The supermarket chain Aldi has announced plans to open a further eight stores in Scotland over the next year. This will bring its total number of Scottish shops to 72. It said it would also continue to grow its range of Scottish-sourced products - with plans to have Scottish lines representing 30% of its Scottish sales value by the end of next year. Richard Holloway, managing director of Aldi in Scotland, said: "In the year ahead, we want to grow relationships with existing suppliers and cultivate new ones too. (bbc.com)
Majority of Australians want to have another discount supermarket
Australians are hungry for more discount supermarkets after the successful introduction of German supermarket chain Aldi, experts say.
A huge 74% of Australians now have a 'taste' for discount prices, a report made by Canstar Blue, a company that researches customer satisfaction, shows. (dailymail.co.uk).
Waitrose launches a seed sprouter kit
Waitrose executive chef Jonathan Moore reveals the foodie trends for 2016. It will be launching a seed sprouter kit, for budding fans in early 2016 on WaitroseKitchen.com. Sprouting seeds have held a retro appeal for some cooks including Yotam Ottolenghi as they add some nutrient-rich crunch to salads and stir fries or even eaten raw, Waitrose said in a press release.
US: Kroger launching fresh foods concept
Kroger is launching a new smaller banner, Main & Vine, described as a place "Where eating is healthy, affordable and fun!" "You'll find groceries you can feel good about, friendly advice and a whole lot more ... right where you live, work and play," states marketing copy on mainandvineshop.com. The first store in Gig Harbor, WA in the Seattle area will run 27,000-square-feet, according to the company, stocking "big brand staples" along with fresh, organic and local foods. The concept builds on Kroger's success in fresh foods. Earlier this year, Kroger announced that its Simple Truth or Simple Truth Organic lines had reached $1bn within two years, becoming its most successful brand launch ever. In October, HemisFares, a higher-end private brand of premium imported products, was launched. (retailwire.com)
Britain's 'cheapest' supermarket revealed after year-long study
A year-long study has crowned Waitrose as the best supermarket to purchase own brand goods. Tesco and Asda came rock bottom in the study by consumer watchdog Which?. More than 160 supermarket products in 2015 were tested to name the best food, drink, cleaning products, batteries and sunscreens. The study saw discount supermarket Aldi come second in the annual 'best buy' league, mirror.co.uk reports. The results are in:
- Waitrose
- Aldi
- Sainsbury's
- Lidl
- Co-op
- Morrisons
- Asda
- Tesco
Amazon’s declaration that it is to enlarge its food-delivery platform in the UK has sent ripples through the British stock exchange, with leading e-commerce company Ocado experiencing a fall in its stock market price of 8% between 24 December and 30 December, theguardian.com reports. Amazon Pantry, which launched last month, has said simply that it is “really happy with [its] early numbers.”
Amazon is killing Ocado, but Goldman Sachs has an interesting theory about how this might actually be good for Ocado
Please, click here to read the article.
First Emart supermarket inaugurated in Vietnam
The South Korean supermarket giant, Shinsegae, is now officially present on the Vietnamese market after its first store was inauguration in Ho Chi Minh City. With a total investment of 60M, Emart situates in 6,000 m² with thousands of products including more than 95% Vietnamese and Korean products. (internationalsupermarketnews.com)
GCH Retail to revamp 28 stores and open six new hypermarkets in Malaysia
Malaysian retail group GCH Retail (M) Sdn Bhd is planning to revamp its 28 Giant hypermarket stores across the country by early 2016. Additionally, the company plans to open six new stores to provide a better shopping experience to customers. (hypermarketsandsupermarkets.retail-business-review.com)
Serbian Aman gets antitrust nod for acquisition of seven stores
Serbian retailer Aman has received the green light from local competition authorities to purchase seven stores from Mercator Serbia, owned by Croatian food-to-retail consortium Agrokor. (esmmagazine.com)
Safeway anticipates more small-format stores
Safeway is continuing to open small-format stores, including a former Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market in San Jose, Calif., it has acquired. A spokeswoman told SN Safeway is continuing to invest in new-store development “in areas we see an opportunity — anywhere from 20,000 square feet to 75,000 square feet.”
Tesco Kipa ends talks with Turkey's Begendik on store sales
Tesco's subsidiary in Turkey has decided to hang onto some of its stores instead of selling them to rival Turkish retailer Begendik after their performance improved strongly, it said on Saturday. Begendik's CEO said in September that the company planned to buy 10 stores from Tesco Kipa as part of expansion plans that could ultimately lead to a stock market listing. "We didn't feel the deal was right for Kipa," The company said in a statement.
Food spending up in France in November: l’Insee
France’s Institut National de la Statistique et des Études Économiques (Insee) has published statistics which indicate that food sales in the EU member state were up in terms of volume during November 2015 for the first time since June 2015, lsa-conso.fr reports. Food sales rose on a like for like basis by 1% and on a month-to-month basis, compared to October 2015, by 0.6%. (esmmagazine.com)
Italy’s Vege opens 10 stores and expands in Calabria
Italian retailer VéGé Group has expanded its operations in the Italian region of Calabria by acquiring 10 stores in Reggio Calabria, which will trade under the Sigis banner. GiCap, a partner company of VéGé Group in Sicily and Calabria, acquired 9 stores, which will change their insignia from Simply to Sidis, and also opened a new 2,000 m2 Sidis store in Reggio Calabria. As a result, the number of GiCap outlets in Calabria have doubled to 20 (under the ARD, Sidis and Qui Conviene banners). (esmmagazine.com)
Portuguese Bio chain to double store count in 2016
Portugal’s largest bio supermarket chain, Brio, has announced plans to double its number of outlets, opening five new stores in 2016. The company is also considering expansion in foreign markets, with Brazil seen as a primary target, and is also launching an online store. 95% of the fresh produce sold by Brio come from Portuguese suppliers. (esmmagazine.com)
Angry Whole Foods pays $500K to settle probe
Whole Foods isn't really happy about it, but the supermarket chain has settled a probe with New York City for overcharging customers for some of its prepackaged foods such as sliced fruits. Whole Foods will pay $500,000 to "put the issue behind us," it said in a statement Monday. But it added that the city's Department of Consumer Affairs had "misrepresented" the agreement. The grocer also said it refused to consider the city's initial demand to pay $1.5M. (money.cnn.com)
Whole Foods CEO reflects on ‘frustrating’ 2015
Please, click here to read the article.
Brazil: Maxxi hit with $200,000 fine for poor food handling
The court ordered Maxxi Campo Grande Sul supermarket in Brazil to pay a fine of $ 200,000 as a result of collective damages the company has caused. It also banned the grocery store from handling any variety of food, for the extraction or cleaning of damaged parts either for repackaging, or for any other purpose without proper authorization from the sanitary surveillance body. The court asked the company not to misrepresent the labels in food packages in a way that it is illegible or difficult to figure out. (internationalsupermarketnews.com)
US: Stater names new CEO
One of the longest serving CEOs in the supermarket industry is stepping down. Jack Brown, 77, who has served as CEO of Stater Bros. Markets for 36 years, named industry-veteran Pete Van Helden to succeed him, effective January 4, 2016. (supermarketnews.com)
Germany: Kaufland to reintroduce Deutschmark
Kaufland decided to play the nostalgia card, and will accept the old Deutschmark this month. The move is a brief campaign in support of the old German currency and those feelings of nostalgia. Scheduled to launch January 4 by the popular Kaufland supermarkets, local.de reported. The chain announced it will be accepting DM in exchange for an unlimited range of products, at least until the end of the month. The exchange rate will be 1.95 DM to 1 Euro, unchanged since 2002. (sputniknews.com)
LuLu Group to open its first hypermarket in Egypt
LuLu Group has set its foot in Egypt by opening its first hypermarket in Cairo, capital of Egypt. Commenting on LuLu Group’s Egypt plans, Yusuff Ali said, “As per the plan, we intend to invest US$ 300M in setting up 10 new hypermarkets in the next 2 years across Egypt”. (eprretailnews.com)