Walmart in trouble with suppliers about prices

Spar International nominated for leading Global Retail Award
Spar International, the world’s largest voluntary retail chain, has been shortlisted for the prestigious Retailer of the Year Award at the World Retail Congress (WRC) taking place in Rome. The award recognises companies the grand jury believe to be best in class in a number of key areas including financial performance and sales growth, adapting to a changing environment, and setting new standards for the industry to follow. (eprretailnews.com)

Walmart sparks battle with suppliers over margin-squeezing fees
After years of meeting demands for ever cheaper prices, many Walmart Stores suppliers are saying no to new margin-squeezing storage fees and a payment schedule that could delay for months how quickly some are paid. The world’s largest retailer says the changes, laid out for vendors starting in June, reflect a push to simplify its relationships with suppliers, put them all on the same footing and reduce costs so it can offer customers the lowest prices. But some vendors see the new policy as an attempt by Walmart to fatten its margins and offset wage hikes for store workers earlier this year. Saying the new fees will hurt their own bottom lines, several vendors are hiring lawyers, and a top executive from at least one supplier visited Walmart’s headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, in hopes of reversing all or some of the new terms. Two large suppliers with well-known brands that asked not to be identified for fear of hurting their relationship with Walmart have refused to accept the terms and plan to use their size as leverage to negotiate a better deal. “Any established supplier doing business with Walmart is already offering by all means the lowest price possible,” said Carol Spieckerman, a consultant who works with several Walmart vendors. “So these fees certainly sting.” Please, click here to read more at esmmagazine.com.

CartFresh seeks to empower US grocery retailers online
After achieving success (in the form of $10mn in turnover) as a leading grocery delivery service in Ukraine under the Zakaz.ua brand, CartFresh is now looking to take on the US, followed by the rest of Europe. CartFresh has recently began working under Techstars, one of the world's leading startup accelerators. The company is now offering US grocery retailers the opportunity to break further into their local market by reaching their customers online, before delivering to their door. (cmscritic.com)

South Africa's Woolworths appoints Gail Kelly to board
South African retailer Woolworths Holdings has turned to former Westpac chief executive Gail Kelly to help transform itself into a leading southern hemisphere retailer after last year's $2.1bn acquisition of David Jones. (smh.com.au)

Auchan Romanian investments exceed 500M
French retailer Auchan has so far invested over a half a billion Euro in Romania, the company announced. (propertyxpress.com)

Switzerland: Lidl is rebuilding departments
Lidl Switzerland is introducing a new department concept nationwide. The discounter is rebuilding 102 stores for 30mn Francs. Lidl says that they want to better adapt to the needs of the Swiss consumers. The new store concept should enable simpler orientation. The current cash registers will be replaced by new models. The signposting will be standardized. In the future, Lidl wants to place fruit, vegetables, bread and flowers in the entrance area. Deep freezers will be moved to the walls. The conversion to the new concept costs 30mn Euro. The rebuilding of the stores should be completed in 2016. (lid.ch)

AU: ACCC concerned by sale of Supabarn to Coles
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has expressed concern about the proposed sale of one of Canberra's largest independent supermarket chains to Coles. The sale of the Supabarn supermarket chain, which was built from the ground up by the Koundouris family, was announced in June and was reportedly prompted by family reasons. The move is expected to see a $15mn injection by the supermarket giant into upgrades to the Supabarn stores. But the ACCC has revealed it is concerned the sale could lead to "a substantial lessening of competition" near stores in Kaleen, Crace, Canberra City, Wanniassa, and a proposed store in Casey. (smh.com.au)

US: County approves $34m Publix DC
The Jefferson County Commission unanimously approved a $400,000 incentive package to bring a Publix distribution center to McCalla during its Thursday morning meeting. The project requires a $34mn investment. The distribution center will go in the Jefferson Metropolitan Park in McCalla. Publix hasn't yet closed on the property. Publix currently distributes for the Birmingham area from its Lawrenceville, Georgia. Publix has not made any public comment on the proposal. (al.com)

UK: Lidl aims to shake off budget image with London stores
Budget supermarket Lidl is planning to move into central London as part of a plan to shake off its discount image. The retailer is looking for almost 300 new locations for small to medium-sized supermarkets within the M25. The move puts it into the heartland of supermarkets such as Waitrose, Tesco and Sainsbury's. (bbc.com)

UK: Waitrose sales fall for first time in seven years
Sales at Waitrose have dropped for the first time in seven years, despite customer numbers and market share continuing to increase, as the effects of falling prices and more fragmented shopping habits feed into falling revenues. The Financial Times reports like-for-like sales in shops open at least a year fell by 1.3% over the six months to 1 August, which the paper said was a "sign of the intense competition raging among supermarkets, falling prices and changing customer shopping patterns". The supermarket, which has been enjoying success with a "choose your own offer" initiative, continues to take market share from its rivals and customer number rose by 7% compared to the same period in 2014. (theweek.co.uk)

Hungary's MOL Group rolls out new C-store prototype in six countries
MOL Group, an international oil and gas company based in Budapest, Hungary, has begun rolling out a scalable convenience store prototype created in close collaboration between its internal retail group and CBX, the strategic brand agency and retail design consultancy based here. The first 28 locations under the Fresh Corner brand opened over the course of the past three months in six countries: Hungary, Croatia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. (pennenergy.com)

AEON forms new partnership in Vietnam
Ministop, the AEON-owned convenience chain, will partner with Sojitz as it seeks to open 800 stores over the next ten years. (igd.com)

Grocery app HappyFresh aims for expansion in Asia
Since its March debut in Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta, grocery delivery app HappyFresh has remained relatively quiet. However, today the firm’s co-founder and COO Benjamin Koellmann tells Tech in Asia HappyFresh is now operating in Bangkok, with a Taipei rollout later this month, and a Manila launch slated for October. “We’re also preparing to launch in Surabaya and are exploring other markets in Indonesia,” he says. (techinasia.com)

Turkey: Tesco Kipa to sell 10 stores
Turkish retailer Beğendik, which earlier acquired German retailer Metro's Turkish division Real in 2014, announced on Wednesday it will acquire 10 stores from the U.K.-based retailer Tesco's Turkey division, Tesco Kipa, for $13.3mn. (dailysabah.com)

Auchan to open first new hypermarket in Portugal since 2011
After four years without opening new hypermarkets in the country, Auchan Portugal is investing €26mn in a new Jumbo store in Sintra. In an interview for daily Diario Economico, the managing director of Auchan Portugal, Américo Ribeiro, revealed the group will open a 10,000 m2 hypermarket by the end of year. The hypermarket, the biggest in the municipality of Sintra, will have all the important services, including the Health and Welfare area, Self-Discount, pet-food and petrol station. (esmmagazine.com)

AU: Woolworths told to dump Masters, Big W
Woolworths should ditch its struggling Masters and Big W brands amid tough conditions, says leading fund manager Hamish Douglass. Mr Douglass, the founder of Magellan Financial Group, was also highly critical of outgoing Woolworths chief executive Grant O'Brien but backed the newly assembled food and liquor team at Australia's largest retailer to turn the company around. (smh.com.au)

US: Kings shows off private label line
Kings Food Markets announced Thursday a complete line of private label products under the Kings Own brand. The retailer has been gradually introducing Kings Own products to stores over the past few months. The gourmet line includes fresh, frozen and packaged goods, everything from eggs and orange juice to pastas and sauces to gelato and frozen sides. (supermarketnews.com)

US: Sprouts hopes to boost annual per-store volume to $20mn
Sprouts Farmers Market hopes to boost annual sales per store to $20mn over the next four or five years, company executives told investors Thursday at the Goldman Sachs Global Retailing Conference in New York. Though some stores do “well north of $25mn a year, the average today is $17mn,” CEO Amin Maredia said, “so $20mn is a mid-term goal we’ve set for ourselves as we continue to drive various initiatives and expansion of other areas. It’s more of a target to keep driving the business, but it’s not an end state.” Jim Nielsen, president and COO, said the Phoenix-headquartered company believes it can boost annual sales per store by increasing basket size and pursuing a variety of sales initiatives, including expanding the breadth of private label and connecting more with consumers. (supermarketnews.com)

Portugal’s Sonae to employ PriceStrat for new formats and expansion
Portuguese retail group Sonae has agreed to extend the use of dunnhumby’s PriceStrat price optimisation software license to new retail formats and geographic regions. The company has been using the software since 2008 to help build and maintain its competitive price position in the grocery market. This agreement enables Sonae to use PriceStrat to manage and enforce compliance with its pricing strategy as the company expands in new regions such as Spain, America, Africa, and the Middle East. (esmmagazine.com)

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