Co-op to give up fairtrade | Websites selling fruit see exponential growth
Walmart suppliers facing 30% rule
UK: Co-op to reduce fairtrade offering
The Co-op has delivered a message to its members which states that the group cannot make an absolute pledge to stock Fairtrade products because of market pressures, esmmagazine.com reports. Though it has promised that if a “Co-operative product can be Fairtrade, it will be Fairtrade,”
UK: Union plans to fight Tesco over pensions
The main trade union representing shop workers is threatening a fight over Tesco’s plans to shut its defined-benefit pension scheme, dealing a blow to the supermarket’s attempts to grapple with its vast retirement liabilities, thetimes.co.uk reports. Usdaw, the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers, urged its members to make use of a “meaningful” 90-day consultation on Tesco’s pension changes, which begins this week.
US: Giant Eagle saving on water
Giant Eagle, Inc., has announced that it wants to reduce water consumption by 5% by July 2017, resulting in an anticipated conservation of millions of gallons of water, waterworld.com reports.
Thailand: 7-Eleven to sell Thai Smile tickets
7-Eleven stores starts selling airline tickets of Thai Smile Airways, bangkokpost.com reports. The budget carrier has partnered with Counter Service Co.
Lidl expands into the USA
Discounter international Lidl, is now planning the America-Expansion with 100 stores expected. The German foodstuff-discounter Lidl pushes the overseas expansion forward – especially in the USA and Ireland. The discounter Arlington in Virginia has elected itself as US control center. Officially, the start in the USA does not take place until 2018. According to business partners, numerous suppliers are being asked whether they can deliver in the USA. The Neckarsulmers are planning at least 100 US markets to start with, according to the company's environment. Competitor Aldi is already ahead with more than 1400 departments. (www.medianet.at)
Brazil: CBD shares drops on internal investigation
Brazil's largest retailer said it has opened an investigation into allegations that company officials may have paid bribes to a top aide to President Dilma Rousseff to win the approval of 2013 merger between two appliance chains, advfn.com reports. Companhia Brasileira de Distribuicao, which is controlled by France's Groupe Casino, said in a statement Monday that its board of directors has "unanimously resolved" to request the Audit Committee to initiate an investigation" into a suspected bribery scheme reported by local news magazine Epoca over the weekend.
Supervalu, Albertsons reach TSA wind-down agreement
Supervalu has come to an agreement with New Albertsons Inc. and Albertsons LLC to wind down the transition services it has been providing to the companies, supermarketnews.com reports. The agreement calls for Supervalu to receive $50mn from Albertsons, payable in eight payments of $6.25mn every six months, in exchange for winding down its transition service agreements with Albertsons. These payments are separate from the fees Supervalu currently receives under the TSA.
Dubai: Aswaaq launching online shopping
The Dubai-based retailer Aswaaq, owned by the Investment Corporation of Dubai, yesterday announced the launch of its online shopping platform and accompanying delivery service, thenational.ae reports. Online grocery delivery remains in its infancy in the UAE; Geant is the only major hypermarket chain in the country to offer an online delivery service, which it launched in mid-2013.
US: Whole Foods Market recalls macadamia nuts
Whole Foods Market stores voluntarily recalled raw macadamia nuts Monday due to Salmonella contamination, cbslocal.com recalls. According to the Food and Drug Administration, routine testing determined that the product tested positive for Salmonella.
UK: Waitrose: more work to make online profitable
Waitrose’s managing director Mark Price has expressed concerns about the cost of doing business online, expressing the need for a new focus and business model for the channel, retailanalysis.igd.com reports. Online sales at Waitrose grew ahead of the market by 31% in the year to 31 January with a 5% increase in average basket size. This was slower than the uplift of 41.4% a year ago, during which time Waitrose focused heavily on promotions such as free champagne and staggered discounts aimed at new customer acquisition and retention. Online sales at Waitrose are currently profitable on a per order basis. However, once central and store overhead costs are included, these are making a loss. Price said that the retailer would be looking to cover these central costs for this channel in its branches during the course of the year.
UK: Supermarkets linked to financial troubles of producers
The supermarket price war has been blamed for an 80% rise over two years in the number of food and drink producers in Scotland who are facing "significant" financial distress, heraldscotland.com reports. The consumer's appetite for lower prices is said to be having a major effect on farmers, suppliers and small grocers with new figures showing the numbers in difficulty have risen particularly rapidly in the last year. Restructuring firm Begbies Traynor's Red Flag Alert research said there were 115 such businesses in trouble in Scotland in the first quarter of the year.
Websites selling fruit and veggies see exponential growth
With online shopping rapidly increasing in India, the retailers selling fruit and vegetables are also witnessing an upward trend. Data shows that more and more people are switching from traditional to online shopping, indiatoday.intoday.in writes. Times of India reported that when the e-vendor BigBasket.com entered the Mumbai market in 2012, it would get around 200-300 orders every day that included fruit and vegetables orders also. Today, the percentage of its average daily orders has increased 7,000 to 8,000. Other websites that sell fruit and vegetables show similar results.
Spain: Dia acquires 144 Eroski stores
Following the announcement last November that Spanish retailer Dia was seeking to takeover 160 Eroski outlets (144 for the time being), the CNMV announced that it has given its approval to the deal, esmmagazine.com reports. The deal is costing Dia €135mn instead of the previously proposed €146mn.
French FMCG sector's value growing
The value of French FMCG consumption elevated by 0.9% during the period in question, esmmagazine.com reports. This applies to supermarkets, hypermarkets and hard discount stores.
US: Buehler's goes chainwide with fuel-discount option
Buehler’s Fresh Foods, Wooster, Ohio, said Monday it is expanding its fuel-discount option for redeeming loyalty-card points chainwide after testing the program for a year, supermarketnews.com reports.
US: Walmart workers: closings due to plumbing are 'retaliatory'
Walmart unexpectedly closed five stores last week for what it said were severe plumbing problems, cnn.com reports. That put 2,200 people out of work. But the United Food and Commercial Workers union filed an injunction with the National Labor Relations Board on behalf of Walmart on Monday seeking to stop workers from losing their jobs. It wants the NLRB to force Walmart to rehire all of the terminated workers.