On April 1, Freshplaza covered the news that Wegmans was ranked the chain Number 1 for having the freshest produce. As the report's results are very much in the news now, Freshplaza wants to give some more details. The Consumer Reports surveyed nearly sixty-three thousand of its readers to rate 68 supermarket chains for food quality and freshness, staff courtesy and store cleanliness, abcactionnews.com reports. "We asked about the quality of fresh fruits and vegetables, meats, store-prepared foods, and baked goods, as well as things like cleanliness, staff courtesy, and prices," said Tod Marks from Consumer Reports. Walmart, America's biggest retailer, is one of the least favourite places to buy groceries, and also ranked at the bottom of the Consumer Reports' poll, tying with A&P and Waldbaum's. Coming aclose second in popularity to Wegmans was Publix, followed in third place by Trader Joe's, skyvalleychronicle.com reports. UK: M&S introduces new tropical fruit called a 'plango'
Marks & Spencer is stocking the Bouea macrophylla – or mango plum – after years of work with specialist growers in Thailand, gloucestercitizen.co.uk reports. The fruit has a bright orange edible skin, which is firmer than a plum, and a sweet taste similar to an Alphonso mango but with a softer texture. Freshplaza has covered this news topic more extensively.Cocaine found in French supermarket
Almost 80kg of cocaine was found at a supermarket in France, hidden inside boxes that were supposed to contain bananas, police have said, connexionfrance.com reports. The bananas came from South America, police said.Croatian Agrokor
winning battle with LidlSix months after the merger of Konzum and Mercator, Croatian food-to-retail consortium Agrokor claims it has managed to stay in front of rival Lidl, while achieving growth in sales, esmmagazine.com reports. Both directors of procurement at Konzum Hrvatska and Mercator in Croatia said that the two retailers have achieved €6B in total revenues in Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro. This compares to the €1B in revenue of hard discounter Lidl. In the last quarter of 2014, sales in Serbia were 11% higher per square metre than in the same period in 2013, in Slovenia they grew by 7% and in Bosnia and Herzegovina by 5%.
Fijians transit from organic farms to supermarkets
The Health and Medical Services Minister says more and more Fijians are transitioning from organic farms to supermarkets, fijitimes.com reports. He said that Fijians were increasingly consuming more machine-based food than land-based food and drinks, moving from organic to chemical-based processed foods. "Recent studies have shown that Fijians are not consuming enough fruits and vegetables daily despite the abundant supply," he said.
Italian Coop to manage 334 sales points
Coop Adriatica, Coop Estense and Coop Consumatori Nordest have agreed to merge, creating the largest Italian cooperative with 334 sales outlets, esmmagazine.com reports. The new entity will represent the largest Italian cooperative with 2.6M members, €4.2B in revenue, 334 stores including 45 hypermarkets and almost 20,000 employees. AU: Woolworths urged to prepare price war
Woolworths has been urged to dump grocery price promotions in favour of deeper cuts to everyday prices to limit the damage to sales and margins from an impending grocery price war, smh.com.au reports. Woolworths, Coles and Metcash's IGA retailers have increased the depth and frequency of promotions and cut shelf prices on hundreds of food and grocery items since Woolworths signalled plans in February to invest more than $500M into reducing prices and improving service in supermarkets to protect its market share. Woolworths chief executive Grant O'Brien has dismissed suggestions the price cuts could trigger an all-out price war similar to that in Britain, where margins at the big four supermarket chains have fallen by 200 points, or 50%, in three years.Ethiopia inflation rises to 8.5% in March
Ethiopia's year-on-year inflation rose to 8.5% in March from 8.2% the month before, the statistics office said on Monday, Reuters reports. The Central Statistics Agency said food price inflation increased to 10.1% in March, up from 9.6% the previous month, owing to a rise in the prices of items such as cereals, vegetables and fruits.Chile: Cencosud's supermarkets hit by strike
Workers at a Chilean supermarket chain run by Cencosud SA, one of Latin America's largest retailers, began a legal strike to back demands for higher pay on Monday, Reuters reports. Workers at a Chilean supermarket chain run by Cencosud SA, one of Latin America's largest retailers, began a legal strike to back demands for higher pay on Monday.US:
Maijer invests $50MMeijer is investing $50M in four of its Dayton-area stores, launching extensive renovations of its “supercenters” company officials announced last week, daytondailynews.com reports.
US: McGowan to take over Stop & Shop role
Mark McGowan, EVP of merchandising for Ahold USA, will assume dual duties as president of the retailer’s Stop & Shop New England division and its EVP of operations following Ahold’s appointment of chief merchant to succeed him, according to an internal company memo, supermarketnews.com reports.UK: Tesco’s extra bill for abandoning stores
Tesco is facing costly compensation bills from local authorities after it abandoned store openings amid a slump in checkout receipts and a fierce grocery price war, thetimes.co.uk reports. Britain’s biggest supermarket chain has reached a £9M settlement with two councils in Somerset over its decision to scrap plans to open a superstore in the county. City analysts expect more settlements elsewhere. Irish Dunnes staff to meet over further action
A committee representing Dunnes Stores workers is set to meet within the next week to consider if they will take further strike action, independent.ie reports. This comes as a Government source said they have been keeping "close contact to see if there was any movement". They added that management at the company has not made any attempt to engage with staff since their one-day strike last week. The strike was about low-hour contracts, job security and worker representation.7-Eleven seeks colour trademark
The operator of 7-Eleven stores in Japan has applied for a trademark for the colour combination of orange, green and red featured in its logo, bangkokpost.com reports. The application by Seven-Eleven Japan Co is one of 470 made to the Japan Patent Office under a new system adopted on April 1 for non-traditional trademarks such as sounds and colours.Groupe Casino push click-and-collect in Brazil
In the final quarter of 2014, the Brazilian retailer started installing the same click-and-collect points which are operated in Cdiscount supermarkets in France, esmmagazine.com reports. In the final quarter of 2014, the Brazilian retailer began to install in its outlets the same click-and-collect points which are operated in Cdiscount supermarkets in France.Australian food prices up
Retail sales grew 0.7% in February, as consumers opened their wallets to spend on groceries, smh.com.au reports. Sales of groceries, other foodstuffs and alcohol also posted a robust increase, up 1.2%. Belgian Delhaize announces new board bembers
Belgian retail giant Delhaize Group has announced the nominations of Dominique Leroy and Patrick De Maeseniere as independent members of the Board of Directors, esmmagazine.com reports. Dominique Leroy has perviously been CEO of Belgacom since January 2014 and worked at Unilever for 24 years prior to that. Before being appointed by Delhaize, De Maeseniere has worked as CEO of Adecco since 2009 and also held various executive positions. Lidl readies to open doors in Serbia
Serbia’s Minister of Trade, Rasim Ljajić, claims that "everything is ready" for the start of operations of German retailer Lidl in Serbia, which should happen by the end of the year, esmmagazine.com reports. In an interview for local daily Blic, he said that the discount retailer has so far rented 12 locations in Serbia, but that business in the region is to start working when it secures 15 locations.Sainbury's: Spot bonuses to ease Nectar points cut
Sainsbury's will offer spot bonuses to long-standing customers whom it fears have started shopping at Lidl or Aldi, telegraph.co.uk reports. The supermarket fears it could lose customers after its Nectar points cut. From Saturday, shoppers will receive just one point for every £1 they spend, down from two. With loyal customers expressing anger on social media, the supermarket is understood to be tracking their Nectar card spending to identify changes in shopping habits. Data experts will use the results to identify groups of customers with similar spending patterns and offer them "high-value bonuses". Portugal: Pingo Doce opens concept store
Portuguese supermarket chain Pingo Doce has opened its first convenience store at a BP petrol station in Portugal, located on the Estrada da Luz, esmmagazine.com reports. A source from retail group Jerónimo Martins, which owns Pingo Doce, told daily "Diario Economico" that the Pingo Doce&Go store will serve as a pilot to test the concept, adding that it "will help consolidate the partnership between the two brands, as well as continue to deliver innovative solutions".UK: Retailers’ Easter sales to hit £ 747M
A new study has forecast that UK retailers’ Easter sales will hit £747M this year, esmmagazine.com reports. The research was carried out by marketing agency Savvy as part of its Easter shopper panel research.Uganda: Inflation up
Uganda's inflation rose to 3.7% for the year ending March 2015 compared to 3.3% registered a month before, allafrica.com reports. Prices for food, which includes food crops and processed foods, went up during the month too. The increase in food prices was mainly as a result of the drought, which drove up prices of matooke, sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes, passion fruits, water-melon, bitter tomatoes, and green pepper, among others. Food is the biggest component of the consumer price index, which measures inflation.