US: The Fresh Market kicks off July with 40th anniversary celebration
The Fresh Market Inc. (TFM) will commemorate its 40th anniversary beginning on July 1 with an array of special deals, a 4th of July meal and exclusive products for its customers - including a chance to win a golden ticket. The retailer is selling a curated collection of exclusive items created in partnership with its vendors that can only be found at The Fresh Market for a limited time.
Source: progressivegrocer.com
US: Kroger plans Ocado-automated warehouse for Denver market
Moving forward with its four-year-old Ocado partnership, The Kroger Co. plans to open an automated customer fulfillment center (CFC) in the Denver metropolitan area. Located in Aurora, Colorado, the nearly 300,000-square-foot CFC will fill online orders and bring nearly 400 new jobs to the city and adjacent communities, Cincinnati-based Kroger said. The company didn’t provide an opening timetable for the new facility.
Source: supermarketnews.com
US: GrubMarket acquires QBIX Analytics to provide data analytics solutions for the food supply chain industry
GrubMarket announced it has completed the acquisition of San Carlos, California-based QBIX Analytics ("QBIX"), a trusted data analytics and business intelligence solution provider that specializes in implementing data solutions and performing system integrations to help customers improve sales and operational efficiencies.
Source: prnewswire.com
Amazon names new worldwide stores chief
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy named Doug Herrington, an Amazon veteran who launched the AmazonFresh delivery business in 2007, as CEO of the company's Worldwide Amazon Stores business. In the new role for what had been known as Amazon's Consumer business, Herrington, who joined Amazon in 2005, will oversee a revamped Amazon operations organization. The reorganization will unite physical and online stores and logistics/fulfillment under one umbrella, to be led by 18-year Amazon vet John Felton.
Source: winsightgrocerybusiness.com
US: Local Express to offer delivery for specialty food and beverage retailers through Walmart GoLocal
Independent food and beverage businesses nationwide have increased access to same-day or next-day delivery via Local Express through Walmart GoLocal, Walmart’s white-label delivery as a service offering. The collaboration will enable Local Express, an end-to-end eCommerce platform for food retailers, to expand its delivery capabilities to serve additional businesses in areas including Chicago, Miami and Arlington, Texas.
Source: businesswire.com
Mitch Gould of Nutritional Products International: Amazon to leap frog Walmart as biggest retailer in the U.S. by 2024
Amazon is poised to dethrone Walmart as the largest retailer in America. "Competition brings out the best in business. Walmart's success drove Amazon to reach higher heights. Amazon's innovations, such as same-day delivery, pushed Walmart out of its comfort zone", said Mitch Gould, Founder and CEO of Nutritional Products International, a global brand management firm based in Boca Raton, Florida.
Source: prnewswire.com
Carrefour CEO says well placed to deal with sustained inflation
Carrefour's chief executive said global inflation is here to stay and that the supermarket chain is well placed to manage it due to its mix of businesses and experience in dealing with rapid inflation in South America. "We have strong discipline of course, it's very important in this moment and we are very experienced with inflation because of our presence in Latin America, in Brazil and in Argentina," Alexandre Bompard said.
Source: reuters.com
UK: Asda says some shoppers setting £30 limit at tills
Some Asda shoppers are setting £30 limits at checkouts and petrol pumps, the supermarket's chairman has said. Customers are putting less in their baskets, switching to budget ranges and are worried about the future, said Lord Stuart Rose. "What we're seeing is a massive change in behaviour", he told the BBC.
Source: bbc.com
UK: Iceland reduces price of bread, fruit and butter to 1p
Iceland has reduced the prices of more than 420 essential groceries to 1p, including milk, bread, butter, fruit, vegetables, and snacks. However, shoppers are limited to three items per online shop and the offer is only available online until the end of Friday 24 June.
Source: independent.co.uk
Croatia: Fortenova posts its first annual net profit of $73mln
Croatia’s Fortenova Grupa reported a net profit of 523mln kuna ($73mln) for 2021, its first since being saved from bankruptcy in 2018, the food producer and retailer said. Fortenova, whose top shareholder is Russia’s Sberbank, reported a 65% jump in consolidated revenue to 31.4bln kuna. Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation or amortisation (EBITDA) rose 52% to 1.955mln kuna after it sold its frozen food business and regained control over Mercator, Slovenia’s biggest food retail chain.
Source: reuters.com
Makro owner making big grocery delivery push in South Africa - and it has a key advantage
Massmart has announced that it plans to expand its online marketplace OneCart in the coming months as part of a growing push into the internet space. The Makro and Game owner acquired an 87.5% stake in on-demand multi-retailer marketplace OneCart in late 2021, with the platform seeing Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) growth of over 200%. OneCart is unique in the South African space in that it allows customers to shop over 20 product categories from up to 12 leading retailers in one transaction and delivery, hence ‘one cart’.
Source: businesstech.co.za
New Zealand: Foodstuffs setting up wholesale access for rivals 'with urgency'
Retailers who aren't members of the Foodstuffs co-operatives can now express interest to become wholesale customers. It follows a similar move by Countdown owners Woolworths NZ earlier this month. Foodstuffs is also asking its major suppliers if they're prepared to supply wholesale products to competitors "on comparable terms to what they offer Foodstuffs' co-op members".
Source: 1news.co.nz
Belgium: Unions warn of supermarket protests over staff shortages
Unions have warned of strike actions in supermarkets and department stores as staff shortages make working conditions increasingly difficult for existing staff. Belgian department stores and supermarkets are in urgent need of employees, with at least 2,000 vacancies across the country. With so many vacancies, the workload on existing staff is growing. The problem occurs at all chains, resulting in sporadic local strikes and protests as a result. Unions say the situation is so pressing that national actions are “almost inevitable, sooner or later”, according to Het Laatste Nieuws.
Source: brusselstimes.com