all sales are online.
Source: reuters.com
US: Save A Lot names Leon Bergmann as new CEO
Discount grocer Save A Lot has tapped Leon Bergmann, a longtime grocery wholesale executive, to become its next chief executive officer. St. Louis-based Save A Lot said that Bergmann is slated to take the helm as CEO in March.
Source: supermarketnews.com
US: FreshDirect releases roundup of 2022 trends
The in-house team of food pros at e-commerce grocer FreshDirect have curated something else as 2022 gets underway: a list of trends impacting the marketplace. Not surprisingly, fresh foods are high on that list. Fresh produce ranked at the top of trends for this year, as consumers continue to be driven by health and wellness concerns to buy more fruits and vegetables and are increasingly comfortable buying perishable items online.
Source: progressivegrocer.com
US: Crisp raises $35mln in Series B to accelerate growth as adoption of supply chain data and optimization technology skyrockets
Crisp, the open-data programmatic commerce platform for the consumer goods industry, has raised $35mln in Series B funding led by 3L with participation from existing investors FirstMark Capital and Spring Capital. Crisp had raised a total of $61mln since inception.
Source: globenewswire.com
Rising online grocery sales power investment in cold storage facilities
The pandemic and the concurrent increase in demand for grocery deliveries have pushed up the need for cold storage. Now, this trend is changing the calculations surrounding the development of cold storage projects. Cold storage facilities are expensive to build, costing from $250 to $350 per sq. ft. compared to $100 per sq. ft. for dry warehouse space. So historically this has not been a play that was attractive to a broad swath of investors and developers.
Source: wealthmanagement.com
US: Harps Food Stores names new president
Harps Food Stores Inc. has appointed J. Max Van Hoose to president as of January 3, the company announced. Springdale, Arkansas-based Harps operates 120 stores in four states including Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas.
Source: supermarketnews.com