Carrefour opens first ‘Carrefour Café’ in Belgium
In a Belgian hypermarket that was forced to decrease in size, French retail chain Carrefour has opened its first Carrefour Café. That concept merges a convenience store with features of a restaurant, and will also be introduced in other locations. The first location to welcome a Carrefour Café is shopping centre Belle-Île in Liège, where the chain had to decrease its presence from a hypermarket to a smaller Market store (rather than completely closing the store as proposed in the chain's transformation plan). There are plans to open several more Café corners in other stores too, but Carrefour has released no concrete information as to where these corners would be built. It is quite likely that in these other cases as well, the Cafés will be used to fill up superfluous floor space in locations that have had to reduce in size.
Source: retaildetail.eu
Australia: Metcash results highlight challenges
Metcash has released annual results for the year ending 30 April 2019, with group sales up 1.8% to AU$12.7bln, but EBIT down 1.4% to AU$330mln. Metcash has published results as per new accounting standards and has therefore rebased its FY18 results. With this in mind, food sales growth was flat over the past 12 months. Supermarkets saw sales decline 1.0% to AU$6,277mln, while convenience sales were up 4.4% to AU$1,559mln. Despite the disappointing performance in Supermarkets, the retailer saw an improvement in H2. Deflation eased as a result of the reduction in promotional activity in the market. While although wholesale sales exc. tobacco continued to decline -1.3% in H2 (-1.5% FY), this represents an improving trend that the retailer has seen over the past four quarters. Sales growth on the eastern seaboard was offset by challenging conditions in Western Australia. IGA store LFL sales for the year were -0.5% vs. -0.9% for FY18, with 1,385 stores trading at year end, down from 1,393 in April 2018. Convenience sales benefited from sales growth from major customers, increasing tobacco sales and the addition of new customers.
Source: retailanalysis.igd.com
UK: Co-op to trial 100% compostable wrappers at Glastonbury
Sandwiches in 100% compostable packaging will go on sale at Glastonbury festival which starts on Wednesday, as part of a trial launched by the Co-op. In what it claims is a first for a national food retailer, the convenience chain says all elements of the packaging - from the base card to the transparent film and the label - are compostable. Ten types of ready-made sandwich featuring the packaging will go on sale at the chain’s pop-up store at the festival. Compost rubbish bins will be available at the site. The Co-op will also sell recyclable aluminium cans of spring water and refillable water bottles which can be filled from water taps on the site. The festival has banned the use of single-use plastic bottles this year.
Source: theguardian.com
Vietnam: E-commerce platform Tiki set to raise US$100mln
Vietnamese e-commerce platform Tiki is raising another US$100mln from a Northstar Group-led funding round. The deal, reported by Dealstreet Asia, was initially aiming for $75mln, but has been scaled up with support from Tiki’s current Korean backers, and may pull in as much as $150mln if certain KPIs are met. Tiki, which acquired competing platform Lazada last year, is now Vietnam’s second-largest e-commerce player after Shopee. It attracted a $44mln investment from Chinese industry partner JD early last year, and recently extended its national logistics operations in partnership with Vietnamese firm Unidepot.
Source: insideretail.asia
Latest grocery market share insights reveal modest growth for UK supermarkets
The latest grocery market share figures, published today by Kantar, show supermarket sales grew by 1.4% year on year during the 12 weeks to 16 June 2019. This marks a new milestone for the sector, which is celebrating a three-year trajectory of continuous growth dating back to July 2016. Aldi attracted an additional 883,000 shoppers through its doors this 12 week period, with sales up 9.3%. Rival discounter Lidl, having recently announced plans for a flagship store on Tottenham Court Road in central London, also has eyes on the capital’s convenience market. Growing by 3.0%, Co-op also increased its market share, now commanding 6.2% of British grocery sales. Online specialist Ocado was the UK’s fastest growing supermarket, with sales growth of 11.3% comfortably ahead of the overall e-commerce market at 6%. Tesco sales were flat year-on-year despite an increase in volumes sold. Sainsbury’s saw its sales fall by 0.6% in the latest 12 weeks, halving the rate of decline it registered last month. Meanwhile, Asda’s sales fell by 0.1% though it will be buoyed by the performance of its online arm, which enjoyed double-digit growth of 10%. Asda’s share of the overall market fell by 0.2 percentage points to 14.9%, while Morrisons’ sales decreased by 0.5%, lowering its share to 10.4% of grocery sales. Waitrose’s share this period slipped back by 0.1 percentage points to 5.0%, with sales remaining flat compared to a year ago.
Source: uk.kantar.com
Italy: Conad starts rationalisation process with Nordiconad, Conad del Tirreno merger
Italian retailer Conad has started the process of rationalising a number of its operational units to increase market efficiency. The board of directors of Nordiconad and Conad del Tirreno have approved the merger of their respective organisations, which will result in the establishment of Conad Nord Ovest, consisting of 587 stores, net assets of €628mln and a turnover of €4bln. The new company, which will be operational from 1 October, will be based in Pistoia and Modena and will be active in the Piedmont, Valle d’Aosta, Liguria, Emilia-Romagna (Modena, Bologna and Ferrara), Tuscany, Lazio (Rome and Viterbo), Lombardy (Mantua) and Sardinia regions.
Source: esmmagazine.com
China: JD.com inks deal to handle cross-border logistics for Carrefour
Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com has reached a partnership with the Chinese unit of French retailer Carrefour to offer cross-border logistics services. As part of the deal, Carrefour has set up a store on JD’s international marketplace to sell imported goods, following last year’s opening of a store which sells the retailer’s domestic goods on the platform. JD will import the goods and arrange customs clearance, sorting, and distribution for Carrefour. The company’s cross-border import logistics network has established more than 10 trade ports in China, as well as three direct ports in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.
Source: technode.com
US: H Mart expands same-day delivery
Asian-American grocer H Mart has added same-day delivery to 59 stores across 11 states through its partnership with Instacart. The expanded service is available in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Illinois, California, Texas and Massachusetts. Customers can shop online or through the Instacart app and set a designated time for pickup between one hour and five days from the order.
Source: progressivegrocer.com
US: Walmart adds AI-powered cameras to more than 1,000 stores to reduce checkout theft, report says
Walmart is working to reduce checkout theft in more than 1,000 U.S. stores with the help of cameras powered by artificial intelligence. The retailer began investing in the surveillance program, dubbed Missed Scan Detection, several years ago in an effort to combat shrinkage - loss due to several causes including theft, scanning errors, waste and fraud, a Walmart spokeswoman told Business Insider. "Walmart is making a true investment to ensure the safety of our customers and associates", Walmart spokeswoman LeMia Jenkins told the business site. "Over the last three years, the company has invested over half a billion dollars in an effort to prevent, reduce and deter crime in our stores and parking lots. We are continuously investing in people, programs and technology to keep our stores and communities safe”.
Source: foxbusiness.com
Amazon boosts delivery drive with AmazonFresh in Las Vegas
In a bid to strengthen e-commerce presence and disrupt the retail sector further in the United States, Amazon has rolled out a robust delivery service, AmazonFresh, in Las Vegas. Notably, the service enables Prime members to enjoy delivery of daily essential goods and grocery items ranging from meats to fresh produce within an hour or two. This reduction of time holds immense significance in today’s fast-paced world. Further, AmazonFresh will allow shoppers to combine their grocery orders with Amazon bestsellers such as Amazon devices, home & kitchen, toys, health and personal care, and electronics and get them delivered at their doorsteps at an ultrafast speed.
Source: finance.yahoo.com
US: Food Lion adds grocery pickup at more than 100 stores
Food Lion launched online grocery pickup at 105 stores in the Carolinas and Virginia. Called Food Lion To-Go, the click-and-collect service enables customers to buy groceries - including fresh produce, meat and seafood, as well as deli and bakery items - at shop.foodlion.com or via a dedicated mobile app and have them available for pickup at a local store in as soon as an hour. Though Instacart manages Food Lion’s online shopping portal, the supermarket chain uses its own trained personal shoppers to pick and bag groceries for To-Go orders and bring them to customers when they arrive at the store. Items bought through the To-Go service have the same pricing as in its stores, and members of the Food Lion MVP Rewards program also can apply savings to click-and-collect purchases, according to Food Lion.
Source: supermarketnews.com
