The Mestdagh Group is ending its exclusive partnership with Carrefour

Aldi looking to recruit over 100 new British suppliers in 2022
Aldi has announced plans to recruit over 100 additional British suppliers in 2022, in a bid to accelerate its commitment to increase its spend with British suppliers by £3.5bln a year by the end of 2025. This forms part of the supermarket’s push to further increase the number of products it sources from the UK across all product categories, including food, drink and Specialbuys.
Source: aldipresscentre.co.uk 

China: SEVEN FRESH announces development goals
SEVEN FRESH, JD.com’s fresh food store, announced its development goals, striving to become top-notch chain retail brand in China within the next 5-7 years. SEVEN FRESH’s development goals revolve around supply chain networks, products and service quality. “As SEVEN FRESH continues to develop its business across China, it will primarily focus on 2 regions, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Urban Agglomeration and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area”, noted Feng Zheng, president of SEVEN FRESH.
Source: jdcorporateblog.com 

Angolan hypermarket chain Kero gets new owner
Eritrean distribution group Anseba has won the tender for the privatisation of Angolan supermarket and hypermarket chain Kero. According to Angola's Institute for Management of State Assets and Participation (IGAPE), Anseba was awarded a total of 66.2 points, comprising the following components - corporate (8.9 points), financial (34.6 points) and technical (22.6 points).
Source: esmmagazine.com 

Belgium: Master franchise Mestdagh Group breaks ties with Carrefour
The Mestdagh Group, which operates around 90 Carrefour Market shops mainly in Brussels and Wallonia, is ending its exclusive partnership with Carrefour. The split will follow a one-year notice, Belga News Agency reports, meaning its effects will only be felt after 2022. The master franchise contract was signed between the 2 parties a few years ago, for a period of 10 years. Mestdagh was given 2 years to change its mind and terminate the agreement, and has now done so, a spokesperson for Carrefour Belgium confirmed.
Source: brusselstimes.com 

Alibaba’s grocery retail chain to open new stores in China
Alibaba’s grocery retail chain Freshippo is reportedly planning to expand its footprint in the Chinese market with the addition of 3 new membership stores. The new retail outlets called Freshippo Business Group-X Wholesale Store (X store), will be opened across the 3 Chinese cities Shanghai, Suzhou and Nanjing.
Source: retail-insight-network.com 

UK: Waitrose to trial recipe box service with Mindful Chef
Upmarket UK retailer Waitrose & Partners has joined forces with Mindful Chef to offer a recipe box service in the UK. The partnership will broaden the retailer’s customer base and offer customers new and innovative Waitrose products that align with their changing cooking and shopping habits.
Source: esmmagazine.com 

East China’s 1st JD Mall to land in Nanjing
JD Mall and INJOY Nanjing held a cooperation signing ceremony on December 21. The 1st JD Mall in East China will land in Jiangbei New Area of Nanjing, which will be the 2nd collaboration between JD and Excellence Group after the successful opening of a JD Mall in Changsha.
Source: jdcorporateblog.com 

Tesco powers into the new year with the UK’s 1st commercial electric articulated HGVs
Tesco will power into the new year by launching the UK’s 1st commercially used fully electric heavy freight articulated trucks. 2 new 37 tonne DAF electric vehicles will transport food and other products from Wentloog rail terminal outside Cardiff to Tesco’s distribution centre in Magor, Wales, in partnership with logistics and international freight forwarding company FSEW.
Source: tescoplc.com 

India: Future Retail asks court to declare arbitration with Amazon illegal
India's Future Retail has asked a New Delhi court to declare arbitration proceedings in Singapore with Amazon.com as illegal, arguing that India's antitrust agency had suspended a 2019 deal used by Amazon to assert rights over Future.
Source: reuters.com 

China: Guangzhou Huadu District partners with JD Logistics on smart last mile delivery
Guangzhou Huadu District signed a partnership with JD Logistics at the Future Automotive and Mobility Conference held by the World Economic Forum in Guangzhou. The 2 parties will collaborate in smart last mile delivery and co-construct a demonstration zone for autonomous delivery vehicles.
Source: jdcorporateblog.com 

China warns Walmart and Sam's Club over Xinjiang products
China's anti-graft agency accused U.S. retail giant Walmart Inc and its Sam's Club chain of "stupidity and shorted-sightedness" after Chinese news outlets reported Sam's Club had removed Xinjiang-sourced products from stores.
Source: reuters.com 

Ultrafast grocery delivery service Buyk expands to Chicago, targets rapid expansion across US in 2022
Buyk, a real-time retail grocery delivery service that promises to deliver essential food, drink and other necessities to your door within 15 minutes with no delivery fee and no minimum spend, has announced the official launch of its service in Chicago with plans of further expansion across various US geographies in 2022.
Source: businesswire.com 

Unionisation at Amazon will become easier
Amazon has reached a settlement in the United States with the National Labor Relations Board, an agency that monitors the correct implementation of labour laws. This will make it easier for warehouse workers to unionise in the future.
Source: retaildetail.eu 

US: California commission claims retailers violating plastic bag law
Big retailers are breaking California law and misleading consumers by selling plastic shopping bags bearing language and symbols that falsely suggest the bags can be recycled, a state-appointed commission alleged. In a letter viewed by Reuters, the California Statewide Commission on Recycling Markets and Curbside Recycling asked the California attorney general and regulator CalRecycle to crack down on what it claims is illegal labeling that's undermining the state's efforts to tackle plastic pollution.
Source: reuters.com 

US: Walmart drew 1 in 4 dollars spent on click and collect - with room to grow in 2022
Walmart scored 25.4% of all click-and-collect orders in 2021 - the largest share of any U.S. retailer, according to market data. Click and collect, a more profitable e-commerce channel for retailers, has become a powerful sales driver during the pandemic. Sales are expected to jump by about 21% to $101bln in 2022, according to Insider Intelligence.
Source: cnbc.com

World's first chat-based ordering platform Fish to redefine online grocery and food ordering in Bay Area
Fish Inc. is currently in its beta stage and will be officially released on Valentine’s Day 2022. The platform has already garnered a huge response from its early batch of users. The FIRST-of-its-kind, Fish (For Instant Shopping) is a BOPIS-enabler Chat-Based Grocery and Food ordering platform aiming to connect customers with local stores. People can order groceries and food from their nearby stores on Fish using Fish's smart ordering platform, then they can schedule a pickup (as per their convenient time) with that business through chat. As of now, the company will be catering to Fremont and Sunnyvale areas of San Francisco Bay Area, California.
Source: marketwatch.com