Major priority Walmart: Click & Collect

Walmart’s 4,500 stores are a “competitive advantage” in terms of quickly getting web purchases in the hands of customers, Greg Foran, Walmart’s new CEO says, internetretailer.com reports. As online and offline retail become more closely linked, with customers purchasing online and picking up in stores, or placing web orders while roaming store aisles, Walmart Stores Inc. thinks it has a major leg up against its competitors. “With over 4,500 stores, we are within 10 miles of nearly 90% of all Americans,” Greg Foran told investors last week in a strategic update on Walmart’s U.S. operations. “As we continue to expand, that equation becomes even more fascinating. That is a competitive advantage.” That’s because the many Americans who live near a Walmart could save on shipping costs and pick up web purchases at their local store before a web-only competitor like Amazon.com Inc. could have that same purchase shipped to their home. Making it easier for customers to pick up online grocery orders and other web purchases in a local store is a major priority for Walmart going forward, Foran told investors.

Lawsons's net sales of all stores fell behind plan, growing 0.9% year on year, to JPY 1,962bn, retailanalysis.igd.com. Consolidated operating profit also fell behind plan, growing at 3.5% to JPY 70.4bn. Store openings were in line with plans, with a net increase of 625 stores. However, both existing store sales and new store sales were impacted by factors including tough competition, fewer customers and lower spend.

Lawson has partnered with the Sagawa Express Co., in order to set up a joint venture to deliver bento boxes and daily deliveries, retailanalysis.igd.com reports. The new company, "SG Lawson" is scheduled for set up in June this year, with the retailer holding a 51% share, and the delivery company the remaining 49% share.

Upmarket grocery chain Godrej Nature’s Basket, which already has its own e-commerce site and has recent acquired the website Ekstop.com, is broadening its customer base further through deals with Snapdeal and Amazon India to sell its products, retailanalysis.igd.com reports.

Metro has confirmed that it will launch its fourth outlet in Bengaluru and its third in Hyderabad in July 2015, retailanalysis.igd.com reports. Metro has longer term plans to have 50 stores trading in India by 2020 and is significantly stepping up development, having had only three stores trading in December 2013.

Tesco Malaysia is set to invest US$13.7mn into price cuts under its long term ‘Lebih Jimat’ campaign, retailanalysis.igd.com reports. It is understood that the new investment started on the 6 April and will be spread across the rest of the year, with prices of 1,000 everyday fresh food and grocery items set to be reduced by between 20-44%.

Meijer on Thursday said it has launched a click-and-collect Internet shopping program known as Meijer Curbside, supermarketnews.com reports. The Meijer Curbside program enlists specially-trained team members to hand select every item in a customer's order and shop according to special instructions and personal preferences. The Grand Rapids, Mich.-based retailer is considering future rollout possibilities in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky later this year.

The National Grocers Association said Wednesday Stan Sorkin, executive director of the Connecticut Food Association, has received NGA’s Association Leadership Award for his dedication and long-standing service to the independent supermarket industry, supermarketnews.com reports. 

 

Lake Oswego residents who shop at the Albertsons store taken over by Haggen last month may be paying more for groceries now than they were then - but not by much, oregonlive.com reports. An unscientific comparison of 26 grocery items by The Oregonian/Oregonlive before and after the takeover found Haggen's prices to be about 2% higher than Albertsons'.

French retailer Groupe Casino has posted a 5.3% increase in first quarter sales to €11.9bn, according to accounts filed yesterday morning (16 April), esmmagazine.com reports. Its sales rose 2.7% on an organic basis. Internationally, sales were up 9.2% (3.7% on an organic basis). In France, Casino said that there was a 'continued improvement in organic sales (-1.3%) despite price cuts’ carry-over effect of -1.9% and volumes growth of +0.6%'. The retailer's Cnova e-commerce banner posted a sales increase of 17.7%.

Nisa has announced a number of changes to its senior management team, as new Nisa boss Nick Read looks to streamline the business for growth, talkingretail.com reports. Guy Smith has been appointed interim chief financial officer, while Stewart Smith has been appointed as trading director. Stewart Smith joins from Tesco. 

Target agreed to pay banks $19mn for costs they incurred in the 2013 data breach that exposed the payment-card and personal information of tens of millions of customers, esmmagazine.com reports. 

Orckestras enterprise commerce platform Overture is the foundation of next-generation grocery, powering Sobeys new comprehensive omnichannel capabilities to drive seamless customer experiences across all stores, channels and digital touchpoints, and improve back-end operations to ensure orders are fulfilled accurately and on time, enterpriseapps.itbusinessnet.com reports. The national grocery giant has launched their new online grocery experience in 247 of their 285 IGA stores across Quebec in April.