UK Sainsbury's looks to wipe out 'Big Four' by 2025. Sainsbury’s boss Mike Coupe says thegrocer could double its convenience estate to more than 1,500 stores andpredicted that the big four may not exist in 10 years’ time, retail-week.com reports. He said itsconvenience shops were a storming success, with tons of untapped potential. Thesupermarket giant recently announced a 1.9% drop in group sales in the 10 weeksto mid-March. But takings in convenience stores surged by 14%, with another 23opened in the same period. mirror.co.ukreports.
Australian consumersstarted to purchase vegetables online
Australian consumers are exploring new frontiers in grocery shopping, with onein eight Australians purchasing vegetables online, according to a consumerresearch data from Project Harvest, potatobusiness.comreports. The study has also found that the convenience of online shopping iswinning Australians over, with the majority of consumers who shop online sayingthat the ease with which they can buy online is a key driver. “When asked theirreasons for buying vegetables online, the overwhelming majority of consumerslisted ‘convenience’,” said an AUSVEG Assistant Manager. “This can take theform of online shopping, as shown by the 33% of online shoppers who buyvegetables online at least once a fortnight, but it can also take the form ofbuying pre-cut and pre-packaged produce in-store.” “In celery consumption, forexample, research shows that 40% of consumers are buying pre-packaged celery,be that half-celery, celery stalks, or celery hearts. This wave of data alsoshows an increase in purchases of trays of zucchini, from 11% of consumers inAugust to 18% of consumers in December.”
7-Eleven Mexico launchesvirtual currency 'Big Coins'
In a marketing effort, 7-Eleven Mexico announces the launch of its own virtualcurrency dubbed "Big Coins.", cointelegraph.com reports. Thecompany is looking to retain customers and build its online presence byrewarding engaged consumers. Big Coins are stored in a digital wallet, andwhile they can only be used for dedicated products and promotions for now,7-Eleven Mexico is looking to implement a virtual currency to its convenientstores, according to the media outlet.
Study: Paper packaging best for fruitand veg sales
Paper based containers are the preferred choice of packaging for consumersshopping for groceries and fresh produce, according to an international surveyinvolving people from seven European countries, packagingeurope.com reports. The same consumers were also asked,assuming that all other aspects of a product such as price and quality wereequal, how much more or less likely they would be to buy a grocery product(e.g. fruit, vegetables etc.) from a retailer using paper-based containerscompared to plastic containers.
Grocery market inChina growing 4.4%
The grocery market in China is growing at 4.4%, one percentage point below the 2014annual value growth and far below the 7.4% growth recorded in 2013, a recentreport from Kantar Worldpanel reveals. According to the report, Sun Art groupmaintained its leading position with 9.1% share in the latest 12 weeks, but 0.1point lower than one year ago. Vanguard group lost 0.5 points due to the lossof shoppers in Tesco stores. Wal-Mart, Carrefour and Lin Hua Groups also lostmarket share these 12 weeks compared to same period last year, enterpriseinnovation.net reports.
Edeka remains thelargest retailer in Germany
Edeka is still the market leader among German retail companies, reports theGerman website topagrar.com. Alongwith it's own discount chain, Netto, the cooperatives of the retail group wereresponsible for more than one fifth of all the food sold in Germany in 2014. Currentmarket research from Trade Dimensions shows that Rewe comes in second place,together with their discount store Penny. The Schwarz-group, which includesboth Lidl and the Kaufland supermarkets, comes in third place. The Metro groupcomes in fourth, followed by Aldi in fifth place.
Edeka collaboration with WWF for biodiversity
German retailer Edeka has joined an initiative of the WWF that promotesbiodiversity in organic farming, esmmagazine.comreports. The aim of the pilot project agriculture biodiversity is to increasethe diversity of wild fauna and flora in agriculturally dominated habitats bymeans of new conservation standards for organic farming. As a pioneer ofagriculture biodiversity, Edeka markets agricultural products during the firstproject phase as the exclusive trading partner and guarantees the purchase ofthe project products at producer prices.
Regulator rejects offer for German supermarket chainKaiser's
Germany's competition watchdog has rejected concessions offered by thecountry's biggest supermarket group Edeka to win approval for its plannedacquisition of grocery chain Kaiser's, weekly magazine Focus reported on Saturday,Reuters reports.
Target moves to shut Canadian storesfaster than planned
After taking 26 months to launch its first stores in Canada, U.S. discounterTarget Corp. is now looking at shutting all 133 of them in just three months –a month less than originally planned. Please, go to bnn.ca,to read more.
Aldi US to reopen 30 of 66 shut Bottom Dollar stores
Delhaize Group announces that it has completed the sale of its Bottom DollarFood store locations to ALDI Inc. Aldi said it will reopen 30 of the 66 formerBottom Dollar stores it took over in Pennsylvania, South Jersey, and northeastOhio after the previous owner, the Delhaize Group, shut Bottom Dollar lastyear, philly.com reports.
Aldi/Lidl greatermarket share in Ireland compared to UK
Aldi and Lidl account for almost double the amount of the grocery market sharein Ireland compared to the UK, agriland.iereports. Aldi and Lidl together now account for 8% of the UK retail market,according to Dairyco. In comparisonAldi and Lidl together account for 15.7% of the grocery market share inIreland, figures from Kantar Worldpanel show.
French retail group Les Mousquetaires plans to invest €280 mln in Portugal overfive years and open 106 new stores and 90 fuel stations by 2020, esmmagazine.com reports. The Portugueseoperations accounted for about five% of total group sales in 2014, or €2 bln(out of a global total of €40 bln).
X5 Retail Group to take over Spar
Russia’s second largest retailer by revenue, X5 Retail Group, is planning to buy the Spar Retail chain. The Federal Anti-Monopoly Service granted X5 permission to seek to purchase AO Spar Retail, according to the watchdog’s website statement. (esmmagazine.com/propertyxpress.com)
Chile Cencosud 2014 net profit falls16.5%
Chile diversified retailer Cencosud said on Friday that its full-year 2014net profit fell 16.5% versus a year earlier to 191.886 bln pesos ($315.9 mln), Reuters reports.
Romania: 80% ofproduce at Metro of local origin
Metro Cash & Carry, which runs 31 stores and reached a turnover of around €910 mln last year, is strongly committed to supplying local Romanian products,according to zf.ro. This season,about 80% of the fruit and vegetables on the shelves are of Romanian origin."Metro Cash & Carry Romania has always striven to fill its shelveswith Romanian products, with fruits and vegetables purchased from localproducers accounting for about 80% of the range, a similar percentage to thatof meat products," stated representatives of Metro Cash & CarryRomania.
Tesco begins land sell-off to raise cash
Tesco has begun selling off land once earmarked for new supermarkets, whichcould raise hundreds of mlns of pounds for the embattled grocer, telegraph.co.uk reports.
US: Price glitch upsets Haggen grocerylaunch
A pricing glitch is plaguing Haggen Food’s highly anticipated supermarketlaunch in Southern California this month, utsandiego.comreports. The chain advertises itself as a one-stop shop for brand-name staplesand a wide array of fresh, natural and local food options at mainstreamsupermarket prices. But within days of the first California store opening inCarlsbad in early March, shoppers took to social media to voice their dismay atthe prices, which were higher than expected.
Wawa Inc. will open three new stores in Southwest Florida in April, carwash.com reports. The openings are part of the company’s plan to grow its presence in the state, noted the article. Grand openings will be held for one store in Cape Coral and two in Fort Myers.
US: Tops sees smaller loss in 2014
Additional stores added up to bigger sales for the Tops Markets LLC chain in 2014 despite cuts in the federal food stamp program, democratandchronicle.com reports. Sales for the Erie County-based grocery store chain were $2.51 bln, up $27.5 mln or about 1% from 2013. Most of that sales growth came from six supermarkets Tops bought and three it opened since the start of 2013. After expenses, Tops lost $14.7 mln for the year, about half of 2013’s $28.5 mln loss.