Online grocer Ocado has confirmed the sector's fierce price war is beginning to ease off as the Brexit-hit pound starts to push up prices. CEO Tim Steiner said that the group was seeing the "first signs of a change in market pricing" after years of food price deflation, which was sparked off by competition from German discounters Aldi and Lidl. (belfasttelegraph.co.uk) UK: Sainsbury's sales fall
Sainsbury's on Thursday reported a slight fall in underlying quarterly sales in its core supermarkets business and cautioned over uncertainty regarding cost pressures. The firm, which last year purchased Argos-owned, Home Retail, said sales at supermarket stores open for over a year fell 0.5%, excluding fuel, in the nine weeks to March 11, its fiscal fourth quarter. The results showed a strong performance from Argos, where like-for-like sales increased 4.3%, a slight acceleration from growth of 4.0% in the previous quarter and ahead of analysts' expectations. (Reuters)Mexico: Walmex to increase spending
Wal-Mart de Mexico, Mexico's biggest retailer, plans to increase spending by nearly 19% in 2017, upgrading and adding new stores and investing in e-commerce, a top executive said on Tuesday. Walmex, as the company is known, will spend 17bn pesos ($864.80m) in 2017, above the 14.3bn pesos they spent last year, CFO Pedro Farah told investors during a company presentation. (Reuters)
US: Wegmans looks to cut food waste with new state regulations in the worksPlease, click here to read the article.
Dixy stores in Moscow join social discount programme
Russian retailer Dixy has announced that it has extended its participation in a social discount programme to include the citizens of Moscow. Dixy stores in the Moscow region already offered a 5% discount on all product categories - excluding special offers, alcohol and tobacco - to citizens, presenting their Social Card. Social Cards entitle people in need of financial support. (esmmagazine.com) Jerónimo Martins opens first Cash & Carry in Colombia
Four years after entering Colombia, Portuguese retail group Jerónimo Martins has opened its first cash & carry store in the Latin American country. The store, called Bodega del Canasto, is located on the border with Venezuela, in Cúcuta, reported Portuguese news agency Lusa. Jerónimo Martins did not disclose the amount invested in the opening of the new unit. (esmmagazine.com) Italy's Despar Nordest ends 2016 with turnover of €2.07bn
Aspiag Service, a Despar concessionaire for Northeast Italy, ended 2016 with a turnover of €2.07bn, up 3% on the previous year. The company (also known as Despar Nordest), which is responsible for the Despar, Eurospar and Interspar stores in the Triveneto and Emilia Romagna regions, achieved a 15.61% market share in its trading area (GNLC data from June 2016). (esmmagazine.com) CA: New CEO: we can win back Safeway customers
Supermarket owner Empire Co. Ltd has a lot of work to do before it can regain customer loyalty lost due to mistakes made after its purchase of Safeway Canada, its new CEO said on Wednesday. Focus groups suggest "we really did let them down" but there's still loyalty to Safeway in the West that can be recaptured, Michael Medline told analysts. It was his first conference call since becoming the head of Canada's second-largest grocery chain, which also owns Sobeys, operator of the Sobeys, FreshCo, Safeway, IGA and Foodland store banners. (thespec.com) UK: Morrisons’ marketing shifts gears with Amazon
Morrisons admits it’s still “very much in the fix stage” of its brand recovery programme, but that’s not stopped it looking at how it’s going to drive growth through its tie-up with Amazon and the expansion of its general merchandise division. Now, the grocer’s boss tells The Drum its time marketing followed suit. "I'm happy with how we’re communicating," said CEO David Potts. (thedrum.com)Portugal: Sonae's 2016 net profit up 23%
Portugal's largest retailer Sonae said its 2016 net profit was up 23% at €215m. Underlying EBITDA dropped 3% to €320m. Analysts in a Reuters survey expected, on average, a net profit of €180m and revenues of €5.38bn. (Reuters)Slovenija: Spar posts higher revenue for 2016
Retailer Spar Slovenija posted sales revenue of €743m last year, an increase of 2.4% in what general manager Igor Mervič described as "an environment that was not very friendly". The company did not disclose profits. (english.sta.si) US: Wal-Mart plans aggressive expansion of grocery pickup
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is planning an aggressive expansion of its grocery pickup program in 2017. Between 500 and 600 Wal-Mart locations will add the feature this year, the company said. Wal-Mart said it hopes groceries will become a common online purchase. (joplinglobe.com) 
Croatia wants to shield economy from Agrokor's problemsPlease, click here to read the article.
UK: Lidl and M&S on how a social platform is helping them tackle food wastePlease, click here to read the article.