Amazon, Big Basket & Grofers to invest $695m in e-grocery

Ahold Delhaize plans to make Delhaize ‘Belgium’s favourite supermarket’
Ahold Delhaize has said that its ‘key priority’ over the next few years is to make its Delhaize Le Lion the ‘favourite supermarket’ for Belgian shoppers, ‘winning the hearts and minds of customers and become the best retailer in Belgium’. In addition, the group said that it will look to transfer all its Belgium supermarkets into the Delhaize Le Lion banner, including Albert Heijn outlets that it operates in the country. The management board are expected to assess the readiness for this integration process in the first half of 2019. (esmmagazine.com)

India: Amazon, Big Basket & Grofers to invest $695m in e-grocery
Three companies — Amazon Corporate Holdings Pvt Ltd, Supermarket Groceries Supplies Pvt Ltd (Big Basket), and Grofers India Pvt Ltd — have submitted proposals seeking permission to invest $695m over a period of time for e-tailing food products, the Food Processing Ministry has said. Of these, US-based online giant Amazon proposes to invest about $500m, Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal said on Thursday. (thehindubusinessline.com)

Japanese supermarket chain to enter Texas
Japanese supermarket chain Mitsuwa Marketplace will open the doors of its newest location, in Plano, Texas, on April 14, marking the company’s official entrance into the Lone Star State. According to The Dallas Morning News, Mitsuwa chose Collin County for its Texas entry because of its growing Asian population. (progressivegrocer.com)

UAE: Government supports retailer to grow organic produce
The UAE government has placed a high priority on promoting the food production industry in hopes of finding new ways to increase its contribution to the national economy’s food security and diversification, said Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al-Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, while launching the new initiative of Lulu hypermarkets to support locally grown organic farm produce through their stores across the UAE. (zawya.com)

Lotte to inject $192m for Chinese supermarket business
South Korea's Lotte Shopping Co Ltd said on Friday it will inject $192m into a Hong Kong subsidiary in May via a rights issue to infuse funds into its China operations. The retailer said in a regulatory filing that the injection is to raise funds for its hypermarket and supermarket business in China "for smooth business." (Reuters)

Study: Mobile key for online grocery buys
Online grocery shopping is beginning to trend up, but the grocers having the most success are keying in on mobile. That, according to Criteo's Clicks, Bricks & Broccoli: The CPG and Grocery Trend Report which found that 40% of digital grocery sales are made via a mobile device. Please, click here to read more at bizreport.com.

Walmart launches grocery home delivery in Greater Toronto Area
Walmart Canada announced today the launch of grocery home delivery for customers in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Customers living within select regions in Toronto, Etobicoke and Mississauga can now have their grocery orders delivered right to their door. (newswire.ca)

Aldi now has the most-read supermarket catalogue in Australia
Roy Morgan research has shown that an average 5.1m Australians aged 14 or over look at an Aldi catalogue each week. Coles has 4.9m weekly readers and and Woolworths has 4.8m. Coles and Woolworths are clear winners when it comes to readers actually purchasing advertised products. 52% of Woolworths catalogue reach leads to a sale, followed by 50% for Coles. Aldi’s reader-to-shopper conversion rate is 38%. (marketingmag.com.au)

Alibaba to fight counterfeit food
Chinese e-tailing giant Alibaba has enlisted the help of Australia Post and vitamin company Blackmores for a pilot program to prevent food fraud using blockchain technology. Zhou said that if the Australian scheme is successful, it will form the basis of a global supply chain model for all of Alibaba Group’s e-commerce markets. "Food fraud is a serious global issue that not only costs the food industry billions every year, but puts consumers’ health at risk," she said. (businessinsider.com.au)

Finland's S Group sees market share rise in latest Nielsen figures
Finnish retailer S Group has seen its market share rise to 47.2%, according to the latest figures from Nielsen, which is a 1.3 percentage point increase on the previous year. A spokesperson for the group attributed the growth to an increase in value sales, as well as strong pricing, more flexible opening hours and a "wider background of good development" at the group. (esmmagazine.com)

Konzum, Plodine and Lidl top for revenue in Croatia
Konzum was the top grocery retailer in Croatia in terms of turnover for 2015, amounting to HRK 14.9bn (€2.01bn), or 28.9% of the total nationally. According to figures published by Croatia’s Financial Agency (FINA)*, Plodine was second in terms of revenue with HRK 3.87bn (€522m), followed by Lidl Hrvatska with HRK 3.7bn (€499m). (esmmagazine.com)

Russia: O'Key Group announces appointment of new CEO
Russian retailer O’Key Group, has announced the appointment of Miodrag Borojevic as its new CEO of hypermarket and supermarket business. He will succeed the current CEO, Heigo Kera, from May 2017. (esmmagazine.com)

Woolworths to combine Country Road Group and David Jones into one group
Woolworths is combining its Australian subsidiaries Country Road Group and David Jones into one group called WHL Australasia, it said on Friday morning. The retailer said this was a logical step after it moved the head office of David Jones in Sydney and the Country Road Group head office in Melbourne to a single campus based in Richmond, Melbourne. (businesslive.co.za)

Ahold Delhaize reports progress on store divestments, gives update on Belgium strategy
Ahold Delhaize yesterday announced its Belgian subsidiaries have reached agreements to divest four stores and one project in Belgium. The divestments, in addition to the sales agreements announced on March 13, are made to comply with the conditions that the Belgian Competition Authority (BCA) attached to its approval of the merger of Ahold and Delhaize Group in 2016. (globenewswire.com)

Retail Ireland report highlights challenges from Brexit and online stores
Retail Ireland has launched a comprehensive report highlighting the need to sustain competitiveness and consumer confidence in the face of stiff challenges from online sales and the impact of Brexit. Please, click here to read the key points of the report at esmmagazine.com.

Sprouts touted as a 'buy' as Whole Foods slammed as 'victim of its own success'
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