Earnings Publix hit $1bn milestone

Thailand: Tesco Lotus cutting price fresh food by 15%
The hypermarket chain said it was spending Bt3 billion to lower prices, focusing on mother-and-baby products with cuts of up to 20% on more than 870 product lines, nationmultimedia.com reports. It will also lower fresh-food prices to wholesale levels - a cut of 15%. It says the campaign will help customers reduce their cost of living in a tight economy. "Tesco Lotus has been consistently committed to reducing the costs of essential items for the past 20 years. As Thailand's retail leader, we are well aware of the rising cost of living of the general public, and this year we have invested more than Bt3 billion to help our customers save money," said chief commercial officer Sompong Rungnirattisai. Tesco Lotus has invested Bt600 million on reducing fresh-food prices to wholesale price, after the success of our Wholesale Price campaign on 150 fresh-food lines. The new campaign covers all key fresh-food lines in the department, such as farm produce, meat, eggs and seafood, offering discounts of up to 15% to help customers save on their spending of food.

Retail sales in Thailand:


More on Tesco Lotus:
Tesco and 7-Eleven crank up the promotions


US: Publix's earnings hit a $1bn milestone
There may come a day when Publix Super Markets does not report solid quarterly gains in profits and revenues, tampabay.com reports. But it was not Monday. Florida's largest private company set a milestone of sorts, reaching earnings of $1bn for the first half of this year. That's up a very healthy 14.9% from $897.8m achieved in the first half of 2014. Per quarter this year, that $1bn was achieved with $548.9m earned in the busier first quarter (when snowbirds are here), plus the $482.7m earned in the quarter ended June 30. Publix's sales for the first half of 2015 were $16.3bn, a 6.4% increase from last year's $15.3m. And comparable-store sales for the first half of 2015 increased 4.7%. Publix operates about 1,100 stores, mostly in Florida but also pushing quickly into Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and the Carolinas.

Germany: Another setback for Edeka's acquisition of Kaiser's Tengelmann
The German Monopolies Commission has advised against Edeka's intended acquisition of Kaiser's Tengelmann, retaildetail.eu reports. The commission was asked to examine whether the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy could re-evaluate the decision of the German Competition Authority regarding the acquisition. The Competition Authority blocked the take-over in April, as it felt regional supermarkets and other stores in Berlin, Oberbayern and North Rhine Westphalia would stand to considerably worsen their competitiveness. The Monopolies Commission now comes to the same conclusion. The recent advice has now added a new chapter to the soap surrounding Edeka and Kaiser's Tengelmann. Alongside Rewe, Aldi, Schwarz-Gruppe (containing Lidl and Kaufland), Edeka is one of Germany's four largest supermarket organization and it has been trying to absorb Kaiser's Tengelmann's supermarkets in three regions (Berlin, Munich, Rhine-Ruhr) for several years.

US: Ingles boosts Q3 sales, earnings flat
Ingles Markets on Monday said sales improved by 1% in the fiscal third quarter but earnings were flat, reflecting lower gasoline prices and margins, supermarketnews.com reports. Excluding gasoline, comparable-store sales improved by 1.6% in the quarter, with increases in store visits and average basket size, the company said. Sales totaled $817.4m and net earnings were $18.4m. Profits as a percentage of sales rose to 23.5% from 22% in the same period last year.

US: Hannaford (Delhaize) set to open new small store concept
According to reports in Supermarket News, Hannaford is set to open its new small store concept in North Berwick, Maine, igd.com reports. The store will be less than half the size of an average Hannaford store, which Delhaize America’s chief executive, Kevin Holt, has said will help the retailer fill-in areas where it does not have a presence.

UK grocery prices fell in July
An average basket of groceries cost 1% less in July than it did in June, says the latest Groceries Tracker from supermarket comparison site MySupermarket, lovemoney.com reports. The price fell to £86.1 in July, down from £86.64 in June. More significantly, it’s down 6% from July last year. The tracker monitors the cost of 35 of the most commonly-bought grocery products. Items which saw the most significant reductions in price are shown below:



Kuwait: Sultan Center extends deal with Waitrose
Kuwait-based Sultan Center has extended its four year partnership with UK-based Waitrose, which will enable it to add Waitrose’s products to its stores in Jordan, igd.com reports. The Sultan Center is the exclusive distributor for Waitrose’s private label products in Kuwait and Lebanon, which will now be extended to Jordan. The retailer said it would be adding products in a variety of categories including grocery, frozen foods, snacks and beverages.

Carrefour’s franchisee for Morocco backs Atacadão format
Following the conversion of an Atacadão cash & carry into a Carrefour hypermarket in Casablanca, Carrefour’s franchisee for Morocco, Label’Vie, has said that it remains committed to the banner and format and will not be converting all its Atacadão to the hypermarket format, igd.com reports. In its 2014 results statement Label’Vie said it added only one Atacadão store in the year, but was looking to add further stores in the medium term.

UK: Morrisons crowned 2015 Supermarket of the Year for wine
Morrisons has been crowned 2015 Supermarket of the Year at the International Wine Challenge Awards (IWC), beating off stiff competition from Waitrose and M&S (winners in 2013 and 2014), eprretailnews.com reports.

Indonesia: Matahari posts solid H1
Indonesia's PT Matahari Putra Prima Tbk has reported H1 sales for the period ending 30 June 2015, with net sales up 6.6% to Rp 6.9tr and LFL sales growing 2.1%, igd.com reports. Indonesia's PT Matahari Putra Prima Tbk has reported H1 sales for the period ending 30 June 2015, with net sales up 6.6% to Rp 6.9tr and LFL sales growing 2.1%.

Interesting links about retail:

The e-grocery explosion
Click here to read the article.


Door To Door Organics' annual shop online for groceries month returns
Click here to read the article.


The real message behind Walmarts supplier pricing memo
Click here to read the article.