Sales fall hard for both Sainsbury's and Iceland

Russia: Magnit increased its revenues by 28.73%
In May, Russia’s largest retailer Magnit increased its revenues by 28.73%, an increase of 1.28bn Euro in comparison with the same period last year, ria.ru reports. The retailer's revenue growth in the first five months of 2015 amounted to 31.24%, close to €6bn. Whilst growth remained on the same level in May as it was in April of this year, revenue increased by 28.73%. The retailer opened 254 stores in May, making the total number of stores 10,537, (8791 “shops at home”, 200 hypermarkets, 107 “Magnit families” and 1439 cosmetic stores).

Ahold USA says merchandising restructuring is complete
Ahold USA is ready to launch its “Winning Together” initiative with vendors after more than a year of restructuring its merchandising programs with a vertical rather than a horizontal approach, Mark McGowan, the outgoing EVP, said, supermarketnews.com reports. As he moves into his new position as president of Stop & Shop New England, McGowan said the company has completed the transformation of its merchandising teams to be more portfolio-centric “so the company can operate more competitively and drive sales. “That is how we want to go to market and how we hope to better our partnership with vendors” he said.

UK: Sainsbury's sales fall for sixth straight quarter
British supermarket Sainsbury's on Wednesday posted a sixth straight quarter of declining underlying sales, as a fierce price war and record deflation hurt the industry, Reuters reports. The group said sales at stores open over a year fell 2.1%, excluding fuel, in the 12 weeks to June 6, its fiscal first quarter. That was bang in line with analysts' consensus forecast but worse than a fall of 1.9% in the previous quarter.

UK: Iceland earnings down by a quarter
Deeside based supermarket chain Iceland saw sales fall in the face of fierce competition but hope the “Power of Frozen” advertising campaign will help turn around their fortunes, dailypost.co.uk reports. For the year to the end of March this year it generated sales of £2.67bn, a fall of 0.5% on the previous year. But when stripping out new stores like for like sales were down 4.4%.

Tesco is the UK’s least favourite grocer, a new survey has found
Tesco ranked at the bottom of a list of eight grocery chains that included, in ascending order, the Co-operative, Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Aldi, Marks and Spencer and Waitrose in the top spot, telegraph.co.uk reports. The consumer insights firm Market Force Information asked 6,800 British shoppers about their purchasing habits and compiled a loyalty score for each supermarket brand based on customers’ satisfaction and their likelihood to refer that store to others.

Ireland: Dunnes price comparisons with Aldi ‘misleading’, court finds
Dunnes Stores has been found guilty of engaging in misleading commercial practices when comparing the prices of some of its own-brand goods with Aldi products in a move which the High Court said was likely to deceive consumers, irishtimes.com reports.

UK: Marks & Spencer looking at launching loyalty card
The membership scheme would reward food and clothing customers with exclusive benefits and personalised offers, rather than awarding points for every pound spent, telegraph.co.uk reports.

Slovenian Mercator announces layoffs
Retailer Mercator announced Tuesday that slightly under 90 of its workers would be made redundant in the coming months, english.sta.si reports. The company stressed that this means less than 1% of the entire workforce, which numbered 11,101 at the end of December last year.

Indonesia's April retail sales grow 22.4% y/y
Indonesia's annual retail sales in April grew at a faster pace of 22.4%, bolstered by information and communication equipment as well as food, beverages and tobacco, a Bank Indonesia survey showed on Tuesday, Reuters reports.

Delhaize Belgium teams up with Profitero
Delhaize Belgium will now power its competitor pricing intelligence with a solution from Profitero, a leading global provider of eCommerce intelligence for retailers and brands, virtual-strategy.com reports. “Profitero’s price monitoring solution enables us to more easily track in real-time how we are benchmarking on price,” Delhaize Belgium said.

Coop Italia completes acquisition
Coop Italia has completed its acquisition of 32 Superconti stores in central Italy, IGD.com reports. Coop Centro Italia, one of Coop Italia's cooperatives, and Superconti released a joint statement at the end of May outlining details of the deal. Superconti operates 32 stores in central Italy and nine clothing outlets, complementing Coop Centro Italia's 49-strong store portfolio which covers similar regions of the country.

Retailers need to define 'freshness,' FMI speaker says
It may be time for retailers to do a better job explaining “freshness” to consumers, a marketing executive told an FMI Connect seminar audience in Chicago, supermarketnews.com reports. “The produce sold at supermarkets is often just as fresh as sold at farmers’ markets, so you need to call out freshness and speed-to-shelf and explain the industry’s efforts to keep the produce supply safe, fresh and varied.” According to the second annual “The Power of Produce” consumer study her firm conducted on behalf of FMI, 58% of respondents cited freshness as the reason they shop for produce in supermarkets, while 55% cited freshness as the reason they opt to shop at farmers’ markets. However, price was the primary motivator, she noted.

Ahold USA set to launch 'game-changing' magazine
Ahold USA said Tuesday it is launching a free magazine and digital content platform called Savory — Fast, Fresh and Easy, designed to help customers prepare more fresh and healthy meals, supermarketnews.com reports.

US: Blue Apron eyes scale with new funding
New York-based food e-retailer Blue Apron on Tuesday said it had received $135mn in new funding that will allow the company to scale its network of farms, suppliers and fulfilment capabilities throughout the country, supermarketnews.com reports. The funding was led by Fidelity Management, with participation from existing investors.

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