Over the next five years, Empire Co. Ltd. plans to transform a quarter of its 255 Safeway and Sobeys stores in Western Canada to its discount FreshCo banner. Empire’s latest quarter posted a loss as a result of restructuring costs. Please click here to read the rest of the article at canadiangrocer.com
US: Grocery delivery by text launched by Peapod
Online grocer Peapod’s shoppers can now build and update their orders for pickup or delivery via text messages. Using the new Chat-to-Cart platform, shoppers can order their groceries by text via standard characters, dictation and even emoji icons and a list can be shared across multiple family members. Also, for voice-to-text convenience it can be synched with voice-activated assistants, according to retailleader.com US: Target buys Shipt
Target Corp. has bought Shipt Inc. for $550mln. This accelerates the retailer’s digital fulfillment efforts, bringing same-day delivery services to guests at approximately half of Target’s stores by early 2018. Same-day delivery will include all major product categories at Target by the end of 2019. Please click here to read more at progressivegrocer.com
New Zealand: Retail trends and predictions for 2018 by Vend
Vend’s report reveals the trends and issues they think will make the biggest impact on the retail industry in 2018 and beyond. Please, click here to read more at vendhq.com
UK: Ocado’s sales affected by driver shortage
For the quarter to December, Ocado Group Plc’s sales were driven down as a result of a shortage of drivers. The online grocery retailer is optimistic about the coming year and said the problem had now been “largely resolved”. Compared to the same quarter last year, Ocado reported an increase in retail revenue of 11.6%, according to businessinsider.nl