Late-paying Tesco aims to redeem supplier relations

India: Askme to expand with focus on fresh
After the recent soft launch of its perishable grocery marketplace AskmeFresh, Askme Grocery is going the whole hog in the fresh products vertical. The company has tied up with Mother Dairy in the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR). From the tie-up with 25-30 Mother Dairy outlets in Delhi NCR, the company is looking to add 30-40 cities to its existing 200 hubs in the country. Mother Dairy's products include Safal Fresh fruits and vegetables. Ankit Jain, co-founder, AskMe Grocery, said his company's focus would be on fresh fruits and vegetables. (dnaindia.com)

Edeka stores wins 'German Fruit Award'
A number of Edeka outlets have won categories at the annual Deutschen Frucht Preis awards, which acknowledge excellence in fresh produce retailing in Germany. Edeka Görge in Braunschweig, Edeka Stenger in Aschaffenburg, Edeka Ueltzhöfer in Heilbronn, Edeka Center Wagner in Coburg, Edeka Kolb in Volkach and Hieber’s Frische Center in Bad Krozingen were among the stores acknowledged at the annual event. (esmmagazine.com)

Carrefour offloads former Dia stores to Polish group
Carrefour has sold 37 former Dia outlets in France to the Polish retail group Gastt, French trade publication Linéaires has reported. The stores are mainly located in the north of France and around the Paris region. According to Linéaires, Gastt plans to convert the stores to the Okey banner in the second half of this year. The sale brings it to 80, the number of former Dia outlets that Carrefour has offloaded to other retailers, following the sale of 17 stores to Auchan and 26 to Casino. Carrefour has converted 267 former Dia outlets, out of the 812 it acquired from Dia in December 2014. (esmmagazine.com)

AU: Metcash finalises new structure to boost grocery supply sector
Australia's biggest listed wholesaler, Metcash, is finalising a new corporate structure in a bid to drive its food and grocery supply business. Details of the plan are still being finalised but it's understood the new model will focus on a number of "service hubs" rather than the current state and national service offices that support its independent supermarket brands. (smh.com.au)

Late-paying Tesco looks to redeem supplier relations
Tesco faced a wave of public criticism early this year after government officials declared the retail and grocery giant had deliberately delayed payments to its suppliers for its own financial gain. The company has vowed to change its practices and took a major step towards that promise this week with the creation of two teams aimed at improving supplier relations. The executive explained that the group focusing on invoices will work to resolve any invoicing and pricing issues. The second team will work with suppliers in their first six months with the company. (pymnts.com)

Amazon is going to sell its own lines of food
Amazon is going to start selling its own food and other grocery items — a move lots of traditional retailers have already made. Amazon already sells things like electronic accessories, office supplies, and even clothing under a variety of its own brand names. Now it's going all in on groceries and household products. (recode.net)

Aldi comes out on top for supermarket savings
Bargain-hunting shoppers at discounter Aldi saved more than £10 on a basket of everyday products compared to customers at rival high street supermarket chains, according to a new report on Sunday. For the German discounter was a runaway winner in a weekly shopping basket survey which showed that the price it charged for 33 items was just £40.28 as opposed to £50.96 at the next cheapest store chain Asda. Trade magazine The Grocer reported that the cost of the same basket of products was far higher than the Aldi price at all five of the major supermarkets surveyed with upmarket Waitrose £21 dearer. (mirror.co.uk)

Spain: Eroski invests €17m in revamps with focus on fresh products
Eroski has invested €17m to refurbish its supermarkets in Bizkaia, Spain, creating over 200 jobs, the company has said. With the revamp of the Zalla store, Eroski now has 45 supermarkets that has changed their model to 'Contigo', a format that is focused on fresh products. (esmmagazine.com)

Portugal: Sonae eyes smaller stores following positive Q1 performance
Portugal's Sonae Group has seen its turnover grow 6% in the first quarter of the year to €1.2bn, with its food retail business, Sonae MC, 'growing significantly' in the period. The Sonae MC operation posted turnover of €830m in the quarter, an increase of 4.6% on the same period last year, and a like-for-like increase of 1.4%. (esmmagazine.com)

US: Walmart widens lead over Hy-Vee in Omaha
Walmart keeps cutting itself a bigger piece of the Omaha-area grocery pie. The retailer expanded its share of Omaha’s grocery market in 2015, raking in nearly one in three dollars spent at grocery retailers in the eight-county metro area. That’s according to the latest data prepared for The World-Herald by Chain Store Guide, which estimates market share based on the number of stores a company has in a metro area, and each store’s average sales nationally. Walmart widened its lead over second-place Hy-Vee thanks in part to higher estimated sales at its seven Walmart Neighborhood Market stores, according to the research firm’s data. (omaha.com)

Spain: Dia Group posts sales growth of 10.5% in Q1
Spain's Dia Group has posted a 10.5% increase in sales in local currency in the first quarter of its financial year, with a like-for-like 'ex-calendar' growth of 7.0%, the highest since the company's listing. The retailer recorded an EBITDA of €117m in the period, which was boosted by a 36.9% increase in emerging markets. In Iberia, gross sales under banner increased by 2.0% (+2.2% in Spain) (esmmagazine.com)

US: Piggly Wiggly Midwest acquires Caputo stores
Piggly Wiggly Midwest was the winning bidder for three Chicago-area Joe Caputo & Sons IGA stores that were auctioned on Thursday. Paul Butera, chairman and president of the distributor, told SN Friday his intention was to get the stores to independent operators who would convert the banners, but that no plans were complete yet. (supermarketnews.com)

AU: 7-Eleven wage scam: Union says scheme is 'still alive and kicking'
The Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Union, representing 7-Eleven workers in the NSW Hunter region says it has evidence a cash-back scheme, where employees are paid correctly on paper but blackmailed into giving back half their pay, is still running. (abc.net.au)

Albertsons posts sales growth in 4Q, year
Effective sales-driving efforts, and improved economy and consumer confidence helped Albertsons Co. post strong identical-store sales gains in the fourth quarter and fiscal year, the retailer said in an amendment to a stock prospectus filed with federal securities regulators Thursday. Non-fuel ID sales for the fourth quarter ended Feb. 27 improved by 4.7%, with Safeway stores posting 5.8% comp gains in the quarter, the company said. Sales for the fiscal year totaled $58.7bn. (supermarketnews.com)

Israeli supermarket chain Shufersal Q1 profit quadruples
Israel's largest supermarket chain, said on Sunday its profit quadrupled in the first quarter, boosted by higher sales and cost-cutting measures. Shufersal posted net profit of 53m shekels ($14m) in the January-March period, up from 13m a year earlier. Revenue grew 0.8% to 2.9bn shekels. (Reuters)

Kantar Worldpanel: Lidl sees Spanish market growth
Lidl Spain saw the biggest increase in market share in Spain during the first months of the year, according to Kantar Worldpanel. The retailer now holds 4% of the Spanish national market, LaVanguardia reported. Mercadona, Dia and Carrefour remain the leading supermarket groups in Spain. The three retailers have grown their market share compared to last year by around 0.1 and 0.2%. Kantar Worldpanel has said that a reduction in fresh produce prices has made that total FMCG declined by 2.2% in Q1 of 2016. The 'discount' sector was the only one that closed the Q1 with growth (4.8%). (esmmagazine.com)

US: Kroger to hire 14,000 employees
The Kroger Co held open interviews in its stores nationwide to fill an estimated 14,000 permanent positions in its supermarket divisions. Kroger's total active workforce grew by more than 9,000 during 2015.