The charity behind the world’s first food waste supermarket has said that it is planning to open two more. Folkekirkens Nødhjælp, which opened the first food waste supermarket in Copenhagen in February, said that it is planning to open another in Copenhagen and a third in Arhus, the second biggest city in Denmark. WeFood also sells fresh produce. (independent.co.uk) Wal-Mart completes acquisition of Jet.com
Wal-Mart Stores on Monday said it has completed the acquisition of internet retailer Jet.com after agreeing to pay about $3bn for the e-commerce startup last month. Wal-Mart CEO announced the closing of the deal, which was pending regulatory approval, in a blog post on the retailer's website. (Reuters)Germany: Edeka has 'Plan B' for take over of Kaiser's Tengelmann
Following two years of negotiations with the provincial high court of Düsseldorf, Edeka reportedly now has an alternative plan for its bid to acquire the Kaiser's Tengelmann store portfolio. Last week, German food industry journal Lebensmittel Zeitung said, that Edeka now has a 'plan B' in place for taking over as many stores as possible. Every store takeover that has not been challenged should be permitted, while for every other store, Edeka wants to negotiate with the landlords of said stores directly. Edeka commented: "We are still hoping for a solution. Of course we are also prepared for alternative scenarios." (esmmagazine.com)UK: Lidl stores under fire over trade union stance
Trade union members have held a rally in a dispute over recognition at a Lidl supermarket warehouse in Bridgend. The GMB won a legal ruling over its bid to negotiate for more than 200 warehouse workers at the site but the firm is challenging the decision. Supporters protested outside a Lidl store in Cardiff, saying further demonstrations will be held. The company has argued that staff are already "fairly represented" in the business without unions. (BBC)Possible interest by Jerónimo Martins for Romania’s Profi
Portuguese retail group Jerónimo Martins is allegedly interested in Romania’s leading supermarket chain Profi, according to both Romanian and Polish press reports. With 400 stores, Profi has an annual turnover of €565m in a market with 20 million inhabitants. It is being put up for sale by Polish capital risk manager Entreprise Investors that, via the PEV VI fund, owns 100% since 2010. (esmmagazine.com)Alibaba Group now Asia’s richest company
Alibaba Group Holding has surpassed Tencent Holdings and China Mobile in market capitalisation to become Asia’s richest company. Alibaba’s market value rose to US$261bn in New York last week, overtaking Tencent’s US$255.98bn capitalisation in Hong Kong on Thursday during a trading week shortened by a public holiday. (insideretail.asia)EU probes Polish supermarket tax
The European Union on Monday opened a probe into Poland's new tax on supermarkets, risking to worsen a row with conservative-led Warsaw. Poland imposed a new tax in July that affects larger, foreign-owned supermarkets in an effort to finance social programmes and broaden popular support for the Law and Justice (PiS) government. The new tax largely targets big groups such as France's Auchan and Carrefour and Germany's Lidl or Metro, sparing locally-owned retailers. (brecorder.com)UK grocery sales rise with Tesco doing best in years
British grocery sales rose 0.3% in the 12 weeks to 11 September, helped by strong showing from the country's biggest supermarket chain Tesco which posted its best performance for over two years. Market researcher Kantar Worldpanel said on Tuesday that Tesco's 0.2% sales decline in the period was its smallest drop since March 2014, making it the best performer out of Britain's big four supermarkets. No.2 supermarket Sainsbury's posted a 1.4% fall, followed by sector laggard Asda, which recorded a 5.4% drop, and Morrisons whose sales declined by 2.3%. The growth of German discounters Lidl and Aldi continued, with the pair recording sales growth of 11.6% and 9.5% respectively, and winning market share. (Reuters) UK: Co-op Group opens a convenience store at Microsoft
The Co-op Group has tied up with one of the world’s biggest technology companies to open a convenience store in the UK home of Microsoft. This is the first time Microsoft has opened its head office campus to another business – and also a first for the Group to open a store in another business’ headquarters. (thenews.coop)Promotions account for 45% of sales in Portuguese hypermarkets
Promotional sales in Portuguese hypermarkets increased from 39.7% in the first half of 2015, to 44.8% in the first six months of this year, according to data from the Portuguese Association of Distribution Companies. According to director-general Ana Isabel Trigo de Morais, “consumers have become fans of promotions”, which besides being "evidence of the competitive dynamics", also show that the price factor remains decisive for the buyer. (esmmagazine.com)Spar Netherlands gives away free own-brand products
As part of a new campaign, Spar customers in the Netherlands will receive one free Spar own-brand product when they buy the equivalent A-brand product in-store. This campaign, which runs during the first three weeks of September in Spar stores across the Netherlands, will see six different products promoted every week. (esmmagazine.com)AU: Big supermarkets blamed strawberry prices
Strawberry punnets are being sold for just 80 cents each in Coles, Woolworths and IGA across Australia - with the supermarkets claiming a successful growing season in Queensland as being behind the rock-bottom prices. Some Queensland farmers have blamed the ongoing supermarket wars for the ultra cheap prices - and claim they could be costing them 70 cents per punnet. (dailymail.co.uk) 
Organic food stores fighting back against niche supermarket competitionPlease, click here to read the article.
Sobeys' three-point plan to winPlease, click here to read the article.
