EU to protect farms from aggressive grocers

UK: Tesco's farm brands experienced further growth -
Tesco's 2.2% growth is considerably faster than last month's 1.3%, and makes the retailer the only one of the Big Four to be increasing sales. Much of the uplift came from own brand lines, both at the value and premium ends of the price spectrum. Tesco's farm brands experienced further growth in fruit and vegetables. (igd.com)

Britain's Morrisons extends Amazon deal
British supermarket Morrisons has set up a new service that will offer Amazon Prime customers same-day deliveries of groceries from its stores, deepening the relationship between the two companies. Shares in online grocery company Ocado, which has its own agreement with Morrisions, fell more than 5%. The new "Morrisons at Amazon" service will allow Amazon Prime customers in and around London to order the full range of Morrisons' products online via Amazon's Prime Now app. The service was launched on Wednesday. (Reuters)

CreditHQ outs Tesco as top late-payer in UK
London-based Ormsby Street, the company behind credit-checking online tool 'CreditHQ', has revealed that out of twenty leading UK retailers, Tesco has the worst payment record, settling its debts on average 105 days beyond terms. At the other end of the spectrum was Lidl, the study found, nine days late with payments, (esmmagazine.com)

Study: Publix, H-E-B claim most loyal customers
Publix and H-E-B boast the most loyal customers. That’s according to a new study from Temkin Group. The Temkin Loyalty Index (TLi) evaluates customer loyalty for 294 companies across 20 industries. It’s based on a study of 10,000 U.S. consumers. (theshelbyreport.com)

EU to protect farmers from supermarkets
As France launches an investigation into Carrefour’s unfair business practices, a new Brussels report has called for the relationship between farmers and supermarkets to be rebalanced, EurActiv France reports. The 12-member task force released its report on Monday (14 November), in which it called on the Commission to pass legislation to support European farmers in their negotiations with the distribution sector. “Our mission is to improve the position of farmers in the food chain,” said Cees Veerman, the task force chair. “There are enormous imbalances in the negotiating power of the different parties in the supply chain, which can lead to unfair business practices and are a constant source of uncertainty for farmers,” he added. (euractiv.com)

US: Kroger playing 'catch-up' on logistics
Kroger’s sustained same-store sales growth and market share increases in some markets are putting a strain on the company’s ability to serve those markets efficiently. “We have a lot of pinch points today that have been created in our logistics systems. It wasn’t built to handle the ID sales growth we’ve had,” Mike Schlotman, Kroger’s CFO, confessed last week at the company’s annual investor conference in Cincinnati. To catch up, Kroger will spend approximately $355m on new logistics capabilities in this fiscal year, up from about $200m four years ago. This spend includes getting new facilities off the ground in Atlanta and Cincinnati, two of Kroger’s largest geographic markets. Please, click here to read more at supermarketnews.com.

Russia: Magnit agrees loan from Rosbank
Russian retailer Magnit has arranged a 20bn rouble (around $306m) loan from Rosbank, the bank said in a statement on Tuesday, Reuters reports.

Supermarkets need to step up in face of exploitation of migrant workers: National Union of Workers
As another Coles and Woolworths supplier is accused of exploiting illegal migrant workers, the National Union of Workers secretary says it is time for supermarkets to step up and help change the system. Please, click here to read more at abc.net.au.

Denmark's Bilka to open 'round the clock' in December
Danish chain Bilka, which is part of Dansk Supermarked Group, has announced that it is to open 'round the clock' during the month of December. A spokesperson for the group said that round the clock opening also enables the store to maintain a high stock count during one of the busiest shopping periods of the year. (esmmagazine.com)

Auchan's Sun Art Retail Group sees revenue up by 4.4% in Q3
Auchan-owned Sun Art Retail Group, which operates a total of 427 hypermarkets and supermarkets across China, has posted a revenue increase of 4.4% in the third quarter of its financial year. Operating profit at the group rose by 4.9%, while the profit for the period increased by 2.0%. (esmmagazine.com)

FamilyMart opens first store in Malaysia
FamilyMart has launched its first store in Malaysia (in Kuala Lumpur) as scheduled, through a licensing agreement with local food processor QL Resources, in a bid to tighten its grip on the growing Asian market. FamilyMart plans to launch 300 stores in Malaysia over the next five years. (igd.com)

Mrs. Green's closing 5 stores; CEO out in shakeup
Natural Markets Food Group, parent of the struggling natural/organic chain Mrs. Green's Natural Markets, on Tuesday said it was closing half of its 10 stores and that its CEO, Pat Brown, was stepping down, effective immediately. The Irvington, N.Y., chain said it would instead focus on five "core stores" in its Westchester County, N.Y., home market, and that it would begin to replenish supply to those units over the next several weeks. (supermarketnews.com)

IGD: Grocery businesses will 'lead or lose' in the retail sector of tomorrow
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Cutting edge tech, convenience and grocery's new era
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