Walmart's Jet.com starts own grocery line

Russian Lenta opens first three supermarkets in Yekaterinburg
Russian retailer Lenta has opened its first three supermarkets in Yekaterinburg, in the Urals region of the country. The three stores are located in different districts of the city, and all feature a product range of around 5,000 to 6,500 SKUs, including national product ranges, Lenta's private label lines, and local produce. (esmmagazine.com)

UK retailer Nisa's CEO leaves during takeover talks
Britain’s Nisa Retail said on Saturday its chief executive had left the convenience retailer, which is in talks with the Co-operative Group to be taken over. Nisa, which is owned by its independent retail members, said Nick Read had left with immediate effect but did not give a reason. Read had held the role since December 2014. (Reuters)

Walmart's Jet.com to launch own grocery line
Just over a year after Walmart spent more than $3 billion for the fast-growing online retailer Jet.com, it will launch a higher-end grocery line targeting millennials as it tries to contain Amazon.com. Amazon last month closed on its acquisition of Whole Foods, intensifying the competition between Walmart, Target, and other supermarkets as all of them fight to win a bigger slice of the grocery market. Jet.com said Friday the new brand, called Uniquely J, will focus on younger customers in urban areas, offering them select coffee, olive oil, paper towels, and other products. Amazon cut prices almost immediately on a number of items at Whole Foods after it closed on the deal. Walmart has done the same over the past month. (canadiangrocer.com)
 
Publix testing free curbside grocery pickup
As shoppers continue to demand more convenience, Publix Supermarkets is testing curbside grocery pickup at two locations in the Tampa Bay region. Company officials launched the test this week at stores in Valrico in Hillsborough County and Wesley Chapel in Pasco County, and Atlanta-area locations are scheduled to join the test program by the end of the year. (bradenton.com)

Whole Foods private label brand gets boost from Amazon.com
Amazon has sold $1.6 million of Whole Foods’ private label products in the first month since acquiring the national grocery chain. According to news from The Wall Street Journal, this is one of the first infusions of cash the eCommerce giant has delivered to Whole Foods through its website. Amazon completed $500,000 in online grocery sales in the first week after it started offering Whole Foods’ “365 Everyday Value” products, according to One Click Retail eCommerce data. Weekly sales fell to about $300,000 during the next two weeks after the site ran low on some private label products, but rebounded in the fourth week. “This is probably one of the most valuable things they got from Whole Foods,” said Diana Sheehan, director of Retail Insights at the Kantar Retail consultancy. (pymnts.com)

Spar Netherlands opens two new university stores
Spar Netherlands has continued its roll-out of stores located on university campuses, with the opening of two new outlets in Eindhoven and Delft. (esmmagazine.com)