Amazon Fresh leases ex-Tesco warehouse to enter UK market

Kroger has launched online ordering groceries at a store in Carmel, insideindianabusiness.com reports. The Kroger Co. says customers place the online order and pick it up at the store. Kroger says it plans to add online ordering at other stores by the end of this month. 

Door to Door Organics food delivery company said it's expanding to the Colorado Springs/Pueblo area this week, as well as introducing service to Iowa and Ohio cities, 9news.com reports. The Louisville-based private company said it's introducing service to Des Moines, Iowa, and Columbus, Ohio beginning in September. "It has been an exciting year of growth for our company, and I am proud to bring Good Food to new markets where consumers have expressed real interest in the intersection of organic and local food with the latest in delivery technology," said Chad Arnold, CEO of Door to Door Organics, in a statement.

Supermarket and department store chain Metro Retail Stores Group Inc is seeking to raise up to 6.2bn pesos ($134.9m) in the Philippines's second-largest initial public offering (IPO) of the year, Reuters reports. 

Amazon has moved a step closer to launching a grocery service in the UK, taking over the lease on a warehouse previously used by Tesco, theguardian.com reports. The US online retailer is to use the site in Weybridge, Surrey, which used to be a Tesco distribution centre and is ideally positioned just inside the M25 to deliver fresh food to London shoppers. The launch would put further pressure on Britain’s beleaguered supermarkets, which have suffered a slump in sales and profits, and are battling for customers with price cuts. Amazon Fresh has the potential to revolutionise grocery shopping in Britain.

Iconic grocery retailers Fairway Market and Gelson’s Markets have signed on as inaugural partners for a new e-commerce solution powered by noted natural-and-organic e-tailer AbesMarket.com. The new service, StorePower.com, is a “white label” solution for e-commerce that will allow grocery chains to sell their products directly to consumers while bypassing third-party apps and services, according to Richard Demb, CEO of StorePower and co-founder of AbesMarket.

The deadline for the next round of bids to buy Tesco PLC's South Korean business, valued at about $6bn, has been extended to Aug. 24 from Aug. 17, four people familiar with the matter said, partly to accommodate a public holiday, Reuters reports. Two of the people told Reuters that the South Korean government's decision to declare Aug. 14 a public holiday contributed to the deadline being pushed back. Banks involved in the bidding process also needed more time to get internal approval.

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A New York federal judge gave A&P supermarkets approval on Monday to auction off 118 stores and liquidate 25 locations, as well as approving its $100m bankruptcy loan, according to news reports. (law360.com)

In the second quarter, the retailer had a net loss of 19.5m lira ($7.0m) versus profit of 706,121 lira a year ago, Reuters reports. Its Q2 revenue was 861.1m lira versus 768.1m lira a year ago. 

Thailand's largest convenience store chain, said on Monday its second quarter earnings rose by more than a third, boosted by the addition of new stores and lower costs, agweek.com reports. CP All, which operates 7-Eleven stores, has seen a slight pick-up in same-store sales after being hit by weak consumption, lower farm incomes from falling agricultural prices, drought and delay in government spending, analysts have said. Net profit was 3.14bn baht ($89.28m) for April-June, in line with the 3.1bn baht average forecast given by five analysts surveyed by Reuters. That compared with the 2.25bn baht profit made in the same period last year.

In Poland, Biedronka sales increased 10.6% (local currency), with LFL growth at 2.6%, despite the strong basket deflation in the period (-3.3%). In the first six months of the year, the company opened 83 stores, esmmagazine.com reports.

Musgrave, the Cork-based retail group that owns SuperValu and Centra, says it expects to return to profit this year after posting a net loss of €13m for 2014 on sales of more than €4.6bn, irishtimes.com reports. Chris Martin, the group’s CEO, said he expects the business to make money this year after agreeing a sale of its loss-making British business. It also undertook a reorganisation of its business on the island of Ireland aimed at boosting the performance of its brands, which also include Daybreak and Mace. The group’s 2014 sales were relatively flat, declining by a fraction of a%, while it posted an operating profit from €66m.

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Romanian consumer prices declined more than expected as higher natural gas tariffs failed to offset a sales-tax cut that had prompted the first negative inflation rate since communism collapsed. Romanian consumer prices declined more than expected as higher natural gas tariffs failed to offset a sales-tax cut that had prompted the first negative inflation rate since communism collapsed. Food prices sank 7.3% from a year earlier, while non-food items advanced 1.3% and services costs rose 2.2%, the institute said. (Bloomberg / esmmagazine.com)

Discount retail chain Lidl has launched a new advertising campaign in Croatia, focusing on its pricing policy, which it claims is different from that of the competition, esmmagazine.com reports. In its new online and print media campaign, Lidl boasts that its prices are the same in all 86 stores throughout Croatia. It's believed that the “One Country One Price” campaign is targeted at Lidl’s main rival and market leader Konzum, owned by Croatian food-to-retail consortium Konzum.

Scarborough-based independent retailer Wilson Retail is moving its store estate from Nisa to One Stop, as it becomes the first group to join the franchise operation run by the Tesco-owned convenience store chain, talkingretail.com reports. Wilson Retail is also set to open its ninth store, which will also be a One Stop franchise.

More than 400 Londis retailers have signed up to the symbol group’s new Londis2020 package of retailer terms, talkingretail.com reports. Londis2020 was launched in April provides a single set of retailer terms and store standards across the Londis estate, with the support of a package of retailer benefits exclusive to Londis2020 stores. Londis director John Pattison said: “Last year, we outlined our commitment to delivering a compelling symbol brand offer that’s simple to do business with, delivering profitable growth for our retailers.

Serbian supermarket chain Idea, owned by Croatian food-to-retail consortium Agrokor, has opened for business online, esmmagazine.com reports. The online store, open seven days a week, 24 hours a day is initially available for consumers in Serbia’s three biggest cities: Belgrade, Niš and Novi Sad.

In $500bn grocery retail market, Shopezzy enters to exploit online grocery segment