Wumart owner shelves $1bln Hong Kong IPO plan
WM Tech Corp., controlled by founder and chairman Zhang Wenzhong, has shelved its Hong Kong initial public offering after letting the application lapse, according to people familiar with the situation, following queries from the city’s bourse. The Beijing-based company behind the Wumart supermarket chain and Metro AG’s outlets in China is no longer actively pursuing a listing, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private.
Source: bnnbloomberg.ca
Belgium: 100 Lidl stores closed by staff strike, unions warn more to come
Lidl stores across Belgium have closed their doors due to a staff strike over excessive workloads, with unions threatening further action in coming days if nothing changes. While the exact number of stores affected remains unconfirmed, Belga News Agency reports around 100 supermarkets and 2 of the 5 distribution centres were affected on Wednesday.
Source: brusselstimes.com
Aldi to open 100 new UK stores over next 2 years - and here's where it's looking
Aldi has announced it will open 100 new stores across the UK over the next 2 years. The supermarket has pledged to invest £1.3bln by 2023 in a bid to further grow its retail estate, as it continues to push ahead with plans to open an average of 1 new store a week. It has now released an updated list of some of the locations where it is currently looking for new sites, including cities like York and Coventry, as well as smaller towns such as Bicester and Hitchin.
Source: aldipresscentre.co.uk
UK: Waitrose gets to the root of the problem and becomes 1st supermarket to sign up to historic Organic Potato Pledge
Waitrose reported: "The Pledge will ensure that by 2026 all Waitrose fresh organic potatoes are better for biodiversity whilst combating harmful potato diseases. In a spud-tacular move, Waitrose will be the 1st major retailer to sign up to The UK Robust Potato Pledge - which will see us move away from the use of copper-based fungicides on our organic fresh potatoes in order to combat late blight Phytophthora".
Source: waitrose.pressarea.com
Amazon copied products and rigged search results to promote its own brands, documents show
Amazon.com Inc has been repeatedly accused of knocking off products it sells on its website and of exploiting its vast trove of internal data to promote its own merchandise at the expense of other sellers. The company has denied the accusations. But thousands of pages of internal Amazon documents examined by Reuters - including emails, strategy papers and business plans - show the company ran a systematic campaign of creating knockoffs and manipulating search results to boost its own product lines in India, one of the company’s largest growth markets.
Source: reuters.com
Pakistan: Customers enthusiastic about new SPAR Supermarket in Karachi
SPAR Pakistan has opened a 3rd store in Karachi with an emphasis on fresh product choices. Customers have been enthusiastic about the 1,700m2 SPAR Supermarket since the opening which offers a wide variety of fresh produce as well as an instore bakery and butchery. The SPAR country operator is set to open another supermarket later this year as part of its expansion strategy.
Source: spar-international.com
Aldi voted Britain’s most popular supermarket
Latest polling data from YouGov suggests that Aldi is currently the UK’s favourite supermarket. The discounter came in ahead of M&S, Tesco and Sainsbury’s in a ranking based on the percentage of people who have a positive opinion of a supermarket chain.
Source: kamcity.com
Poundland owner Pepco sees annual profit at upper end of expectations
Pepco Group, the owner of British discount retailer Poundland, forecast full-year core profit at the upper end of market expectations, after revenue rose 19.4% helped by its aggressive store openings.
Source: reuters.com
Amazon could owe drivers £140mln in rights claim, says UK law firmAmazon could owe compensation totalling £140mln to thousands of drivers delivering its parcels, according to a law firm that is launching a group claim on their behalf. Drivers who deliver for Amazon through its “delivery service partners” are classed as self-employed, meaning they are not entitled to employee rights such as holiday pay and the minimum wage, while they also do not have an employment contract. The law firm Leigh Day believes at least 3,000 drivers are affected, and could be entitled to an average of £10,500 in compensation for each year they have delivered for the online retail giant.
Source: theguardian.com
US: Pickup/delivery gain online grocery sales share in September
Despite a double-digit decline in ship-to-home business, U.S. online grocery sales and order volume remained elevated in September, new research from strategic advisory firm Brick Meets Click reveals. The U.S. online grocery market totaled sales of $8bln for September, down 7% from $8.6bln August but holding at about the same level as a year ago, according to the latest Brick Meets Click/Mercatus Grocery Shopping Survey.
Source: supermarketnews.com
US: The Fresh Market launches national hiring event
The latest grocer looking to add more associates amid an ongoing labor shortage is The Fresh Market, which is holding a national hiring event October 13-16. The specialty grocer aims to hire 1,000 employees in the 22 states where it operates.
Source: progressivegrocer.com
Coborn’s expands partnership with Invafresh for fresh food merchandising and replenishment powered by Invafresh’s Fresh Food Retail Platform
Invafresh, the market leader of Freshology for the fresh food retail industry has expanded its partnership with Coborn’s to optimize fresh food operations across their grocery banners. Coborn’s, a leading Midwest grocer celebrating its 100th year, selected Invafresh’s Fresh Food Retail Platform for its merchandising and replenishment solutions to improve in-store performance, enhance consumer loyalty and brand, and drive profitability and sustainability.
Source: businesswire.com
US: Standard AI launches new autonomous checkout experience at existing Arizona Circle K location
Standard AI, one of the world’s leading computer vision platforms for retail, announced it has worked with Circle K to open its AI-powered checkout-free experience in a retrofitted store in Arizona. An exciting development for retail, the frictionless checkout system allows shoppers to skip the checkout line and delivers accurate receipts in minutes.
Source: businesswire.com
US: Billionaire supermarket owner warns higher prices will stick around ‘at least until mid-2022’
John Catsimatidis, the billionaire owner and CEO of New York City supermarket chain Gristedes, warned that higher prices for things like food and gas will stick around "at least until mid-2022". Catsimatidis made the prediction speaking with FOX Business’ Neil Cavuto during the FOX Business special "Inflation in America", shortly after it was revealed that U.S. consumer prices last month accelerated at their fastest annual pace in 13 years.
Source: foxbusiness.com
US: Reasor’s makes online recipes shoppable
Oklahoma grocer Reasor’s Foods making it easier for online grocery customers to go from “recipe to table.” The Tulsa, Oklahoma-based supermarket chain said it has partnered with digital meal planning platform Grocery Shopii to launch RecipeToTable, a new website tool that enables shoppers perusing recipes on Reasors.com to buy all of the ingredients for a meal in one click.
Source: supermarketnews.com