Whole Foods to streamline business | Spar Oman to expand in 2017
Ahold, Delhaize ends cooperation with Alibaba
Wesfarmers should ditch its struggling discount department store Target and instead boost dividends or pump more cash into its star hardware chain, Bunnings. That's the view of Kimber Capital's Greg Fraser, who argues Wesfarmers will be "bursting at the seams" once it sells its coal division for an estimated $2bn. (theage.com.au)
Ahold, Delhaize ends cooperation with Alibaba
Ahold, Delhaize has stopped Albert Heijn's grocery webshop through Tmall, Alibaba's platform in China. The grocery webshop started a year ago and the supermarket retailer now claims to have learned enough and will end the experiment. (retaildetail.nl)
Scottish Tesco stores under threat
Dozens of Scottish convenience stores are under threat after Tesco reached an agreement to buy food wholesaler Booker in a £3.7bn deal, it has been claimed. Convenience store software provider Epos' new CEO, Jacyn Heavens, said supermarkets are already dwarfing local corner shops, with margins down 5%. (heraldscotland.com)
US: Whole Foods continues to streamline its business
Whole Foods continues its work to streamline its business operations in the wake of comparable sales declines. The supermarket brand recently announced plans to shut down all three of its commercial kitchens in Everett, Mass.; Atlanta, Ga.; and Landover, Md. The closures reportedly affect some 500 jobs, though Whole Foods reportedly said most will find jobs somewhere else with the company or its suppliers. (pymnts.com)
Food prices in Spain below the EU average
During the months of January and February, the habit of consumption of the Spaniards usually gets altered and it influences their purchase power. Called the ‘cost of January’, this happens when the price increases in regulated products once a year and happens in January. According to Eurostat data, food prices in Spain are 6 points below the EU average of 28. If one compares it with a country similar to Spain, in terms of income per capita (and another large food producer), such as Italy, the difference is 19 points below. (internationalsupermarketnews.com)
India: BigBasket FY16 losses up 363%
The Bengaluru-based online grocer, saw employee costs grow three and half times to Rs 91.23 crore in fiscal 2016, according to the regulatory filings sources by data firm Tofler. BigBasket had reported losses of Rs 60 crore on revenue of Rs 178 crore in 2014-15. (business-standard.com)
Spar Oman set to expand operations in 2017
Spar Oman has reported that it has opened its 15th supermarket, and has plans to open a further 15 Spar Express outlets in the country this year. The new Spar Express outlets are to be developed in Muscat, in partnership with Nakheel United Enterprises LLC. They will use the sites of existing Al Maha forecourt shops, which will be refurbished. The new convenience outlets will be run by independent retailers. (esmmagazine.com)
Tesco’s deal shows how supermarkets must evolve or perish
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Russian retailer Magnit won't chase market leadership over profits
Russian food retailer Magnit will not sacrifice profit margins for sales, its CEO said on Friday, predicting revenue growth in the region of 9-13% in 2017.
Magnit, Russia's biggest retailer by sales since 2013, was overtaken in the fourth quarter of 2016 by X5 Retail Group, which won price-conscious consumers in a tough macroeconomic environment. (Reuters)
US supermarket shares dip after Trump threatens Mexico trade
Shares of U.S. supermarket operators fell on Friday as President Donald Trump kept up his criticism of Mexico, which is a major supplier of produce and other foods for U.S. consumers. A new tax on food imported from Mexico would leave supermarkets with the difficult choices of raising prices, sacrificing already low profitability, or a mixture of the two. Shares in Kroger and Wal-Mart are down about 3% from before Trump's inauguration a week ago while food distributor Sysco has lost about 1.5%. (Reuters)
UK: Ocado profits expected to drop
Online grocer Ocado will update the City on its annual results next week, with forecasts pointing to a third consecutive year of profits. City analysts are pencilling in yearly pre-tax profits of £10.5m, down from the £11.9m recorded last year. (belfasttelegraph.co.uk)
US supermarket prices fall for first time in 50 years
Supermarkets and the UK government cannot provide a long-term solution to poverty or food waste by giving away surplus products to food banks and charities, academics have concluded in a new paper. According to the Food Research Collaboration publication, a large-scale system of food donation could actually have negative health and social consequences for the groups of citizens that it is intended to help. Please, click here to read more at city.ac.uk.
UK: Year of growth for M&S spud supplier
Turnover and profits have climbed at Manor Fresh, the Lincolnshire-headquartered supplier of potatoes to retail giant Marks & Spencer, driven by a "stable" crop and growth in the sales of green vegetables. Newly filed results revealed turnover topped £60.3m for the year to 30 April 2016 compared to £57.1m a year earlier. A statement signed off by managing director Michael Scott said the UK retail market "remains demanding". (insidermedia.com)