Tesco selling its jets | Less focus on food for Sainsbury's
Study: Amazon Fresh cheapest delivery service
USA: Ahold set to cut jobs
Ahold USA, the parent company of Giant Food Stores, is expected to eliminate 145 positions, abc27.com reports. A spokesperson for Ahold USA says about 7% of current support positions including, marketing, human resources and legal jobs may be cut.
Ahold aims €2.5 bln in online sales
Dutch supermarket chain Koninklijke Ahold NV said that it will continue to invest in growth through its omni-channel approach, rttnews.com reports. Its strategy -aimed at more customers, more places and more choices - will help the company reach its ambition of generating €2.5bn in online consumer sales by the end of 2017.
Small grocery stores 'disappearing' in Czech Republic
Small grocery stores in the Czech Republic are 'disappearing', with 287 stores closed in the past year, according to a survey conducted by Nielsen, esmmagazine.com reports. In the Czech Republic, 6,969 grocery and general merchandise stores operate on less than 50 square meters. Back in 2000, there were 10,662 of these small grocery stores, the results of the survey show. Stores with a sales area from 51 to 200 square meters recorded a slight annual increase. Supermarkets and hypermarkets together account for 81% of total revenue of all food and convenience stores in the Czech Republic. The remaining 19% is produced by smaller shops, Nielsen found.
Walmart closing stores across nation
The retail chain announced Monday that five stores are shutting down - one in Florida, two in Texas, one in Oklahoma and one in California - due to clogging and drainage problems, kob.com reports. The stores will be closed for six months according to one of the employees.
UK: Tesco selling its jets
Tesco is close to ridding itself of a fleet of corporate jets that came to symbolise the strategic missteps at Britain’s biggest retailer, with the final aircraft set to be handed back next month, theguardian.com reports. The supermarket group has sold or returned four of the five planes it had last autumn.
UK: Budgens appoints creative agency Über
Supermarket and greengrocer Budgens has appointed Sheffield-based Über to produce its latest in-store and online marketing campaign, prolificnorth.co.uk reports. The agency has more than ten years experience in the sector having previously worked with a range of food retailers including Booths, Iceland, and Netto.
SuperValu spends €3 million on campaign
SuperValu is spending €3mn on a “very heavy” presence across television, print, radio, out-of-home and digital, with the campaign including the most social media activity the company has done, according to marketing director Ray Kelly, irishtimes.com reports. The campaign will feature a TV series of families – real ones – enjoying food from SuperValu.
UK: Sainsbury's to focus less on food
J Sainsbury is planning to convert shop space, equivalent to almost 40 supermarkets, from selling food into selling non-food as it tries to fight back against a fall in grocery sales, telegraph.co.uk reports. Sainsbury’s intends to use half of this space to sell its collection of own-brand non-food products, such as kitchenware and homeware.
Norma sees sales rise 3.4% in Germany
Discounter Norma has announced that sales in Germany rose 3.4% to €3.1bn in 2014, retailanalysis.igd.com. The retailer said that it had benefited from its investment in its stores and its distribution centres, which had enabled it to better target shoppers in different regions.
Ireland: 10,000 sign petition to back staff at Dunnes
Supporters of Dunnes Stores staff have delivered a 10,000-strong petition to senior management at the company's headquarters, herald.ie reports. More than a dozen campaigners met at the city centre office yesterday and delivered the petition to the CEO of the retail giant, Margaret Heffernan. The petition is calling upon management to "guarantee that workers will not be intimidated for standing up for their rights".
France: Casino still weak in Q1
French retailer Casino said growth slowed in the first quarter, reflecting a still lacklustre performance in France, despite price cuts there, Reuters reports.
Carrefour announces strategy for Polish stores
The year 2014 was a difficult one for Carrefour Poland, according to managing director Guillaume de Colonges, esmmagazine.com reports. The EU’s Russian trade embargo created vast food surpluses, which, in turn, led to falling food prices and even greater competition in the Polish market - all of which affected the retailer's performance. However, “when it comes to sales, we are seeing a positive trend, particularly noticeable in Q4 2014,” he added. In order to further help its recovery, the retailer is refurbishing stores, revitalising its supply chain and decentralising its business.
India: PepperTap to focus on grocery delivery
Gurgaon-based hyperlocal grocery service PepperTap has raised Series A funding worth $10mn from SAIF Partners and Sequoia Capital, reports TechCrunch. The funding will be used towards expansion to more cities including Bangalore, Pune, Mumbai and Hyderabad by the end of this year. (source: medianama.com)
India: Grocery delivery Grofers to expand
Locodel Solutions Pvt. Ltd, which runs hyper-local grocery and fresh food delivery platform Grofers, has raised $35mn from its existing investors Tiger Global Management and Sequoia Capital, vccircle.com reports. The company said it will use the funds to add products in addition to expanding services to more cities. It aims to deliver over 20,000 orders this month.
Germany: Edeka to trail vegan counters
With veganism a growing choice for shoppers in Germany, Edeka has announced that it is set to trial the addition of ‘Vegithek’ counters in 50 stores, retailanalysis.igd.com reports. The counters, which will be launched with the tagline ‘Vegetarian, Vegan, Fresh’, will be fully serviced and provide a wide range of vegetarian and vegan meat substitute products.
Price deflation in French FMCG sector
The most recently supplied statistics demonstrate that last month in France, hypermarkets and supermarkets underwent deflation in comparison to February, esmmagazine.com reports. Analysis carried out by IRI shows that FMCG prices dropped on the whole by 0.22%, following a 0.17-per-cent fall in February. On an annual like-for-like basis, the deflation statistic stood at -1.82% for March and -1.33% for February.
French retailer Match to shut stores
French supermarket chain Match is to close eleven stores, following disappointing sales performances, according to a report in Linéaires. The retailer is expected to publish a turnover of €1.065bn for 2014, esmmagazine.com reports. Match is a subsidiary of the Belgian retailer Delhaize.