Safeway to acquire Andronico's -
Supermarket Morrisons reports fourth straight sales rise
Safeway and Andronico’s Community Markets have entered into an agreement for Safeway to purchase five Andronico stores. The agreement comes after Renovo Capital, which acquired Andronico’s out of bankruptcy in 2011, approached Safeway earlier this year about purchasing their stores, with the goal of preserving union jobs and keeping the stores operating in the same way their customers have come to enjoy. (supermarketnews.com)
Supermarket Morrisons reports fourth straight sales rise
Morrisons on Thursday reported a fourth consecutive quarter of underlying sales growth, cementing a recovery under a new management team. The company, based in Bradford in northern England, reported a 1.6% rise in third-quarter sales at stores open over a year, excluding fuel. The growth in sales for the 13 weeks to Oct. 30 topped analysts' forecasts of 1.0 to 1.5%, though it slowed from second-quarter growth of 2.0%. (Reuters)
Whole Foods founder Mackey retakes helm in turnaround
Whole Foods Market Inc is staking its future on blunt, vegan co-founder, John Mackey, betting that the man who built the high-end health food grocery chain has the best shot of leading its turnaround. Whole Foods on Wednesday said Mackey would resume his job as solo CEO six years after he split the role with co-CEO Walter Robb, known as the businessman who carried out Mackey's vision. Whole Foods Market management said the grocery industry remains "very tough" and despite growing its new 365 by Whole Foods value-focused stores, the company insisted there was a limit to embarking on any deeply discounted program. Whole Foods reported an earnings beat in Q4. Net income totaled $88m, up from $56m, for the same period last year. Sales for the quarter totaled $3.50bn, up from $3.44bn last year, but below sales of $3.51bn. Same-store sales decreased 2.6% missing the 2% FactSet consensus. (Reuters/ cnbc.com)
Sweden: Paradiset targets 16 store openings
Organic chain Paradiset is targeting the launch of 16 stores within the next five years, with its next store due to open in the Sickla shopping centre in Nacka. The retailer also hopes to offer an online service in 2017. (igd.com)
AU: 'Forget Aldi, Amazon is coming'
Retailers won’t have to worry about discount supermarket retailer Aldi next year, because Amazon, the largest US retailer, is setting up shop in Australia in 2017. According to Justin Breitling, chief investment officer at Watermark Funds Management, “They will be dropping distribution centres and performance centres in every state next year,” he told the Australian Financial Review (AFR). “They will be doing general merchandise, and they will be doing fresh as well. They will also be putting physical stores on the ground which I don’t think anyone knows about. These will mainly be in regional areas because fulfilment is a lot harder in regional areas than in the cities.” (fool.com.au)
Target's leadership shakeup continues, grocery chief steps down
Target Corp said on Wednesday its grocery chief is stepping down, as the retailer struggles to overhaul a key business and attract more shoppers to visit its grocery aisles. Anne Dament will leave the company on Nov. 18, less than eighteen months after she was appointed and tasked with turning around the grocery business, which accounts for a fifth or about $18.5bn of Target's overall sales. Although Target has added more healthy, organic and gluten-free items in an effort to attract millennial shoppers, it has not reached its target. (Reuters)
Coop Danmark is launching its first franchised Irma store. Commenting on the development, chain director Søren Steffensen said, 'We want to break new ground, and this way we can discover if Irma is suitable as a franchise concept that can work in other places. If it is successful, it may be a key to further expansion'. (igd.com)
Denmark: Dansk Supermarked: new organic-focused loyalty scheme
Dansk Supermarked’s føtex supermarket has launched a new loyalty subscription service to drive the purchase of organic products. Shoppers pay DKK 20 (€2.69) per week to receive a 20% discount on organic products. Elsewhere in the market, competitor Dagrofa offers shoppers 20% off organic fruit and vegetables in its KIWI discount stores through its format-specific loyalty programme. (igd.com)
Spain: Mercadona 'most profitable' by square metre
Spanish retailer Mercadona sold €9,145 of products per square metre in 2015, making it the most profitable supermarket chain per square metre in the country. As reported by elconfidencial.com, the figures were the result of comparing the commercial surface of different Spanish retailers, divided by their net sales in the country. (esmmagazine.com)
Boom quarter for Alibaba Group
Alibaba Group has announced a sparkling quarter in which profit beat expectations, its fledgling cloud computing business more than doubled sales, and its entertainment income quadrupled. At RMB34.292bn (US$5.142bn), revenue increased 55% year-over-year, the star sector being digital media and entertainment, which ballooned 302% to RMB3.608bn. (insideretail.asia)
Alibaba-backed Lazada to buy Singapore online grocer RedMart
Lazada, a leading Southeast Asian ecommerce platform backed by Alibaba Group, has comfirmed it will buy Singapore-based online grocer RedMart, expanding Alibaba's footprint in the region. If the rumors about Amazon's entrance to the region is true, Southeast Asia is going to the next battlefield for the two ecommerce giants. (igd.com)
Future Group partners with P&G
India’s retail conglomerate Future Group is looking to form a strategic partnership with the world’s largest consumer goods company Procter & Gamble (P&G). Future Group has the widest network in the country with around 13 million square feet of retail space in 221 cities through a 700-odd store network of supermarket brands, such as Big Bazaar, EasyDay and Nilgiris. (igd.com)
Market analysts skeptical on Kaiser’s settlement
The future of the supermarket chain Kaiser’s Tengelmann is far from being settled. Industry insiders vehemently deny the claims made by Finance Minister, Sigmar Gabriel, that the issue was settled after marathon talks between Kaiser’s Tengelmann, Edeka and Rewe. Industry insiders and trade unionists are skeptical about the success of the meeting. According to them, three pertinent questions still need to be clarified. (internationalsupermarketnews.com)
Latin America: key retail developments in Q3
In an update, IGD looks at what happened at retailers across the region in the third quarter of 2016, including who's winning, the hotspots for expansion, and who's being most innovative in-store. Please, click here to read the article.
Iceland posts like-for-like sales increase in Q2
UK-based frozen-food retailer Iceland has announced a like-for-like sales increase of 0.8% in the second quarter of its financial year. The performance is up markedly from the like-for-like decline that it posted in Q1, and the retailer attributes this turnaround to new product development, longer opening hours, and the success of its 'Power of Frozen' campaign, among other measures. EBITDA was in line with Q2 of last year. (esmmagazine.com)
Dutch Jumbo extends home delivery service
As part of its recently launched 'Easily Ordered, Quickly Delivered' campaign, Dutch retailer Jumbo has announced that it is further extending its home-delivery service to include 100 locations before the end of 2016. (esmmagazine.com)
Metro AG and European Food Banks to fight against food waste
HOTREC, the European trade association of hotels, restaurants and cafes, METRO AG and the European Federation of Food Banks (FEBA), signed a Framework Agreement through which they undertake to cooperate to contribute to reducing food waste and further engage in food donations. (hospitalitynet.org)