Delivery drives U.S. online grocery market in September
U.S. online grocery sales remain elevated despite decreasing slightly in September, according to the latest Brick Meets Click/Mercatus Grocery Shopping Survey. For September, the online grocery market totaled $7.8bln, down 2.5% from $8bln a year earlier and marking a sequential decline of 8.2% from this past August. On a year-over-year basis, delivery was the only channel posting a gain for the month, up 12% to $2.8bln versus decreases of 5.1% to $3.7bln for pickup and 23.5% to $1.3bln for ship-to-home.
Source: supermarketnews.com
US: Grubhub and Starship Technologies partner to bring robot delivery services to college campuses
Grubhub, a leading food ordering and delivery marketplace, and Starship Technologies, the world's leading provider of autonomous delivery services, announced that they will provide robot delivery services on college campuses across the United States.
Source: prnewswire.com
US: Tops renovated New York store focuses on fresh
Celebrating 25 years in the Rochester, New York, community, Tops Markets LLC held a grand re-opening on October 11 for its remodeled store on 285 Upper Falls Boulevard. This renovation marks the 26th Tops location updated with a new look and a renewed focus on fresh departments, including the recent $2.7mln remodel in Cheektowaga, New York. The expanded produce area is complete with items of the season, including fresh-cut veggies and fruit.
Source: progressivegrocer.com
US: FreshDirect selects RELEX Solutions to provide forecasting and replenishment optimization for ecommerce grocery
FreshDirect, the online grocery shopping pioneer and one of the leading grocery delivery services in the U.S., will partner with RELEX Solutions, provider of unified supply chain and retail planning solutions, to optimize their forecasting and replenishment processes. The RELEX solution will service FreshDirect’s distribution centers, providing flexibility and configurability to meet the unique supply chain needs required to deliver the freshest products possible.
Source: relexsolutions.com
Twiga Foods taps Google Cloud to improve food security and reduce waste production in Kenya
Google Cloud announced at Next'22 a collaboration with Twiga Foods, an e-commerce platform that provides fresh local produce to shops of all sizes across Kenya, that will be a catalyst in enhancing food security in the country.
Source: prnewswire.com
Ahold Delhaize aims for new acquisitions
The current crisis will provide Ahold Delhaize with opportunities to make acquisitions, CEO Frans Muller said: “Consolidations in the market will only continue”. In the Benelux, the group is building an ecosystem with Delhaize, Albert Heijn and bol.com. “During the pandemic, retailers got a little tailwind, allowing some that were not future-proof - because they did not invest enough in technology - to survive for longer than they should. This crisis is going to give us opportunities”, Muller said in Belgian newspaper De Standaard.
Source: retaildetail.eu
UK grocery price inflation up again as shoppers turn to wonky fruit and veg to cut costs
Kantar reported: "We have seen grocers making a virtue of visually imperfect fruit and vegetables in recent years, allowing them to carry on offering the fresh products consumers want but at a cheaper price. Many shoppers have been converted and sales of ranges like Tesco Perfectly Imperfect or Morrisons Naturally Wonky were up collectively by 38% this month... Currently 13.5% of all fruit and vegetables are bought loose rather than pre-packed, so that’s still less than the 15% level we were at just before the pandemic".
Source: kantar.com
Holland: Crisp, the online-only supermarket, acquires local food supplier and raises €75mln
Crisp, the fast-growing online-only supermarket for Dutch and Belgian shoppers, has raised €75mln from existing and new investors. The company, which has doubled its customer base - and number of orders - in the past year, will also complete the acquisition and scale-up of local supplier, Eetfabriek this month. Crisp’s total product range has grown 36% during 2022, driven in part by the launch of the first range of non-food related items and last summer's expansion into Belgium.
Source: crisp.nl
Discounter Pepco to step-up store expansion
Pepco Group, owner of European discount retailer brands PEPCO, Poundland and Dealz, said it would accelerate its store expansion programme, with demand for its products remaining strong despite a backdrop of economic uncertainty. The group, which listed on the Warsaw stock market last year, said it was targeting opening at least 550 net new stores in its 2022-23 year, including entry for the PEPCO brand into the new territories of Greece and Portugal.
Source: reuters.com
Cyprus: Wolt Market slashes prices on weekly grocery essentials
Delivery-only grocer Wolt Market is dropping prices on hundreds of customer-loved products. According to the company, the move will see lowered prices on 1,000 weekly grocery items in categories that are essential for Wolt Market customers, including dairy, fruit, vegetables, pasta and detergents. Having launched on October 1, the lower-price campaign is the first of its kind for Wolt Market, and applies to all Wolt Markets in Nicosia and Larnaca.
Source: cyprus-mail.com
German union calls on Amazon workers to strike during sale
German trade union Verdi called on workers at nine Amazon distribution centres across Germany to go on strike this week, during the company's second major sales event this year, to try to pressure it into collective bargaining agreements.
Source: reuters.com
Current trends in the Polish retail chains
Behavioral analysis of over 280,000 people shopping at discount food stores in Poland showed that in the first half of this year Biedronka stores were visited by as many as 93.5% of them. In addition, a quarter of this network's customers did not obtain their supplies from competitors. At the same time, the data showed that Netto and Aldi are gaining at the expense of Biedronka and Lidl, but maintaining customer loyalty becomes an increasing challenge. The technology company Proxi.cloud and the analytical and research platform UCE Research compared the behavior of over 280,000. discount customers from the first half of this year and from the same period last year.
Source: Business Insider Polska via agroberichtenbuitenland.nl
Sligro Food Group files as 'interested party' for Metro business in Belgium
Sligro Food Group has announced that it has formally applied as an 'interested party' for the Metro business in Belgium. On 14 September, the corporate court in Antwerp granted Makro Cash & Carry Belgium NV/SA's request for creditor protection and judicial reorganisation, and appointed legal representatives to oversee this process. Makro Cash & Carry Belgium NV/SA includes both the Makro and Metro cash-and-carry operations in Belgium. The Metro Delivery Service NV/SA is not part of these proceedings, Sligro added.
Source: esmmagazine.com
Musgrave acquires Italian food importer
Ireland’s Musgrave Group has announced the acquisition of Italicatessen for an undisclosed sum. Founded in 2002, the firm is an importer and distributor of Italian food and wines directly from Italy. Based in Wicklow, Italicatessen employs 75 people and services over 900 customers. The company also distributes in the UK via an operation in Brentford that employs 12 people.
Source: kamcity.com
ALDI opens its Fuerteventura store on October 26
The opening of the Fuerteventura store is set for October 26 and one of ALDI's promises is that it will have over 360 products of Canarian origin in its offer, including fruits, vegetables, dairy products as well as cosmetics, meaning that around 20% of the store's products would be from local suppliers.
Source: guidetocanaryislands.com