German Metro to lift spending | Coop Denmark partners with organic farm
UK's first social supermarket set to expand
Plans to expand the UK's first social supermarket
The UK's first social supermarket, which sells products for up to 70% less than the usual retail price, is set to expand by 20 stores by 2020, retailanalysis.igd.com reports. The social supermarket is an initiative from Company Shop: the UK's largest distributor of surplus food, now in its 40th year. The aim of the company is to stop food from going to waste which has led to the company handling over 30,000 tonnes of surplus food annually, of which 95% gets eaten. The figure of surplus food has the potential to double over the next three years according to Community Store. The company takes food from retailers, manufacturers and suppliers that is perfectly good to consume, but for reasons such as packaging errors, forecasting errors and seasonal promotions, the products do not reach supermarket shelves.
UK: Tesco appoints former Kingfisher executive
Tesco has hired Bruce Marsh, former managing director of Kingfisher’s Future Homes initiative, to be head of finance for the supermarket’s UK operations, Sky News has reported. According to inside sources, Marsh will take on the role shortly and will fill a vacancy created by Carl Rogberg, who departed from the company last year, invezz.com reports.
Australia's retail sales grow less than expected in March
Australian retail sales climbed by a less-than-expected 0.3% in March from a month earlier, and by a lower-than-predicted 0.7% in the first quarter from the final three months of 2014, actionforex.com reports. Food retailing edged up 0.4%.
Target CFO: 'We were handcuffed by consensus'
Target Corp.'s second-in-command said the Minneapolis retailer was "handcuffed by consensus" and needed to make a change following its recent struggles, bizjournals.com reports. "Too many people (were) invited to too many meetings. Too many people had veto power over decisions that didn't directly affect them," Chief Financial Officer John Mulligan said Thursday. "We needed to be faster: faster in how we work, how we make decisions, and how we get things done," he continued. "That means more instruction, less levels of approval, and yes, collaboration, but not everywhere and only where it's warranted."
US: Target plans to invest $50m in DC
Target Corporation will invest approximately $50m to expand its distribution operation center, creating hundreds of new jobs Suffolk, Virginia, areadevelopment.com reports.
German Metro to lift spending
Europe’s fourth-biggest retailer said on Thursday it would hike annual capital expenditure to about 2bn Euro by 2020 from an expected 1.4bn in 2014/15, euronews.com reports. It aims to lift same-store annual sales growth to above 2% by 2020 from 0.1% last year, and achieve an operating margin of above 3.5%, from 2.7% in 2013/14.
US: Schnucks plans state-of-the-art depot
Schnuck Markets will begin construction this summer of a new $100m, state-of-the-art distribution center in north St. Louis County, Mo., the company announced Thursday, supermarketnews.com reports. The expansion nearly doubles its distribution and warehousing capabilities.
US: Disappointing earnings for Sprouts Farmers Market
Sprouts Farmers Market said Thursday new stores helped boost financial results for the first quarter, supermarketnews.com reports. Net income for the 13-week quarter rose 11.1% to $37.5m, while sales climbed 18.7% to $857.5m and comparable store sales grew 4.8%. The company opened 24 new stores last year and 10 more in the first quarter — two each in Alabama, California and Texas and single units in Arizona, Georgia, Missouri and Utah.
US: Meijer tests curbside grocery pickup
Meijer announced that it's testing a new service, Meijer Curbside, retailsolutionsonline.com reports. It was devised to help “shoppers maximize their time” and lets Meijer customers shop for their entire grocery purchase online, then visit the store at a pre-selected pickup time. Its also offers “special instructions” and “personal preferences” in mind for the customer. Meijer's website states this could include a customer's request for the “ripest avocados” or the “greenest bananas.”
US: Natural Grocers sales increased
Natural Grocers’s net sales increased 21% to $157.7m during the second fiscal quarter that ended March 31, 2015, with net income up 35.1% to $5.4m, supermarketnews.com reports. The company’s comparative store sales were up 5.6%.
US: Marsh celebrates remodel
Marsh Supermarkets, Inc., celebrated its grand re-opening and re-bannering on Thursday, after a recent remodeling and refreshing, timesbulletin.com reports.
US: Walmart expands college campus concept
Walmart is expanding its university-focused store concept, nreionline.com reports. The discounter recently opened a fifth Walmart on Campus store, this one at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond.
UK: Morrisons to better listen to shoppers’ needs
In light of the retailer’s ongoing slump, Morrisons CEO David Potts has said that he and the company will be highly receptive to the opinions of its customers, and the shopping public in general, esmmagazine.com reports.
Porgutal: Sonae MC sees slight increase in turnover in Q1
Sonae MC, which operates the Continente retail brand in Portugal, posted a 0.8% sales increase in Q1 2015, according to its latest set of results, esmmagazine.com reports. The supermarket division of the Sonae Group posted turnover of €793m, however like-for-like sales were down 1.2%. Underlying EBITDA was down 5.1%.
Kenya: Tuskys hires CEO
Directors of Tuskys Supermarket have agreed to hire professionals to run over their business as they prepare to go public, allafrica.com reports. The directors have appointed Dan Gathua as the Chief Executive Officer effective May 4, 2015 who will lead a team of professionals who are already heading various departments in the company.