Ocado closes deal for overseas expansion

UAE’s Lulu and Geant take battle for grocery customers online
The battle for grocery shoppers is about to intensify as two of the UAE’s biggest hypermarket operators, LuLu and Geant, introduce new online offerings, thenational.ae reports. LuLu has invested US$5m ahead of the August relaunch of its website and the release of a new mobile app, to provide a click and collect service, alongside home delivery across all of its branches in the UAE, Qatar and Kuwait. In September, French retailer Geant will extend its online sales and delivery service to Abu Dhabi, operating from its store in Yas Mall.

UK: Farming leaders urge Tesco to make meaningful commitment to industry
Farming leaders have urged one of the country’s largest supermarket retailers to make a “meaningful commitment” to the agricultural industry, westernmorningnews.co.uk reports. The National Farmers Union (NFU) has asked Tesco to demonstrate exactly how it is delivering on its promises made in 2013 to improve relationships with suppliers, shorten supply chains and improve trust throughout, after comments made by Tesco CEO Dave Lewis at yesterday’s shareholder AGM. NFU President Meurig Raymond, who tabled a question on behalf of the NFU’s members, said while he was pleased Tesco had confirmed that it was standing by those commitments made at the NFU conference in 2013, they now needed to give firm evidence that progress is being made. “Our members have not seen the significant changes on the ground in the way they expected. Two and a half years after making the promise that they were changing, I would encourage Tesco to give these commitments teeth,” said Mr Raymond. An investigation on British produce by Farmers Weekly last year found that Tesco was making slow progress on its pledges and what appeared to be genuine commitment from the top and the agricultural team was not filtering through properly to the buyers.

Q1 sales for Tesco Ireland fall 4.4%
Tesco Ireland sales fell 4.4% in the first quarter of 2015, coming on the back of a 6.7% drop in sales for the last three months of 2014, agriland.ie reports. While still a drop in sales, it is less than the 5.5% drop Tesco Ireland reported for the first quarter of 2014. The supermarket giant also saw a drop of 1.3% in sales in the first quarter in its UK stores, as FreshPlaza reported earlier.

Japan retail sales chalk up second month of gains
Japanese retail sales rose 3.0% in May from a year earlier, after the second straight month of increase, marketwatch.com reports. The figures, released by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry on Monday, showed an increase on year in large part because retail sales were depressed in mid-2014 in the wake of a national sales tax increase. Consumers bought more home electronics, food and clothing, the data showed. Sales at large-scale retailers rose 5.3% on year, after adjustment for the change in the number of stores, marking the second month of increases.

UK: Ocado deal close for overseas expansion
Ocado is closing in on a deal with an international retailer that will allow the online grocer to expand outside the UK for the first time, telegraph.co.uk reports. Ocado revealed earlier this year that it had developed a system that allows it to sell its technology to overseas retailers. The company is due to report interim results this week, and although it is unlikely to confirm a deal, Tim Steiner, the CEO, is expected to be confident on the prospects of striking a tie-up. Ocado has been linked with deals with Carrefour of France and Safeway of the US in the past. Any deal would be a major boost for investors who have backed the company through some turbulent periods since it was founded in 2000.

Marks & Spencer staff in France strike over pay
Staff at French branches of British retail chain Marks and Spencer went on strike Saturday demanding pay rises and an end to what one union official described as "management by terror", yahoo.com reports.

Online grocery shoppers upping virtual purchases: Survey
More than half of online grocery shoppers say they are increasing the amount of total grocery shopping they do online, according to results of a new survey, supermarketnews.com reports. The survey, conducted by 72 Point Inc. and commissioned by online organic grocer Door to Door Organics, found that online shoppers increased virtual grocery shopping by an average of 29% over the last year and say that around 19% of their total weekly grocery shopping is done online.

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