Axfood, the Swedish retail group, has completed the remodelling of
35 Matex discount stores, rebranding them under its own Willys
banner. The move is part of a wider strategy of focusing on a
handful of brands for different store...
Britain's third largest food retail group Sainsbury looks set to
increase its presence in the convenience store sector even further
in the next few weeks with a bid for the TM Group.
Compared to other central European nations, the presence of foreign
retailers in Hungary is relatively low, with the likes of Tesco,
Delhaize, Tenglemann, Rewe and Auchan among the few western
companies already present there. And...
Carrefour, the French company which is the world's second largest
food retailer, has this week opened its first hypermarket in China
for nearly two years after finally ensuring that its operations
there comply with Chinese regulations.
Costcutter, the York-based convenience store operator, is the
latest company to throw its hat into the ring in the Londis
takeover battle. The symbol group confirmed last week that it was
"actively targeting" 1,200 Londis...
Pricer, the
Swedish company which specialises in electronic shelf label (ESL)
systems for the retail trade, saw its losses deepen last year but
remains confident that increasing numbers of supermarket operators
will make the...
At a time when most of its major international rivals are busy
expanding their businesses in both new and existing markets, Dutch
food retail group Ahold is continuing to sell off a number of
business units in an attempt to revitalise...
German retailer and wholesaler Metro is one of the chief supporters
of new retail technology, running a so-called Future Store
Initiative to trial features such as RFID tagging and
self-scanning.
Spanish supermarket chain Caprabo is to launch a second own label
this year under the Alcosto name, reflecting its recent acquisition of the supermarket chain of
the same name.
Reports in today's press suggest that Europe's biggest retail group
Carrefour is about to sell off its online shopping arm Ooshop - a
move prompted by the continued losses at the business.
The majority of UK shoppers regularly 'top up' their weekly shop
with additional grocery essentials such as bread and milk, a
practice which continues to support the development of the
convenience store sector in the British...
Edeka, the German food retail group, has reported an increase in
turnover for 2003, a good performance in a market still struggling
to lift itself out of recession. The improvement came as a result
of the company's major cost...
The largest grocery retail chain in Russia, Perekryostok, is set to
receive a syndicated loan of $75 million from a group of western
banks, the retailer has confirmed.
Supermarkets are forever seeking new ways of driving up sales -
expanding their product ranges, introducing new services such as
banking and insurance, developing online shopping services - but
building growth essentially boils down...
Laurus, the Dutch retail group, last week reported sales of €3.8
billion for 2003, a decline of 8.5 per cent on the previous year
and a disappointment for the company which was beginning to see the
light at the end of the tunnel after...
Russian retailer Ramenka has announced plans to increase
investments in its Ramstore supermarket chain for 2004 by
approximately 30 per cent to $130 million.
At the end of a successful year for Estonian food retailers, all
indications are that the number one player is now the Saastumarket
chain of discount stores - however, the market still remains
fragmented.
Union members are picketing some 200 or so Migros supermarkets
across Switzerland today to protest against poor working
conditions. Not surprisingly, the co-operative retailer has refuted
the claims.
Somerfield, the UK supermarket group, is continuing on
the road to recovery after several difficult years following its
acquisition of the Kwik Save chain.
Londis, the
UK-based symbol group which is currently at the centre of a
possible bidding war between a number of rival groups, has reported
Christmas trading figures which show that the uncertainty at
boardroom level had little...
Hypermarkets may be the domain of foreign rather than domestic
retailers in the Czech Republic but this does not appear to concern
most consumers there when it comes to their weekly shop.
Migros and Coop, the two leading co-operative food retailers in
Switzerland, have reported solid gains for 2003, despite continuing
tough conditions in the Swiss market as a whole.
The Big Food Group is thought to be the company most likely to
emerge victorious in the bidding war for UK convenience store
operator Londis, a reflection of the continuing improvement at the
company which just a few years ago was...
Sales of pastries and baked goods suffered last summer because of
the exceptionally hot weather, but an excellent performance during
the colder winter months helped UK baked goods and sandwich
retailer Greggs to end the year on a...
German retail group Schwartz is to open up to 30 stores in Hungary
over the next two years under its Lidl discount store banner,
according to reports in the Hungarian press.
Retailers and manufacturers working in Australia have five days to
go before meeting the new rules on food labels, warned the Food
Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) today.
The economic transformation of Russia and the CEE region is still
being led by the retail sector, according to a market report. For
the food retail sector, growth has been driven by the emergence of
big supermarket and hypermarket...
Spar, the German retail group, is being forced to take drastic
measures to haul itself out of the red. With operating losses of
€65 million in the first half of the year, and a restructuring
programme undermined by the weak German...
Ahold is to sell off its Spanish retail operations as part of a
long-awaited recovery plan announced today. The programme will also
include a €2.5bn rights issue which will help pay down debt, and
significant efficiency savings designed...
Alcampo, the Spanish subsidiary of French retailer Auchan, is to
introduce labelling in Braille on a wide range of its own label
products, joining Auchan's French, Portuguese and Brazilian stores
in offering this service. But...
Government plans to change stamp duty regulations in the UK could
have a devastating effect on the retail trade there, industry
associations have warned. Small stores in particular could be badly
hit, with a potential eight-fold increase...
The government's list of producer and retailer prices for a variety
of foodstuffs does not tell the real story, claims Spanish retail
association Asedas. Most stores do not use farm-gate prices as
their reference, the organsiation...
Spain's ministry of agriculture has begun publishing both producer
and retailer prices in a bid to bring more transparency to the food
industry - but farmers' associations are calling for even tougher
measures to curb retail...
Casino has reported good growth in like-for-like sales for the
first nine months of the year, driven mainly by its domestic
discount and convenience store operations. But international sales
continued to feel the force of exchange...
Mislabelling is leading customers to pay up to €50 per tonne more
for the same quality of potato, reports new findings issued by the
UK Food Standards Agency this week.
Carrefour is to focus on its popular hypermarket format in
Thailand, even though new governement regulations there could make
it harder to expand in the future. The group hopes to open four
outlets there in 2004, taking its total...
The massive price increases introduced on various fruit and
vegetable products in Spain last month cannot be justified by the
summer heat wave, as the retail trade has claimed, according to
various organisations representing growers...
Like-for-like sales at Iceland improved in the second quarter of
the year, the first gain in many months for the struggling
retailer. But it remains to be seen how much of this was due to the
hot summer weather increasing volumes...
Marks & Spencer's first half performance was helped
considerably by the roll out of its Simply Food format during the
period, the company has announced. Meanwhile, troubled retailer
Ahold has confirmed that information about...
Guyenne and Gascogne, the French retail group, has continued to
improve its sales and profits in the first half of 2003, building
on the major advances made in the first six months of last year.
Swiss co-operative retailer Migros has formed an alliance with
LeShop, an online shopping portal, to create a web-based
supermarket offering shoppers both Migros own label goods and a
full range of branded products for the first time.
The hot summer weather in the UK gave a major boost to sales at
Waitrose, the upmarket supermarket chain owned by the John Lewis
Partnership. A programme of store openings and refurbishments also
helped the company's first half...
Hypermarkets and supermarkets dominate food sales in Spain, a new
report has confirmed. But the complaints of traditional retailers
there are nothing compared to their counterparts in Germany, France
and the UK, where the major retailers...
Tesco, the leading supermarket operator in the UK, stretched
further ahead of its rivals in the first half of the year thanks to
a combination of volume growth, the roll out of new store formats
and strategic acquisitions.
Sainsbury is to launch a range of 2,500 non-food items, ranging
from cookware to electrical goods. But is the launch - ambitious as
it is - simply another example of the retailer running to catch up
with its more successful rivals...
Frozen food giant McCain Foods has selected CPIM software from
FullTilt. The company believes that this will help it to
synchronise its product information across more than 55 production
facilities on six continents.
The sale of US Foodservice - suggested as a possible means of
recovering some of its lost reputation - has been dismissed by
Ahold's new chief executive Anders Moberg. But what exactly he
plans to do to redress the comapny is...
Albert Heijn, the flagship Dutch supermarket chain of the embattled
Ahold group, is to axe around 440 jobs in a bid to cut costs and
keep pace with its main competitors.
