Asda discounts 1600 products after worst quarterly sales ever
Walmart luring buyers with bananas | Kroger to enter Israel?
Walmart is going bananas with one of its trademark supercenters in Rogers, Arkansas, using the site to experiment with ways to improve the customer experience across its locations. Actually, bananas are part of the world’s largest retailer’s revamped super store strategy. In a blog post late last week, Walmart said Store 5260 put “berries—a growing category—in the front of the department. Bananas, already a huge draw, are toward the back to help lead customers through.” In fact, bananas have long been a top —if not the top—seller at Walmart. (qz.com)
Asda discounts 1600 products after worst quarterly sales ever
Asda has cut the price of 1,600 products below all rivals' levels today as it reported its biggest quarterly fall in sales on record, even worse than its rivals, during the key Christmas period. The supermarket, which is the third biggest in the UK by market share after Tesco and Sainsbury’s, said like-for-like sales had dropped 5.8% in the fourth quarter. This marks its worst ever quarterly sales slide, with the supermarket's performance over the last three months of 2015 worse than that of Tesco, Sainsbury's and Morrisons. (thisismoney.co.uk)
Kroger could be targeting Israel in first overseas expansion
Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported Sunday that Kroger is joining a bid to acquire one of Israel’s largest supermarket companies called Mega. Kroger is reportedly teaming with two Israeli investors – Yossi Sagol and Eran Meital – to make a bid for Mega, according to the Haaretz report. (bizjournals.com)
Walmart's online sales growth decelerates, trailing growth of Amazon
Walmart Stores appears to have hit a speed bump in the race to grow online sales. The retailer's e-commerce sales rose 8% in the fiscal fourth quarter ended Jan. 31, for a fourth straight period of decelerating growth. Growth has gone from 17% in the first quarter, to 16% in the second and 10% in the third. The numbers exclude the impact of currency swings. Walmart, which reported quarterly results on Thursday, said the slowdown was due to weakness in China, the United Kingdom and Brazil. It does not break out figures for individual markets, including the United States. The numbers suggest Walmart is slipping further behind online leader Amazon.com, whose North America sales grew 24% and international sales grew 22% in the fourth quarter on constant currency terms. The retailer said it expected net sales to be flat in its new fiscal year, down from a previous forecast for 3% to 4% growth. Please, click here for more details (Reuters)
Walmex planning for long-term competitiveness
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Lidl Bulgaria fined for misleading advertisement
Bulgarian authorities fined the German discounter Lidl for misleading advertising. According to the Supreme Administrative Court decision, the discounter supermarket will have to pay a fine of nearly € 0.2 mln The penalty was imposed by the Commission for Protection of Competition for misleading advertising. (internationalsupermarketnews.com)
Zielpunkt is now history: all stores sold
Zielpunkt, the third largest supermarket chain store in Austria is now history. The company which announced bankruptcy during the end of November 2015 has sold all its 229 stores. Competition Authority which considered the acquisition of 98 branches and approved 90 of them. (internationalsupermarketnews.com)
Spanish supermarkets named the best at Japanese trade show
Supermarkets in Spain have been applauded at the Supermarket Trade Show in Tokyo. At the Japanese trade show, the business models of Mercadona and SuperSol were highlighted as ‘the best’ among international supermarkets. (internationalsupermarketnews.com)
Carrefour opens its first Hypermarket in Kazakhstan
On 11 February 2016, Carrefour’s franchise partner, the Majid Al Futtaim Group, opened the first Carrefour Hypermarket in Kazakhstan, in the city of Almaty, the country’s economic capital. Carrefour plans to open 9 hypermarkets in Kazakhstan. (eprretailnews.com)
Lidl among Top Employers Poland 2016
Top Employers Certification is awarded annually by the independent International Institute recognizing companies for their special attention to the conditions of the job offer. (internationalsupermarketnews.com)
Smart & Final donating 1% of private label profits
Smart & Final said Wednesday it is launching a new campaign in which it will donate the first 1% of net profits from the sale of its First Street private label products to its own charitable foundation to support local nonprofits. (supermarketnews.com)
Amazon wins fastest growing e-commerce brand award
US retailer Amazon, along with Douglas and Rewe wins the fastest growing e-commerce brand award from Best Brands. Amazon was placed first in the list with Rewe bagging the second prize and Douglas the third. Since 2004, the “Best Brands” Award is presented to the top brands in each segment. (internationalsupermarketnews.com)
Denmark: Employees strike at Coop supermarket chain
Employees at Denmark’s largest organic food retailer, Coop, are staging a nationwide strike. Workers at the central warehouse in Albertslund, to the east of the country, went on strike on 4 February. Staff in the fresh goods warehouse in Hasselager quickly followed suit, as did workers in the non-food warehouse in Odense. They are reportedly dissatisfied with negotiations over leadership at the business. (thenews.coop)
Carrefour owner applies for restructuring in Slovakia
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