Poland: Eurocash outlines future strategy following H1 revenue boost
Polish wholesaler Eurocash has said that it plans to develop its omnichannel capabilities, invest further in its franchise and partner networks, and develop a tech platform for local operators during the period 2023-2025. The group announced its strategy as it reported a 'strong' increase in sales across all business segments in the first half of its financial year, by more than 16% year-on-year to PLN14.3bln (€3.02bln). It also reported its best-ever EBITDA performance in the half-year period, of PLN407mln (€86mln), a 102% increase on the same period last year.
Source: esmmagazine.com
India's Bengaluru places the highest number of early morning orders: Swiggy's Instamart
Does Bengaluru contain the earliest risers among Indian metros? A report from food aggregator Swiggy's grocery delivery arm Instamart seems to confirm this point. According to Swiggy, in a span of one year, from June 2021 to June 2022, Bangaloreans placed the highest number of early morning orders. The survey also stated that around 62,000 tons of fruits and vegetables were bought from its platform as well as there was a 58 times increase in organic fruits and vegetables in the last one year.
Source: moneycontrol.com
Lidl named top retailer in Hungary for second year running
Lidl has been named the top retailer in Hungary for the second year in a row, according to the 2021 Retailer Ranking by local portal Trademagazin. The standings in the Retailer Ranking study are determined from the sales revenue provided by retailers, in local currency, as well as the size of each retailer's store network. Lidl closed 2021 with a turnover of about €2.49bln, up on the previous year’s €2.28bln, as well as boasting 191 stores, an increase of five stores year-on-year.
Source: esmmagazine.com
UK: Zoom by Ocado site opening in Leyton
Internet shoppers in Leyton will be among the first to use an online rapid grocery service. Ocado Retail, the world’s largest dedicated online grocery retailer, announced the opening of its third Zoom by Ocado site in Leyton. Orders can be delivered within 60 minutes or a one-hour slot of a customer’s choosing, with a promise that if an order is late, there is no delivery charge for a customer’s next order.
Source: guardian-series.co.uk
UK: Asda confirms plans to acquire 132 convenience stores from The Co-op
Asda announced it has agreed to acquire 132 sites from The Co-operative Group (“Co-op”) in a transaction with a cash value of £438mln (the transaction has a total value of approximately £600mln, inclusive of IFRS16 lease liabilities of approximately £162mln [final amount to be confirmed on completion]), as part of its growth strategy to move into the convenience market and bring Asda value to more local communities.
Source: corporate.asda.com
UK: Aldi and Lidl predicted to overtake Tesco by 2027
Former Lidl UK boss Ronny Gottschlich has predicted that German retailers Aldi and Lidl will overtake Tesco - currently the UK’s largest supermarket - within the next five years. Gottschlich, who ran Lidl’s British operation for six years until 2016, said that between them, Aldi and Lidl would “overtake Tesco by 2027 at the latest”.
Source: grocerygazette.co.uk
Japan's plastic waste problem spurring grocery shopping novelty
Fruit retailer Dole Japan Inc. has set up spaces in supermarkets in Tokyo and surrounding areas to sell bananas by weight. Machinery maker Teraoka Seiko Co. is trying to address the challenge by developing an artificial intelligence-equipped measuring device that automatically recognizes a vegetable or fruit on a tray using image diagnostic technology. Once it has understood what the item is, it weighs it and prints out a price label. Currently, individual vegetables and fruits of different sizes often sell at the same price as long as they have similar shapes. Since prices can now be determined by weight, "We can sell items that have been considered non-standard," said a Teraoka official.
Source: english.kyodonews.net
Russia's Ozon opens Turkish office to help consumer goods flow to home market
Russian e-commerce firm Ozon said it would open a local office in Turkey and make it easier for consumers to make cross-border orders, helping Russian shoppers to buy goods directly from Turkish sellers on its platform.
Source: reuters.com
Scottish convenience retailer gets bank’s backing for expansion
The Fife-based convenience store group Greens Retail is planning to expand sharply and open nine stores this year after securing bank finance of £1.3mln. The funding is enabling the family-owned business to open in Aberdeenshire and Dundee later this year after having recently opened stores in Inverurie, Peterhead, Kinross, Kirriemuir, Shettleston and Fraserburgh. The new stores will all operate under the Greens brand and are projected to create 160 jobs. The group will have 13 stores after the latest acquisitions.
Source: talkingretail.com
France: Carrefour CEO says inflation crisis turning consumers into penny-pinchers
Cost-conscious French consumers are ditching fish, buying cheaper meat and snubbing organic food to save money on their shopping, the head of Europe’s largest food retailer said. Carrefour Chief Executive Alexandre Bompard said economists’ debates about when inflation would peak were futile, and what mattered was consumers’ new, entrenched penny-pinching approach to shopping.
Source: reuters.com
Chile's Falabella reports 51.7% decrease in Q2 net profit
Chilean retailer Falabella reported a 51.7% year-on-year drop in its second quarter net profit, hit by increased costs. The company's profit for the quarter was 65.12bln pesos ($70.8mln). Second quarter net revenue grew 16.1% to 3.08tln pesos ($3.3bln).
Source: reuters.com
Amazon’s popular banana stand opens in downtown Bellevue
The new banana stand in Bellevue is a community fruit stand that was started by Amazon. The stand offers free bananas to passers-by. Located at Amazon’s Bingo building, the address is 333 108th Avenue Northeast. Referred to as “Banista”, the stand is open Monday through Friday from 8:30am to 3:30pm. The banana stand was originally proposed by Jeff Bezos. The first community banana stand opened in South Lake Union in December 2015.
Source: downtownbellevue.com
US: RELEX and DoorDash partner to provide AI-driven supply chain optimization
RELEX Solutions, provider of unified supply chain and retail planning solutions, and DoorDash announced a partnership to implement RELEX’s AI-driven supply chain planning solution to service DoorDash’s DashMart locations. The RELEX solution uses machine learning to create highly accurate forecasts that will optimize product availability at DashMart locations.
Source: businesswire.com
Canada: Alimentation Couche-Tard reports profit, sales up in first quarter
Forecourt operator Alimentation Couche-Tard has reported a 14% increase in net earnings in the first quarter of its financial year, to $872.4mln (€871.8mln), up from $764.4mln for the same period last year. The Canadian group, which operates the Circle K brand across many European markets, reported total revenue of $18.7bln (€18.67bln) for the quarter, which was 37.4% higher than the corresponding period last year.
Source: esmmagazine.com
US: Chartwells Higher Education and Standard AI eye 100 autonomous retail stores
Standard AI and Chartwells Higher Education, a division of Compass Group, have announced an expanded partnership that will bring 100 autonomous retail experiences to higher education institutions in the US.
Source: retailtechinnovationhub.com