Food innovations are finding a market

Prototype packages and signs giving consumers more detailed information on food choices were tested. The Food + Future coLAB is developing new ideas on how markets can interact with their customers. The Food + Future coLAB is developing new ideas on how markets can interact with their customers. The raspberries on the shelves at the South Bay Target recently were uniform in appearance — plump and pink and sealed in tidy plastic boxes. Perched in the middle, however, a simple red-and-white sign pointed out a difference. On the left were pints of berries that had arrived in the Dorchester store that same day, priced at $3.99. To the right, fruit that had been on the shelf for four days, offered at a 50-cent discount... read more

Woolworths' $150 million investment to improve its service and loyalty scheme will not be sufficient in deterring customers away from Coles and Aldi, chain suppliers say. Some of the chain's important suppliers have told Fairfax Media that the supermarket giant's $75 million investment to reduce prices would not make that much of a difference. read more

Spanish supermarket group Mercadona has announced that it will add 5,000 employees to its payroll during the upcoming summer season according to esmmagazine.com. Mercadona currently employs some 75,000 people, with 98 per cent of employees receiving an objectives-based incentive. read more

The latest figures from Kantar Worldpanel show that Carrefour hypermarkets lost 30 basis points market share during the four-week period ending 17 April, despite its supermarkets gaining 10 basis points according to esmmagazine.com. High traffic in Lidl and Leclerc helped both retailers gain market share, by 30 basis points. Elsewhere, Géant Casino hypermarkets also gained 20 basis points, while Leader Price gained 10 basis points. Monoprix market share was stable and Franprix lost 10 basis points. read more

A new online supermarket and home delivery service has launched in Qatar. E-commerce site Doha Sooq has teamed up with grocery chain Grand Mart to launch the website, which debuted last month. Doha Sooq now sells 4,000 items, 475 of which are food goods. This is set to more than double with 2,500 separate food lines in the coming month, a website official told Doha News. read more

Lidl Spain has seen 17 per cent growth in its sales of fresh produce, compared to the previous year according to esmmagazine.com. Today, the category represents 35 per cent of its sales, the discounter said, with the number of product references it offers in the fresh category rising to 110, 10 per cent more than last year. In 2015, Lidl purchased 1.2 million tons of fruits and vegetables. Currently, Lidl is the biggest buyer of Spanish products in that country.

Between 1983 and 2013, the Kroger Co. held to its No. 2 spot among the nation’s top grocers. Safeway fell from first to fifth, and Walmart came from nowhere among the top 10 to first, said David Dillon, the company’s retired CEO, during the University of Tulsa’s Friends of Finance. Dillon said that like many public companies Kroger, which had its beginning in 1883, focused on trying to satisfy stockholders in the 1990s by raising prices when, he admitted, sales tanked.

He attributed Kroger’s retaining the No. 2 spot to a decision in the early 2000s to change its focus to satisfying customers through “good prices,” not “great,” a term he used to describe the company’s 400,000 employees who provide a better service that makes customers want to return... read more

More than 22% of grocery shoppers spend at the German discounters, figures show. The new figures from retail analysts Kantar Worldpanel, seen by The Irish Times, show that in the 12 weeks up to April 24th, Lidl commanded an 11.2 per cent share of the Republic’s grocery market, while Aldi had a share of 10.9 per cent, taking their combined total over a three-month period to 22.1 per cent. read more

Portuguese hypermarket chain Continente has won an 'Excellence Award – Innovation in Retail' category award, presented by the Portuguese Association of Distribution Companies (APED) according to esmmagazine.com. In the category 'Innovation and Sustainability', Continente won with Missão Continente, a social responsibility project that aims to raise awareness, mobilise people and communities towards social inclusion, economic development and respect for the environment. read more