More than one in three Americans say that they have purchased more snacks that are considered "healthy choices" over the past year, and they are increasingly turning to convenience stores for these healthy purchases, nacsonline.com reports. That’s according to survey results released recently by the National Association of Convenience Stores. Convenience store sales of fresh fruits and increased 10.3% to $362mn in 2014, according to Nielsen data.US: Publix supporting farmers
Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Adam H. Putnam announced yesterday that Publix, the largest supermarket chain in Florida, partnered with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ “Fresh From Florida” campaign for a record 1mn store ads, southeastagnet.com reports. Publix joined the “Fresh From Florida” retail campaign in 2006, and has consistently shown a strong commitment to buy, sell and advertise fresh Florida fruits and vegetables.Kroger to build 11 new Indy area stores, add 3,440 jobs
In the latest salvo in the increasingly aggressive grocery wars, Kroger said today it will build 11 new stores in the Indianapolis area and expand or remodel 22 others in a massive growth plan that will cost $465mn, internationalsupermarketnews.com reports. The expansion signals an attempt by the Cincinnati grocer to widen its leading market share in the Indianapolis area even as new competitors are moving in.Dan’s Supermarket stores in Bismarck-Mandan sold
SpartanNash Co. is buying the Dan’s Supermarket chain that have operated in Bismarck-Mandan for 65 years, thedickinsonpress.com reports. The six stores that make up Dan’s operation in the area are being purchased by the same company that bought the Dickinson area stores in December of 2013. The stores will continue to operate under the Dan’s name. The purchase is expected to be finalized in early June. Dan’s employees will continue to be employed with SpartanNash. They will distribute products to the Dan’s Supermarket locations from its Fargo Distribution Center, replacing former distributor Supervalu.Denmark: Dansk Supermarked Gruppen boosts fresh credentials
Dansk Supermarked Gruppen (DSG) has implemented ADC’s Fresh Item Management software to boost performance in its fresh foods departments at Føtex supermarkets and Bilka hypermarkets, retailtimes.co.uk reports. Dansk Supermarked Gruppen turned to ADC in order to manage fresh items in tandem with an SAP roll out across its entire corporation.
Mexico: El Super hit with labour violations
About a hundred employees of the Mexican-based supermarket chain El Super and their supporters on Wednesday celebrated a win in a 19-month battle with the chain for a new labor contract, labusinessjournal.com reports. The National Labor Relations Board alleges that the supermarket chain, which is based in Paramount and part of Mexican retail conglomerate Grupo Chedraui, violated federal labor laws when it stopped negotiating with the union for a new labor contract.US: Fiesta sold to D.C.-based Acon
Fiesta Mart, a well-known Texas chain of Hispanic grocery stores, has been sold to a Washington, D.C.-based private equity investment firm, chron.com reports. Acon Investments acquired the 60-store chain from the Levit family, which recently sold its wholesale business to C&S Wholesale. C&S will continue to supply Fiesta stores, according to an announcement Wednesday. Fiesta’s new owner has hired Michael Byars as president and CEO of the grocery chain.Half of global consumers like online grocery shopping
One-quarter of global respondents say they are already ordering grocery products online for home delivery and more than half (55%) are willing to use it in the future, according to the new Nielsen Global E-commerce and the New Retail Survey released today, yahoo.com reports. Willingness to use digital retailing options in the future is highest in the developing markets in the Asia-Pacific (60% on average), Latin America (60%) and Africa/Middle East regions (59%), and trails in Europe (45%) and North America (52%).US: Swanson expands on-line organic grocery business
Swanson Health Products, a leading online retailer of vitamins, supplements and natural and organic products, is expanding its organic grocery line by nearly doubling the number of items offered over the next six months, businesswire.com reports. “Organic grocery is a $57bn business that is growing at 12% a year,” said Swanson CEO Ken Harris. UK: Tesco worth €3.3bn a year to economy, says report
Tesco directly and indirectly benefits the economy to the tune of €3.27bn a year, according to a new report, irishexaminer.com writes. The figure was calculated by Indecon Economic Consultants. It takes into account everything from till sales to the economy-wide impact of the company’s expenditure, from raw material spend to transactions with Irish food and goods suppliers.AU: Metcash appoints chairman-elect
Former Lion Co and Nestle chief executive Rob Murray has been appointed chairman-elect at Metcash, strengthening the grocery wholesaler's consumer goods expertise as it attempts to reverse a two-year slide in sales and earnings, smh.com.au reports. Greenman closes €95m deal with German grocer
Greenman Investments, a Dublin-headquartered firm that specialises in buying German retail assets, has paid €95mn for a portfolio of 29 stores from Edeka, Germany’s largest grocer, which has 26% of the German market, irishtimes.com reports. Greenman said the sale and leaseback deal brings the total value of German retail assets under Greenman’s control to €270mn. German retail sales unexpectedly fall; food sales grow
Retail sales fell a calendar-and-seasonally adjusted 2.3% from February, when they dropped 0.1%, rttnews.com reports. Sales of food grew 2.5% annually.US: Save-A-Lot leads Supervalu’s growth
Save-A-Lot continues to be the star performer for Supervalu, retailanalysis.igd.com reports. While the company’s fourth quarter sales increased by 10.4% to $4.4bn, including the benefit of a 53rd week, and by 2.5% on a 52-week year-on-year comparison, Save-A-Lot out-performed. Identical store sales were up 3.6% across the segment as a whole, and up 6.6% at its corporately-owned stores. In the year ahead, Supervalu is planning on adding 100 new Save-A-Lot stores, 60% of which will be corporately owned. Beyond that the focus will be on extending the reach of the brand into new geographic areas.AU: Price cuts drive Coles sales over $7bn
Hefty price cuts on a range of products has paid off for Coles, which has lifted its quarterly food and liquor sales 5.4pct to $7.1bn, sbs.com.au reports. Comparable sales, which strip out the effects of store openings and closures, rose 3.8% but were slightly weaker than the 4% lift in the previous three months.Portuguese Jerónimo Martins has solid Q1
Portuguese retailer Jerónimo Martins reported a 9.4% growth in total net sales to €3.2bn in the first quarter of 2015, esmmagazine.com reports. In Poland, where its local unit Biedronka is the market leader, sales were up 11.2% and comparable sales grew by 2.9%, despite the further drop in food prices. In Portugal, where it is the second biggest retailer, the Pingo Doce chain recorded a 4.2% increase in comparable sales (excluding fuel). Group EBITDA increased by 4.7% to €165.7mn and net income attributable to JM increased 3.9% to €64.8mn, including the start-up costs for Ara (Colombia) and Hebe (drugstore chain in Poland). Consolidated sales reached €3.18bn, an increase of 9.4% over the first quarter of the previous year. Both in Poland and Portugal, promotions and price competitiveness continued to dominate the food retail sector.Italian Coop’s acquisition of Superconti approved
The Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) has authorised the purchase of regional supermarket chain Superconti by Italian cooperative and retailer Coop Centro Italia, esmmagazine.com reports. The Superconti Group consists of three companies owned by the Conti and Antognoli families, whose 2013 turnover amounted to €142mn.Russian O’Key reports wider loss
O’Key saw its net loss widen to 153m roubles, from 22m roubles last year, a result it attributed to the cost of opening new stores as well as the increased cost of financing, kamcity.com reports. EBITDA was up 5.1% to 1.8bn roubles, while revenue was up 7.4% to 37.7bn roubles. O’Key also noted that like-for-like sales were up 1.1%, an improvement from the 5.1% drop in the previous quarter.Italians increasing visits to discount stores
An industry market survey conducted by Nielsen has revealed that 22% of Italian consumers claim to have increased visits to discount stores to purchase food and grocery products, compared to 12 months ago, esmmagazine.com reports. Significantly, 80% of Italians visit local markets and traditional shops alongside hypermarkets and supermarkets, which are shopped in by 97% of the population.