Tesco revamps on-the-go salads after surge in demand

Expect higher food prices if UK leaves EU, says ex-Tesco boss -
Former Tesco boss Sir Terry Leahy has urged the British people to vote to stay in the European Union, reiterating his warning that food prices will rise as a result of Brexit. (belfasttelegraph.co.uk)

Tesco revamps on-the-go salads after surge in demand
A record number of Brits are forgoing the traditional lunchtime sarnie and are choosing a salad option instead, according to latest retail figures from Tesco. The chain said that in the last year, sales of leafy salads have rocketed up by nearly 300%. Across the UK market that’s an extra 3.1m leafy salads bought by shoppers in the last 52 weeks (year-on-year). Further, in the last three years demand for healthy salads has virtually doubled every year and it is now the fastest growing area in the food-to-go market. (kamcity.com)

Aldi Switzerland invests 70m CHF in stores and hopes to expand
With the expansion of the refrigeration, bread and fruit & vegetables departments as well as large photos on the walls and new signage, Aldi will modernize the entire range of stores in Switzerland. The local traders will profit from these investments of 70m CHF ($72.6m). The range of convenience food is also improved just as the presentation of fresh fruits & vegetables. Timo Schuster, managing director of Aldi Switzerland, states that Aldi aims to expand its network of stores to 300 locations in the next few years. (aldi-suisse.ch)

Carrefour expands 24-hour shopping in Spain
Carrefour has demonstrated its interest in extending its 24-hour format in Spain, by opening a number of new stores in the nation's capital. As reported on marketing4food.com, Carrefour Spain has run trial systems in two stores in Madrid, located in Cuatro Caminos and Lavapiés. Results so far, according to the company, have been very positive and starting this month, a Carrefour Market, also in Madrid, will be added to the 24-hour format. (esmmagazine.com)

Spain: Mercadona doubles Calahorra cauliflower purchasing
Spanish retailer Mercadona has increased the level of Calahorra cauliflower it purchases by 101% compared to last year, buying a total of 176,000 kg from October to June. The vegetable is produced by the El Raso cooperative and is available for purchase in Mercadona's La Rioja, Aragón, Navarra and Basque region stores. (esmmagazine.com)

Philippines: Robinsons to open 200 new stores
Backed by the strong business performance in 2015 and Q1 2016, Robinsons Retail Philippines has revealed that it will open 200 stores and will focus on growing convenience store and supermarket formats. (igd.com)

Russia: X5 launches new EDI factoring system
Russian food retailer X5 Retail Group has successfully completed the pilot run and full-scale roll-out of FactorPlat, Russia’s first e-factoring solution. FactorPlat’s platform gives suppliers full control of document flow for each consignment of products and faster payments for deliveries, thereby helping to expand the range of available products and increase production volumes. (esmmagazine.com)

Competition laws force Carrefour Romania to give up three stores
Carrefour Romania has consented to relinquish three supermarkets in east Romania in relation to its takeover of Billa following notification from the country’s competition authority. (esmmagazine.com)

Norway: NorgesGruppen launches online trial
Norwegian market leader, NorgesGruppen is launching an online grocery trial this week, making it the first modern grocery retailer to offer an online grocery service in the market aside from existing pure play online grocery retailers. (igd.com)

Chinese fruit loses grip on Vietnam’s supermarket shelves
Chinese fruits may be losing shelf space in supermarkets across Vietnam, but they are still dominating the carts of street vendors, many of whom pass the products off as home-grown. U.S. apples dominate shelves of imported fruits at most supermarkets in the city, selling at between VND55,000 ($2.5) and VND100,000 ($4.5) a kg. (tuoitrenews.vn)

Sweden: ICA Gruppen records 2.5% sales increase for May
Swedish retail group ICA Gruppen increased its sales by 2.5% in May 2016 compared with the same month last year. In total, sales for the group reached SEK 9,457m (€1.01bn) for the month. It also increased its like-for-like sales by 2.2%. (esmmagazine.com)

Spain: Eroski 2015 net sales fall and aims at being competitive
Eroski has said that in 2015 net sales fell 0.99% to €5.28 bn, but that operating profit rose 14.7% to €104.7m as its operating margin improved, reaching 2.0%. The sales contraction occurred despite an on average 7% increase in sales at its remodelled stores, the positive response of shoppers to its relaunched Eroski Club loyalty programme and the addition of new franchised stores. Discussing the company’s results, Eroski’s president, Agustín Markaide, said that it was no longer focused on growing its store numbers and would instead aim at being more competitive. (igd.com)

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