India’s leading conglomerate Future Group has agreed to acquire Heritage Foods’ retail and allied businesses. Meanwhile, Walmart has abandoned plans to set up food-only stores in India. It’s revealed that the deal will include Heritage Foods’ grocery and food retail stores, as well as bakery and farm sourcing businesses. The deal will add 124 Heritage Fresh retail outlets in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and 
Chemmal to Future Retail’s network. Future Retail’s existing network comprises 379 small-format EasyDay stores and 232 large-format Big Bazaar stores. (igd.com)UK: 'Growth Aldi, Lidl to decline'
The boom in sales for German discount supermarkets Aldi and Lidl is ‘grinding to a halt’, according to City analysts. Bruno Monteyne, of stockbroker Bernstein and a former Tesco director, has warned that growth at the discounters is falling off a cliff and will peter out altogether over the next 18 months. As subsidiaries of German groups, neither Aldi UK nor Lidl UK publish detailed sales figures. But Monteyne’s analysis of accounts and market share figures collected independently suggests that like-for-like sales, which exclude the effect of new store openings, are under immense pressure at both Aldi and Lidl. (thisismoney.co.uk) US: Hy-Vee to carry ‘ugly’ produce in all its stores
All 242 locations of Hy-Vee will offer cosmetically challenged produce by mid-December. Misfits, an “ugly” produce brand of Eden Prairie, Minn.-based Robinson Fresh, is already in Hy-Vee stores in central Iowa, in the Sioux Falls, S.D., area and in the Kansas City area. Misfits made their Hy-Vee debut in early October at stores in Des Moines, Iowa, where the retailer has its headquarters. (thepacker.com)Bernstein research: Carrefour law suit could impact margins, price negotiations
Analysts Bernstein Research have suggested that a law suit against Carrefour for reported abusive commercial practices against suppliers could have an impact on the retailer's margins next year. Last week, the French government announced legal proceedings against the retailer, which follow on from a raid of Carrefour's offices last February. Bernstein estimates that Carrefour could be liable to repay about €15m to suppliers if Carrefour loses the case, however predicts that longer-term impacts could be more impactful. (esmmagazine.com) Auchan China to scale back on store expansion
Sun Art Retail, which operates Auchan and RT-Mart banners in China, has reported a revenue increase of 4.4% to CNY77.3bn (US$11.3bn) for the first three quarters of 2016. The retailer continues to open more stores even though the trading environment in China is getting increasingly tough for bricks-and-mortar retailers, but the speed is slowing down. As of the end of September 2016, Sun Art opened 18 new stores, bringing its total store network to 427 hypermarkets and supermarkets, covering 216 cities cross 28 Provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities. 24 new hypermarkets were opened in the same period last year. In the next three years, the retailer plans to open 98 more hypermarkets, of which 88 were under construction. (igd.com)Walmart gives up food-only stores in India
Walmart India has given up plans to open food-only stores in the country, unsure about the viability of the business given the present restrictions. It’s challenging to operate food-only retail stores in India because of the wafer-thin margins. In addition, although the Indian government has allowed international retailers to sell multi-brand food products but they have to be manufactured in India. The regulation doesn’t allow such food-only stores to stock general merchandise items such as soaps, shampoos and non-food items. (igd.com)Business booming for Chinese supermarkets
The demand for Asian ingredients has shaken up the "Asian food economy" in New Zealand and seen an increase in footfall from non-Asian Kiwis in Asian supermarkets. Massey pro vice-chancellor of 
humanities and social sciences professor Paul Spoonley researched ethnic precincts in Auckland. His research showed people shopped at Chinese supermarkets because goods were priced cheaper than big brand supermarkets. "It's also for the cultural experience that they can't get elsewhere and to find new options and many varieties of products." (stuff.co.nz) AU: Woolworths to continue purchasing fruit from SPC
After losing a contract to supply tinned tomatoes and speculation that Woolworths would end a five-year, $70m fruit contract early, SPC Ardmona has seen the supermarket chain agree to purchase an increased amount of tinned fruit over the next three years. The Herald Sun and others report that Woolworths made the announcement on Friday night, ending a week that saw a community backlash against the rumoured decision. The level of community support had been “incredible”, said SPC Ardmona managing director Reg Weine. (manmonthly.com.au)UK: Sainsbury’s investigating "cockroach" found in fruit
An investigation has been launched after a father found what he fears is a cockroach in blackberries he fed his 22-month-old son. A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said: “Our supplier has stringent processes in place and unpleasant finds like this are extremely rare. We’re investigating what went wrong on this occasion and would like to apologise to Talha.” (basingstokegazette.co.uk)Walmart India revenue rises 7% as sales jump 34%
The Indian unit of the world's largest retailer, Walmart Stores, posted a 7% rise in revenue and narrowed losses in consumer goods market that saw decade low sales growth. While sales grew 34%, the company grew 7% on annualised basis. Losses declined from Rs 232.2 crore to Rs 140.4 crore in the same period. Click here to read more at economictimes.indiatimes.com. NZ: Supermarkets reopening following earthquake closures
More supermarkets are reopening after being forced closed as a result of Monday morning's earthquakes. The 7.5 magnitude earthquake was centred in North Canterbury, near Hanmer Springs. Countdown confirmed late Monday afternoon that all but five Countdown stores and one SuperValue - Seddon - were open for business. In the South Island, the Blenheim Countdown store remained closed as did the Wellington CDB branch and Wellington regional stores in Queensgate, Wainuiomata and Porirua. (stuff.co.nz)Central Group closes Big C's ecommerce site while taking over Zalora in Vietnam
The new owners of Big C Vietnam, Central Group and its local partner Nguyen Kim Trading Joint Stock Co., have taken over Zalora’s operations in Vietnam and is going to close Big C Vietnam’s ecommerce site Cdiscount by the end of the year. Please, click here to read more at igd.com. Italy gets third 'social supermarket'
Following similar openings in Milan and Rome, consumers in Naples now have a store where they can buy the basic food necessities without cash or a bank card.The 'social supermarket', Arca, l’Emporio della Solidarietà, has opened on a site between Monte di Procida and Bacoli, located a few kilometers from Naples. Click here to read more about the the new concepts at esmmagazine.com. Multicedi launches new store format in Italy
Italian retail group Multicedi has inaugurated a new store format in Italy called SuperRisparmioso. The first pilot store opened in Salerno earlier this month, while the full roll-out of the new format is expected in 2017. According to the retailer, SuperRisparmioso is not a supermarket, a discount store or even a grocery store, but rather embodies all the best features of each of these formats, offering branded products at low prices daily. (esmmagazine.com)
Spar UK wins big at 2016 retail industry awardsPlease, click here to read the article.