US: Walmart explains how its AI tech substitutes products
Amid the pandemic, a huge uptick in online shopping led Walmart to deploy artificial intelligence to help both customers and the company’s Personal Shoppers choose the best substitute for an out-of-stock item. In a recent blog post, Srini Venkatesan, EVP, Walmart Global Tech, explained how this technology works.
Source: progressivegrocer.com
US: UNFI won't sell Cub, Shoppers stores anytime soon
United Natural Foods Inc. is going to stay in the retail food business, at least for now. Officials with the national food wholesaler announced during the Investor Day presentation that it will continue to own and operate its 71 Cub Foods and Shoppers Food Warehouse stores, which are located in Minnesota and the mid-Atlantic region, respectively.
Source: supermarketnews.com
US: Grocery Outlet hits the 400-store mark
Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. reached a milestone with the opening of its 400th store, in Hailey, Idaho. The value grocer said that the new Grocery Outlet location, at 615 N. Main St. in Hailey, is situated south of the Sun Valley ski resort and east of Boise. The store is run by independent operator (IO) Shane Anderson, a Grocery Outlet veteran who previously worked alongside his daughter and son-in-law as a general manager at their Grocery Outlet location.
Source: supermarketnews.com
Carrefour Brasil conversion of Makro stores to add $71mln of EBITDA
Carrefour Brasil said it had finished converting all acquired Makro stores to its Atacadao brand, forecasting the locations would add 350mln reais ($71mln) to annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) after 4 years. The Brazilian unit of Carrefour also projected in a securities filing the EBITDA of the 28 stores will break even in the next 6 months and cumulatively add 1bln reais over the coming 4 years.
Source: reuters.com
Russian retailer X5 separates digital businesses, eyeing IPO
Russia’s largest food retailer X5 has created a separate entity for its digital businesses, the company said, paving the way for the new entity to go public. X5 is discussing plans for an initial public offering (IPO) of its online business, which accounted for just 1% of the group’s total sales in 2020 but is growing fast, with transaction volumes rocketing 347% last year.
Source: reuters.com
Woolworths Scan and Go launches for the first time in South Australia
Cash registers and even self-serve check-outs may soon become the less popular way to pay for food in a bold new move by supermarket giant Woolworths. Woolworths introduced its ‘Scan&Go’ feature in the first 2 stores in South Australia, at Walkerville and West Lakes. The Scan&Go feature means that you can pay for your shopping via an app.
Source: news.com.au
Lidl GB hits 860 store milestone and remains on track to reach 1,000 by end of 2023
Lidl has reached the milestone of 860 stores in Great Britain and remains on track to have 1,000 stores in their portfolio by the end of 2023. This forms part of Lidl’s £1.3bln investment plans for 2021 and 2022, which includes opening 50 new stores this year, creating 2,000 new jobs.
Source: corporate.lidl.co.uk
Israel: Trigo partners with Google Cloud to accelerate autonomous grocery stores
Trigo, a global leader in frictionless checkout technology, announced that it has signed a partnership agreement to join Google Cloud’s partner ecosystem. Under the agreement, Trigo’s AI-powered solutions for autonomous shopping will be available on Google Cloud, and teams from both companies will partner to help retail businesses accelerate their digital transformations with AI-powered autonomous stores. The choice to work with Google Cloud was based on Google Cloud’s strong relationships with leading retailers, as well as sensitivities by leading European retailers to use Amazon Web Services.
Source: businesswire.com
UK: Morrisons private equity suitor told to up its offer
The private-equity firm behind rebuffed interest in Morrisons has been told to up its potential offer as the backlash against a proposed purchase of the supermarket chain intensifies. City brokers told Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R), the multinational investment firm behind the £5.5bln takeover of the UK’s 4th-largest supermarket, to significantly increase its offer from the 230 pence per share suggested last week.
Source: retailgazette.co.uk
E-Mart buys eBay's South Korean business for $3bln
South Korean retailer Shinsegae Group’s E-Mart Inc said it plans to acquire an 80% stake in eBay Inc’s South Korean business for 3.4tln won ($3bln). With the deal, traditional retail giant Shinsegae gets a much-needed boost in the Korean e-commerce sector, where it has lagged after competitors such as No. 1 Coupang, while eBay Korea gains a powerful backer after years of underperforming, analysts said.
Source: reuters.com
Dealz owner Pepco earnings up 16.8% in H1
Pepco Group, the Poland-listed owner of Dealz and British discount retailer Poundland, reported a 16.8% increase in core earnings in the first half of its financial year, as revenue growth from new store openings offset the impact of pandemic restrictions.
Source: esmmagazine.com
Portugal: Auchan Retail invests €30mln to boost digital presence
Auchan Retail Portugal is investing €30mln between now and 2025 to improve its e-commerce services. The retailer's plans were revealed to daily newspaper Jornal de Negocios by Solange Farinha, Auchan Retail Portugal's director of customer experience and digital.
Source: esmmagazine.com
UK: Sainsbury’s launches recycling system for flexible plastic packaging
Sainsbury’s has rolled out a recycling system allowing customers to recycle all flexible plastic packaging which is not commonly accepted for kerbside collection by local authorities. Following a successful trial in the North East of England, a total of 520 supermarkets will have front of store recycling points to correctly dispose their flexible plastic packaging, including crisp packets, food pouches, salad bags and biscuit and cake wrappers - which Sainsbury’s said 83% of UK local authorities currently don’t accept for recycling.
Source: packagingnews.co.uk