Walmart after wealthier shopper | 'Buying fruit online to grow'

Carrefour has opened Timişoara's first hypermarket at the complex Shopping City Timişoara. It is its 29th store in the country. "We are pleased to open the first hypermarket in Timişoara. With an area about ten times greater than that of a supermarket, the customers of this new hypermarket will have access to a wide range of high quality products and services at reasonable prices," stated Jean Baptiste Dernoncourt, general manager of Carrefour Romania. Timisoara's mayor said: "Carrefour's presence will give a boost to local agricultural products. Certainly, when it comes to fruit and vegetables, it will be really good for us," (adevarul.ro)

In Russia’s Chelyabinsk oblast the federal antimonopoly services have initiated a case against Auchan on the grounds of violation of the Trade Act, reports 116almet.ru. The antimonopoly services argue that Auchan is discriminating against Chelyabinsk farmers: the management of Churilova agro complain about delays in the conclusion of supply contracts, negotiations began in 2013, but have still not been completed. Auchan is accused of making discriminatory conditions for the South Urals food suppliers to join the chain. The antimonopoly service has information that the chain is illegally preventing such companies from placing their products on the stores shelves. Yet Churilova has not been able to provide evidence that such correspondence took place; they claim that they tried to promote their products to Auchan but the company refused to negotiate. The chain denies that there was any correspondence. 

A 14% fall in like-for-like sales over the past four years was a sign that Bradford-based Morrisons had lost touch with customers it's chairman has said. Former Tesco man Andrew Higginson, who joined Morrisons in January and instigated a clear-out of former senior management, told ar the Bradford Chamber of Commerce annual dinner that the new regime was determined to turn round the business and win back shoppers. (thetelegraphandargus.co.uk)

Australian consumers have been hesitant to embrace the online grocery shopping phenomenon, but there is little question that its appeal will continue to grow strongly, according to a Rabobank report. The report, released today, found only 3% of Australians buy their groceries online. (weeklytimesnow.com.au)

CEO Doug McMillon has, in multiple appearances recently, mentioned appealing to shoppers with a wide range of incomes as key to the retailer's growth. McMillon included the desire to reach "a blend of income levels". "We already serve customers from all income levels around the world, but we have an opportunity to get stronger," McMillon said. About 30% of Walmart shoppers make between $50,000 and $99,999. That percentage is identical to the number of households in the U.S. making between $50,000 and $99,999. About 21% of the retailer's shoppers make $100,000 or more, slightly below the 23% in that income range who make up the U.S. economy. A 2014 report from Kantar Retail described the average Walmart shopper as a 50-year-old making $53,125 annually. The average Target customer was 38 years old and earned $65,125 per year, according to the report. (arkansasonline.com)

Woolworths, the Australian supermarket chain looking for a new boss, said it may be another 12 months before fresh leadership is installed, complicating a turnaround that the company already expects will take years. Chairman Gordon Cairns, who joined Woolworths in September, said he has interviewed three external candidates to far. But after factoring in non-compete periods, it might take between nine months and a year to replace outgoing CEO Grant O’Brien, Cairns told reporters after the company’s shareholders meeting in Sydney on Thursday. (esmmagazine.com)

Al Meera’s deputy CEO, Dr Mohamed Naser al-Qahtani, has said the company will open 14 new stores in Qatar in the medium term, expanding its presence from the 42 it presently operates in the country. Dr al-Qahtani underlined how the retailer’s expansion since 2006 had enabled it to grow revenues strongly and how it wanted to keep up with the pace of urban growth more widely in the country. (igd.com)

Smile Hypermarket has opened its first store in Oman, in Saham, a coastal town in the north east of the country. The retailer said it was aiming to expand its presence in its home market of Qatar and in Oman in the medium term and was targeting adding stores in Al Khuwayr (Qatar), Salalah (Oman), Al Falaj (Oman) and Ma’abela (Oman) commercial areas. Mirroring other retailers’ offers, Smile said that it would aim to provide a one-stop destination providing a wide range of grocery and non-grocery products. (igd.com)

Sobeys introduced its new extra banner to customers in Atlantic Canada today with the grand re-opening of the Tantallon, Nova Scotia location. Sobeys extra offers extra departments, extra products, extra experts and services and extra savings. (ngnews.ca)

Walmart and Target are among the major retailers that made their Black Friday deals available online early on Thanksgiving for the first time ever, way before stores open. The move was designed to chip away at Amazon.com’s runaway digital sales growth, and it looks like a smart move, judging by initial industry results. (fortune.com)

Polish supermarket chains say the government's proposed turnover tax needs major changes if it is to act as a weapon against foreign competitors dominating the Polish market. The eurosceptic Law and Justice (PiS) party that won last month's general election has not explicitly said that the new tax is meant to handicap Britain's Tesco, France's Carrefour and Auchan or Germany's Kaufland and Metro, and other foreign players. But many see this as a goal of the planned 2% revenue tax on stores spanning more than 250 m2, which the PiS estimates will bring in €820m. (afp.com)

7-Eleven Malaysia Holdings Bhd's pre-tax profit for the third quarter ended September 30, 2015 fell to RM22.56m from RM23.99m in the corresponding period last year. However, revenue for the quarter grew 6.6% to RM519.23m from that of last year. (themalaysianinsider.com)

According to reports, the management teams of two leading grocery chains in Angola, Kero and Nosso Super, have formalised a partnership agreement that will lead to the two collaborating from January 2016 onwards. The partnership has come about due to the sale of a stake in Nosso Super by the heavily indebted Brazil-based Odebrecht conglomerate to the owners of Kero, the Zahara Group. The two chains have stressed that their stores will not be rebranded. The management teams will be focused on enhancing the relationship with all suppliers. (igd.com)

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