Food City chief executive Steve Smith said that three stores the grocery chain is building in Northwest Georgia are part of up to $60mln that Food City is now investing into the Chattanooga market. "It's a real opportunity for us," he said, adding that plans are to break ground on the two other stores — one in Fort Oglethorpe near the Tennessee line and another in Dalton, Georgia.Source: timesfreepress.com
US: Kroger brings Scan, Bag, Go to Metro Atlanta area
Kroger unveiled its new Scan, Bag, Go program, a new technology that allows customers to scan their own groceries for quicker shopping, in metro Atlanta. The service is another way for customers to shop, alongside online ordering, traditional checkout lanes and home delivery. Kroger has tested Scan, Bag, Go in several locations across the country, but the Kroger at 10945 State Bridge Road in Alpharetta is the first location in Georgia to utilize the service.Source: theshelbyreport.com
US: Food Lion pilots robots to spot out-of-stocks, hazards, pricing issues
Food Lion is now testing a robot to alert employees about floor hazards, out-of-stock and inaccurate or inconsistent pricing, following tests at several sister Ahold Delhaize USA banners. Marty the Robot, which has debuted in a La Follette, Tennessee, Food Lion store, clean-sweeps the store a dozen times daily to identify slip-and-fall hazards on the floor, to which he alerts associates, and he also warns nearby shoppers to avoid the mess. The slender gray robot – developed by Lexington, Kentucky-based Badger Technologies – additionally scans shelves for out-of-stocks and ensures that shelf pricing is aligned with the front-end registers.Source: progressivegrocer.com
Walmart Canada commits to zero food waste by 2025
Walmart announced a commitment to achieve zero food waste by 2025 in its Canadian operations, in accordance with the Zero Waste International Alliance guidelines*. To address this significant issue more broadly, the Walmart Foundation is also donating $15mln USD (~$19mln CAD) in funding to support Canadian initiatives and research to reduce food waste along the food chain, from farm to fork.Source: newswire.ca
Costa Rica: Amazon now allows purchases delivered directly
Amazon announced the launch of the international shopping platform within the Amazon Shopping application, which will make it possible for its customers in Costa Rica to receive their packages directly from the United States. This experience is available in browsers and mobile applications within the Amazon Shopping application for both iOS and Android mobile devices, in it you can buy more than 45 million items in 25 currencies, including the Colon.Source: qcostarica.com
South Africa's Pick n Pay FY profit up 7.1% on costs cuts
South African retailer Pick n Pay Stores posted a 7.1% rise in full-year earnings, as the grocer cut costs and increased productivity in store operations. Pick n Pay said turnover growth increased 5.3% to 81.6bln rand ($6.85bln) from 77.5bln rand, while trading profit was up 4.9% due to a voluntary severance programme (VSP).Source: reuters.com
Ireland: SuperValu introduces compostable bags
SuperValu is the first retailer in Ireland to introduce fully compostable and biodegradable produce bags for use by customers. The compostable produce bags are currently being trialled in around 70 SuperValu stores with a view to making them available across the store network. It is part of a broader strategy by SuperValu to reduce packaging and make 100% of its own brand and fresh produce packaging become recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025.Source: rte.ie
Russia's X5 says Q1 net retail sales up 20.2% y/y
Russia’s biggest food retailer X5 Retail Group reported: total net retail sales rose 20.2% year-on-year in Q1 2018 to 350.3bln roubles ($5.8bln). Q1 like-for-like sales grew 0.5% year-on-year. Like-for-like traffic declined 1.6%, while like-for-like basket rose 2.2% year-on-year.Source: reuters.com
Sainsbury’s trials UK’s 1st grocery delivery service by electric cargo bike
From this week, Sainsbury’s is setting the wheels in motion on an innovative new trial – the UK’s first grocery delivery service by electric cargo bike. A fleet of 5 zero emission bikes will be setting off across South London from the Streatham Common store, delivering up to 100 orders a day to local customers who’ve shopped through the retailer’s groceries online website. The trial demonstrates Sainsbury’s mission to deliver for its customers whenever and wherever they do their shopping. Sainsbury’s is launching the trial with e-cargobikes.com who will provide the purpose-built bikes, which have enough capacity to carry several customer orders at a time. Source: j-sainsbury.co.uk
UK: Heart of England Co-op records operating profit of £5.5mln
Operating profits at Heart of England Co-op have have risen to £5.5mln for the year ending 20 January 2018, up from £1.7mln the previous year. But the society said 2017 had been “one of the most challenging and difficult years in recent times” with increased competition from discount supermarkets, and warned: “We face an extremely challenging and very uncertain 2018 and all the economic indicators are pointing towards a slowdown in the economy as it appears to be losing momentum amid Brexit concerns.”Source: thenews.coop
France: Ooshop rebranded to ‘Carrefour delivered to you’
As part of its one online brand strategy, Carrefour has rebranded its delivery service, which was called Ooshop, to ‘Carrefour livre chez vous’. Available through Carrefour.fr, shoppers are now able to choose from home delivery or Drive options, while its other online brands, Rue du Commerce and Quitoque, are also now accessible through the site. Its one hour delivery service, Livraison Express, is also able to accessed through the same site.Source: retailanalysis.igd.com
