Finland: Kesko sees grocery sales up 5.4% in July
Finnish retailer Kesko saw sales at its grocery business rise 5.4% in July, to €492.9mln, in what was a positive month for the retailer across the board. Grocery sales in the group's K-food stores increased by 9.0% in the month, while sales of home and specialty goods were up 5.8% in its K-Citymarket outlets. On a group level, Kesko saw sales up 2.4% to €970.7mln for the period, while in comparable terms, sales were up 6.4%.
Source: esmmagazine.com
UK: Record online sales boost Asda in Q2
Asda has reported a 3.8% increase in LFL sales for the 3 months to June 30th (excluding fuel), with trading boosted by a doubling of online sales during the trading quarter. As well as doubling online grocery sales, sales through click & collect quadrupled during the period, with transactional data showing many customers were new to Asda. This growth was enabled by a 65% increase in online capacity since March to 700,000 weekly slots.
Source: retailanalysis.igd.com
UK: Scottish islands get home delivery boost from Argos
Residents on Scottish islands have been given a boost after Argos increased its delivery service to the area, meaning 98% of Scottish islands’ residents can now get large items delivered to their homes. The trial will bring Argos deliveries to 41,000 more homes and another 56 islands, including Shetland, Orkney, the Inner Hebrides and the Western Isles. Delivery and collection prices will match those available in the rest of the UK and customers can book a specific delivery date for the first time.
Source: scotsman.com
UK: Waitrose makes its move to win hearts and minds of Ocado customers with launch of new marketing campaign
Waitrose launched a new marketing campaign in its drive to convert customers from Ocado to Waitrose.com, in particular, the large proportion who shop for Waitrose own label products. The supermarket has ended its relationship with the online grocer, and they will officially split from each other at the end of the month (August). Waitrose has already invested millions of pounds in its preparation for the exit, including the investment in a brand new food innovation centre and distribution centres, and is now revealing the launch of a multi-channel marketing campaign.
Source: waitrose.pressarea.com
Australia: Coles annual profit slumps 32%, still beats estimates
Supermarket chain Coles Group Ltd said its full-year profit declined 32%. Australia’s second largest grocery chain reported net profit of A$978mln ($705.430mln) for the year ended June 30, compared with A$1.43bln a year earlier, beating analysts’ estimates of A$932.7mln, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Source: reuters.com
Britain's grocery sales growth slows again, Nielsen says
Grocery sales in Britain rose 7% year-on-year in the 4 weeks to August 8, slowing from previous weeks as shoppers began to settle into new post-COVID 19 lockdown routines, industry data showed. Market researcher Nielsen said the growth, though down from 10% in last month’s report, was driven by warm weather and Britons continuing to work from home, spending less on eating out, and taking “staycation” holidays. It said that over the 4 week period, in-store sales growth was just 0.3%, but online grocery growth continued to accelerate, up 117%, maintaining its 14% share of all grocery sales. Over the 12 week period to August 8, Morrisons, Britain’s No. 4 supermarket group, was the top performer of the country’s big four grocers with a 13.6% rise in sales. Market leader Tesco saw growth of 10.1%, followed by No. 2 Sainsbury’s on 7.9%. Walmart-owned Asda was again the laggard with growth of 6.8%. However, frozen food specialist Iceland, up 24.4%, had the strongest sales growth overall.
Source: reuters.com
UK: Any third party investor in Asda must help growth, says finance chiefWalmart, the world’s biggest retailer, will not sell a majority stake in Asda, it’s British supermarket arm, to a third party unless that suitor is beneficial to Asda’s growth, Asda’s finance chief said. Walmart, whose attempt to sell Asda to UK rival Sainsbury’s for 7.3bln pounds ($9.6bln) was thwarted by Britain’s competition regulator last year, said last month it had restarted talks with potential buyers of a majority stake in the grocer.
Source: uk.reuters.com
Jüsto aims to disrupt the grocery industry in Latin America
Mexican start-up Jüsto (Fair) was launched in July 2019 as Mexico’s first 100% online supermarket. Over the next 10 years it aims to become one of Latin America’s favourite supermarkets. It believes it can do this by employing the best talent and developing technology, which will allow it to compete with the largest retailers. “We are looking to revolutionise the industry… with a better quality of fresh products at super competitive prices. Jüsto was born as the first 100% online supermarket in Mexico and a pioneer in Latin America," said Founder and CEO Ricardo Weder.
Source: retailanalysis.igd.com
Amazon launches $1.4bln tech hub expansion
Amazon said it will invest $1.4bln in its U.S. tech hub operations, an expansion effort that will include the creation of 3,500 technology and corporate jobs. Amazon said it will expand its tech hub operations in Dallas, Detroit, Denver, New York (Manhattan), Phoenix and San Diego. Teams in these cities will support various businesses across Amazon, including AWS, Alexa, Amazon Advertising, Amazon Fashion, OpsTech and Amazon Fresh, among others.
Source: progressivegrocer.com
US: Walmart posts biggest growth in online sales
Walmart Inc posted its biggest-ever growth in online sales as shoppers placed orders for everything from electronics and toys to groceries from the safety of their homes amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The near-doubling of online sales also helped the biggest U.S. retailer to beat estimates for same-store sales in the second quarter. Sales at U.S. stores open at least a year rose 9.3%, excluding fuel, in the quarter ended July 31. Analysts had estimated a gain of 5.73%, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. Operating income rose 8.5% to $6.1bln in the quarter, while adjusted earnings per share of $1.56 per share also topped estimates.
Source: reuters.com
US: Heinen's partners with Afresh to offer the freshest, highest quality foods to its communities
Afresh, the first artificial intelligence-powered fresh food optimization platform for grocers, and Heinen's, the preeminent neighborhood grocery store for the Cleveland and Northern Chicago areas, announced a new partnership in which Heinen's will deploy the Afresh solution suite in fresh departments across the chain. Heinen's will use Afresh across its 23 stores to reduce food waste, improve store profitability, and make fresher, healthier food more accessible to its communities.
Source: prnewswire.com