SPAR Georgia continues to expand brand and offer premium shopping experience
With its high-quality products and services, SPAR Georgia has achieved exceptional growth over the last two years. Reaching a total portfolio of 246 stores across the country, SPAR has become one of Georgia’s market leaders. COVID-19 has severely impacted Georgia. Shortened operating hours, a decline in tourism, and restriction of movement among the population have impacted footfall. Despite this, SPAR retailers have maintained smooth operations and initiated various community support projects.
Source: spar-international.com
UAE: Deliveroo launches its own on-demand grocery delivery service, Deliveroo Express Mart
Deliveroo UAE launches its own on-demand grocery delivery service, Deliveroo Express Mart, increasing convenience for customers through access to thousands of grocery products. Deliveroo Express Mart will provide consumers with easier access to on demand household essentials such as fruits and vegetables, meat, seafood, eggs, milk and dairy, snacks and sweets and beverages, as well as store cupboard essentials.
Source: zawya.com
Albert Heijn and Delhaize will team up more
Wouter Kolk, European chief executive of Ahold Delhaize, wants to achieve more as a group: Albert Heijn, Delhaize and bol.com need to team up if they wish to remain competitive, according to the CEO. Ahold Delhaize wants to take full advantage of the size of the group, says Wouter Kolk, chief executive for Europe and Indonesia in an interview with Het Parool, a regional Dutch newspaper. The CEO used to be too preoccupied with "the individual success of the brands", but that inhibited growth. "I have to focus more on the scale advantage we have as a group. To compete with brands such as Lidl and Amazon, the brands within Ahold Delhaize must work together to develop new products and services".
Source: retaildetail.eu
South Africa: Woolworths is launching a same-day delivery service
Woolworths has announced plans to launch a same-day delivery service in South Africa. In a social media post, the retailer said that clients can expect the same quality and freshness as experienced in its stores through the service. It did not provide information on when the service will launch or which areas the service will be available in.
Source: businesstech.co.za
India: Tata Group, BigBasket deal in final stage; Alibaba may exit
The deal between Tata Group and one of India’s largest e-grocers, Bigbasket, is in the last lap, CNBC-TV18 learns from sources. The Tata Group is set to acquire a majority stake in the e-grocer and the deal could be closed by the end of the month, sources said. BigBasket is among the largest e-grocers in the country, with nearly 3 lakh orders per day, according to data by Forrester. BigBasket’s valuation as on March 2020 was $1.23bln, and according to company research platform Tofler, the company clocked FY19 revenues of Rs 5,200 crore and a loss of around Rs 920 crore.
Source: cnbctv18.com
Northern Ireland: Lidl pledges £32mln investment
Lidl Northern Ireland has revealed plans to invest more than £32mln in 5 brand new state-of-the-art stores across the Belfast City Region that will directly create 100 new permanent jobs with the retailer and support up to 1,000 jobs in the locality during the development and construction phases. The region’s fastest-growing supermarket said the investment drive was part of a long-term plan to grow Lidl’s store network to 50 stores in Northern Ireland and provide a multi-million-pound boost for the region in order to bring its high quality offering and low prices to more shoppers in the Belfast city area.
Source: newsletter.co.uk
Germany: Kretinsky increases shares in Metro to 40.6%
Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky announced he now owns over 40% of the voting rights of Metro. It will allow him to exert even more influence on the direction of the German group. Metro has appointed financial director Christian Baier and operations director Rafael Gasset as interim co-CEOs as of 1 January. They will replace the current CEO Olaf Koch, who will leave the company at the end of the year. The search for a new CEO is currenly in full swing.
Source: retaildetail.eu
Poland: Żabka opens 100% green energy store in Warsaw
Polish retailer Żabka has announced that it has opened its first 100% green energy store, in the Białołęka district of Warsaw. The store features state-of-the-art technology focusing around green energy, recycling, clean air and green transport, the retailer said.
Source: esmmagazine.com
Walmart de Mexico under investigation for antitrust behavior
Walmart’s Mexico unit said it was notified by Mexico’s federal competition authority that it is being investigated for possible antitrust behavior in the supply and distribution market of wholesale goods and retail of these goods and services. Walmart de Mexico, or Walmex, said it has always acted in accordance with applicable law and that its participation in the Mexican market has resulted in lower prices for consumers, benefiting poor families especially.
Source: reuters.com
Carrefour Brasil says it "deeply regrets" death of man at supermarket
Supermarket chain Carrefour Brasil said in a securities filing that it deeply regretted the death of a black man beaten by security guards at one of its Brazil stores, in its first public notice to investors. Shares in Carrefour plummeted more than 5%, erasing 2.16bln reais ($400mln) in market value. Carrefour said in the filing that it would donate all the profit that stores nationwide made on November 20 to projects fighting racism, and 25mln reais ($4.6mln) to a fund promoting racial inclusion.
Source: reuters.com
US: Kroger sets new fulfillment goals
Kroger has expanded its partnership with Ocado, and will build a customer fulfillment center (CFC) in the U.S. southern region while also collaborating with Ocado on in-store fulfilment capabilities with a planned rollout across Kroger stores, beginning in 2021. "Kroger continues to accelerate the expansion of our national network to redefine the customer experience", said Gabriel Arreaga, Kroger's chief supply chain officer. “Our partnership with Ocado is and will continue to be rooted in our ability to deliver a value-added customer-centric solution that brings fresh food to customers through our seamless ecosystem". The new facility will measure 200,000 square feet. The exact location and construction dates of the new facility will be announced soon, the food retailer said.
Source: progressivegrocer.com
US: iFresh announces fiscal second quarter 2020 financial results
iFresh, Inc. (“iFresh” or the “Company”), a leading Asian American grocery supermarket chain and online grocer, announced the financial results for its fiscal second quarter ended September 30, 2020. For the second quarter 2020, the Company achieved total net sales of $24.2mln and gross profit of $4.8mln, a slight increase from the same quarter of 2019. The adjusted loss before income tax, depreciation and amortization was $2.4mln, resulting from the acquisition of Jiuxiang Blue Sky Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. (“Jiuxiang”) which had a net loss of $2.2mln.
Source: globenewswire.com
US: Saladworks comes to Kroger
Saladworks, the fast-casual entrée salad franchise, has now arrived at The Kroger Co. The restaurant chain’s latest in-store location opened November 20 inside a Kroger store in the grocer’s hometown of Cincinnati, at 7900 Beechmont Avenue. On the menu is Saladworks’ range of healthy items, including customizable salads, wraps, soups and more.
Source: progressivegrocer.com