Lidl Bulgaria has opened its 11th supermarket in the capital Sofia. "The opening of this store confirms our long-term investment commitment and business development in the country. [..] By the end of the year, a further two stores will be opened, and in 2017 we plan to open at least five," Lidl Bulgaria manager, Milena Dragiyska, said. (seenews.com)Ocado shares drop as CEO is pessimistic about near future
British online grocer Ocado warned on Tuesday that the intensely competitive market was damaging its profit margins and said the pressure would not go away any time soon, hammering its shares. The firm said gross retail sales were 286.4m pounds in the 12 weeks to August 7, its fiscal third quarter, up from 252m pounds in the same period last year. That compares to first half growth of 13.9%. "As the market remains very competitive, we are seeing sustained and continuing margin pressure and there is nothing to suggest that this will change in the short term," said CEO Tim Steiner. He highlighted a 19% increase in average orders per week to 226,000 in the period - Ocado's best performance in over five years. (Reuters)Safeway is opening new stores in the Bay Area
Safeway will open three Bay Area stores this week, even as Amazon and Wal-Mart step up their online sales efforts. We are excited to open three new stores to meet the needs of customers and create new jobs in the Bay Area," said Tom Schwilke, president of Safeway Northern California. "These new stores will give customers new local, fresh and organic options." (bizjournals.com)AU: Coles and Woolworths’ latest move to beat ALDI
As ALDI continuously dominated the affordable supermarket segment, supermarket giants Woolworths and Coles have now slashed the price of big ticket products in half, in an effort to keep up with Aldi. Shoppers are set to save hundreds of dollars a week as a variety of items have been reduced by as much as 50%. (startsat60.com) AU: Aldi unveils bold new fresh food buying strategy
A new centralised buying model will allow the Aldi to improve the quality of its fruit and vegetables, the company announced on Tuesday. From next year, Aldi will roll out its new approach, with long-term, flexible supplier contracts aimed at getting a better deal for fresher produce. Moody’s retail analyst Ian Chitterer said: “Aldi’s fresh food offering has, in my perception, been of a slightly lower quality than Woolies and Coles, but anecdotally the pricing seems to be a fair bit cheaper. So if they can get the same or similar quality, and keeping pricing roughly constant, then that would be pretty good for them.” Click here to read more at news.com.au. Wal-Mart’s market share gain is Target’s loss, analysts say
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is poised to “regain retail dominance,” while Target Corp. is losing share to Wal-Mart in grocery, according to Cowen & Co., prompting a Wal-Mart upgrade to outperform and a Target downgrade to market perform. “Bottom line, we see Wal-Mart continuing to gain share at the expense of Target and retail peers,” Cowen wrote in a Wal-Mart note published Monday. (marketwatch.com) Italian large supermarket chain to assess possible bids: sources
The 90-year old founder of Italian supermarket chain Esselunga is considering a sale of the group and has picked Citigroup as adviser to assess expressions of interest from private equity funds, two sources close to the matter said on Monday. One of the sources said that CVC Capital Partners and Blackstone had expressed interest in Italy's third-largest supermarket chain, which had revenue of 7.3bn euros ($8.2bn) last year. (Reuters)All Day scales up in the Philippines
The Villar Group has revealed that it is investing an additional PHP1.4b (US29.6m), through its retail arm All Value Holdings, to expand its All Day Supermarket chain in the Philippines. All Value’s chairman Manuel B. Villar Jr. said the group had experienced early success in the supermarket business. (igd.com)Azerbaijani companies to cooperate with Russia's large food retailer
Member companies of Azerbaijan Fruit and Vegetables Producers and Exporters Association (AMTIIA ) will be able to directly export their output to Russia, Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation (AZPROMO) reported. The decision was taken within the framework of AMTIIA's meeting with representatives of X5 Retail Group (Russia’s second largest food retailer). The sides discussed the direction of mutually beneficial cooperation and took a decision on the direct export of fruit and vegetables to the Russian market. (Please, click here to read more at azernews.az) French organic supermarket chain selects Determine Procure-to-Pay to drive growth
The French organic supermarket chain naturéO selected Determine to improve its operational effectiveness through its procure-to-pay and paperless invoicing solutions. Since 2007 the family-run company, naturéO, has been making quality organic products more accessible, by offering them at an affordable price for everyone at their 25 outlets in France. (yahoo.com)Croatia's Agrokor ranks higher on Deloitte List Of Top 500 Companies
Croatia’s Agrokor Group has placed 11th on the Deloitte List Of Top 500 Companies in Central and Eastern Europe, an improvement of eleven places since last year. The retail and services group said that the improvement ‘primarily lies in the acquisition of Mercator’, as well as the improved business results of Agrokor Group member companies. (esmmagazine.com)Carrefour Express opens in 15th arrondissement
A new Carrefour Express store has been unveiled in a Paris Lecourbe BP service station, in an opening which marks 20 years of collaboration between the supermarket chain and European Forecourt Retail (EFR). (esmmagazine.com)US: UNFI 4Q sales up on acquisitions
United Natural Foods on Monday said sales for the fourth quarter increased on new acquisitions but earnings dipped on restructuring and impairment costs. For the quarter, which ended July 30, sales increased by 7.4% to $2.2 billion, the Providence, R.I.-based wholesaler said. Net earnings decreased by 3.9% to $34.7m. (supermarketnews.com)Amazon aims to open dozens of new pop-up stores
Amazon has plans to considerably increase its presence in physical retail, with dozens more pop-up stores all across shopping centres in the United States over the next 12 months alone. (retaildetail.eu)