South Korea: Customers flocking to fruit and vegetable preparation services
At “The Hyundai Seoul” operated by Hyundai Department Store, approximately 200 customers visit each day to have the fruits and vegetables they purchased cut into their preferred shapes and sizes. Customers may need to wait in line for up to three hours to avail of the service. This month, in particular, customers buying watermelons are flocking to use the service due to the difficulty of cutting and disposing of the thick rind. Hyundai Department Store stated that stores providing these services experienced a 20 to 30% increase in customers buying fruits compared to other stores.
Source: koreabizwire.com
Germany: Metro AG extends contract of CEO Steffen Greubel by five years
The supervisory board of Metro AG has announced it has extended the contract of chief executive Dr Steffen Greubel for another five years. This means that Greubel will hold the role of CEO at the wholesale giant until 30 April 2029.
Source: esmmagazine.com
UK: McColl’s unsecured creditors still owed £45mln a year after rescue deal
Unsecured creditors of McColl’s are still £45mln out of pocket after it was rescued by Morrisons in May last year. The supermarket giant snapped up the convenience store chain in a pre-pack deal, outbidding Asda owners - the Issa brothers and TDR Capital.
Source: retailgazette.co.uk
Australia: Woolworths launches game-changing new feature in stores to solve an 'infuriating' problem: 'Revolutionary'
Woolworths has just launched a 'game-changing' new avocado feature set to make shoppers' lives easier and reduce waste. The supermarket giant has introduced 'Eat Now' and 'Eat Later' labels that let customers know how ripe an avocado is at a glance without squeezing it.
Source: dailymail.co.uk
UK: Improved compliance from Retailers despite inflationary pressures persisting
Inflation has continued to create challenges for the groceries sector, the Groceries Code Adjudicator’s (GCA) 2023 annual survey reveals. The results of the tenth annual GCA survey show that 91% of suppliers had requested at least one cost price increase (CPI) in the previous 12 months.
Source: gov.uk
Amazon to hire 5,000 refugees in Europe
Over the next three years, ecommerce giant Amazon will hire more than 5,000 refugees in Europe. It pledged to do that, together with over 40 companies. Together, they will hire, train or connect to work a total of 250,000 refugees. At least 13,680 of them will get jobs directly in the 40 companies.
Source: ecommercenews.eu
UK: M&S makes announcement on prices of more than 200 key food products
M&S Food is cutting the price on some of its most popular cupboard staples, including products such as M&S Select Farms DNA traceable Beef Mince, Avocados, Greek style yoghurt and Ciabatta rolls. At the same time M&S Food is extending its price lock on 150 products which will be in place through to autumn. This includes Super Sweet Corn on the Cob (pack of two - £1.40), Traditional Coleslaw (225g - £1.25) and Select Farms Season's Gold Potatoes (1kg - £1.65).
Source: cheshire-live.co.uk
UK food production costs fall for first time since 2016: Lloyds Bank
British food manufacturers reported the first drop in their production costs since 2016 in May as lower commodity and energy prices and cheaper shipping outweighed a jump in wage bills, a Lloyds Bank report showed.
Source: reuters.com
China: Alibaba says Eddie Wu to succeed Daniel Zhang as CEO in surprise move
The company also announced Joe Tsai will take Zhang’s place as the group’s chairman. Zhang will continue to lead the Alibaba Cloud Intelligence Group as chairman and chief executive after this change, which the company said will take effect September 10.
Source: cnbc.com
UK: Langwith’s Rhubarb Farm to open for National Garden Scheme
The Langwith farm will be open on Thursday, June 22, from 10am-3pm, as part of the National Garden Scheme. Rhubarb Farm, on Hardwick Street, uses the therapeutic organic horticulture model for developing skills, confidence and employability, and for improving health and wellbeing. The ‘unique social enterprise garden farm’ provides training and volunteering opportunities to 90 volunteers from the area, growing fruit and vegetables organically and keeping poultry.
Source: chad.co.uk
Canada: Grocery delivery, reimagined. Voilà arrives in Alberta!
Empire Company Limited ("Empire" or the "Company") introduces the arrival of its best-in-class online grocery home-delivery service, Voilà, to customers in Calgary, Edmonton, and surrounding areas. Voilà offers nearly 20,000 products from Safeway, Sobeys, Chalo! FreshCo and more, including fresh local favorites from Alberta. Voilà is powered by Ocado Group plc's ("Ocado") world-class, industry-leading technology through its brand new 290,000-sq.-ft., state-of-the-art Customer Fulfillment Centre ("CFC") in Rocky View County, Alberta.
Source: newswire.ca
Brazil's GPA to sell and leaseback 11 stores for nearly $70 mln
Brazilian retailer GPA reached a deal to sell and leaseback 11 of its supermarket stores to an unnamed private fund for 330mln reais ($69mln), the company announced in a securities filing. GPA will continue to operate the stores under lease agreements of 15 years, with the exception of 3 stores that will be run by the company for 18 years, according to the filing.
Source: reuters.com