Brexit-borne economic uncertainty could dampen supermarket’s ability to offer cheaper groceries, though worried shoppers could maintain sales figures at hard discounting retailers like Lidl and Aldi, analysts suggest.
EasyJet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou has opened a no frills, discount food store – called easyFoodstore store – to complement his cut-price airline and travel businesses.
UK consumers are paying an 89% premium for organic products at the major supermarkets, according to a survey, while more than half of organic shoppers think they pay too much.
UK supermarket chain ASDA has launched a new ‘sweet red’ onion variety that has lower pungency levels and is said to be milder, juicier and crunchier than more established varieties.
Chocolate confectionery sales are falling in the UK as consumers move to lower priced products and take advantage of promotions following price hikes, says an analyst at IRI.
With a simple press release issued this week, Carrefour brought to a close its Indian experience by announcing the closure of its trade stores in the country.
Discount retailing is still on the rise in Europe, as international
expansion and increasing consumer acceptance are set to push sales
up 36 per cent by 2010.
Europe's largest retailer Carrefour has signed a €6m deal to open
its first supermarket chain in Cyprus, following the firm's
successful entry into the island's cash and carry market last year.
Britain's leading supermarket Tesco is being accused of stalling
the Competition Commission's (CC) grocery sector inquiry by asking
for extra time to provide evidence of its business practices.
Asda Wal-Mart and Tesco have managed to sew up the competitive
British grocery market, as close contender Sainsbury's struggles to
keep up with their low pricing strategies.
American behemoth Wal-Mart has become the second foreign retailer
to exit the difficult South Korean retail market this month,
selling its chain to local rival Shinsegae.
Britain's number three supermarket Sainsbury's announced a 12 per
cent rise in year-end profit, as the company ploughs funds into
competitive prices and new store openings to boost sales.
Following nearly four years of pressure, Britain's Office of Fair
Trading (OFT) has finally agreed to refer the grocery sector to the
Competition Commission (CC) for an in-depth enquiry.
As the American retail sector struggles to compete with Wal-Mart's
discount strategy, Marsh has become the latest in a string of
supermarkets to sell out to a private equity firm.
The launch of Asda's first hard discount store marks a new era in
budget grocery shopping as the 'big four' supermarkets compete with
discounters to attract price-savvy consumers.
Britain's number two supermarket chain has announced plans to spend
£400m on a series of store extensions and new openings, in keeping
with parent company Wal-Mart's vision of continuing global
supremacy.
Tesco CEO Sir Timothy Leahy has ended months of speculation by
revealing expansion plans that rule out the notoriously difficult
US market in favour of the unregulated Far East.
The imminent assault on the over-priced Swiss grocery market by
discount retailers Aldi and Lidl has prompted supermarkets to mimic
UK-style price wars to marginalise the threat.
The Forum of Private Businesses (FPB) has condemned government
plans to introduce the "Tesco law", which would allow UK
supermarkets to offer legal services.
Suppliers to Carrefour will continue to be limited on what they can
charge for their products as the world's second largest retailer
fights to boost flagging sales across most of Europe.
Following up on the company's policy on further international
expansion, Wal-Mart's chief executive Lee Scott, indicated the
world's largest retailer was now ready to go after the market's
currenttop dogs.
Hot on the heels of last year's entry into the Chinese market,
Britain's leading food retailer Tesco has strengthened its business
in South Korea with the acquisition of a number of stores from the
Aram Mart group. The move...
Better-than-expected sales at Carrefour's domestic hypermarket
business have left France's leading food retailer optimistic of an
upturn in 2005 - although further price cuts are likely to make an
impact in the short term,...
Wal-Mart is the world's largest retail group, more than twice the
size of its nearest rival Carrefour, but until recently it was
virtually unknown outside North America. Recent moves into Latin
America and Europe, however, have...
Being the biggest does not mean being the best, it appears.
Europe's largest food retailer Carrefour has announced that it will
not meet its sales targets for 2004 after a second poor quarter
from its French hypermarket division.
British supermarket chains have traditionally focused primarily on
food products, spurning the hypermarket-style mix of food and
non-food items managed so successfully by their French
counterparts. But all this has changed in recent...
Giant US retail group Wal-Mart maintained its already undisputed
lead in the global retail market in 2003, posting a 5 per cent
increase in sales. But despite the gulf separating Wal-Mart from
the rest, European leviathans Carrefour,...
Seemingly not content with already being the world's biggest retail
group, US-based Wal-Mart is looking to build up its relatively
feeble European presence over the next few years with the potential
aim of having stores in every...
Wal-Mart claims that its initial roll-out of electronic product
codes (EPCs) in select distribution warehouses and stores suggests
that the concept will be a long-term success.
Auchan, the French retail group, has reported remarkably good
figures for 2003 despite its reliance on its home market, where low
levels of consumer spending have impacted sales at a number of its
rivals.
Wal-Mart and eight product manufacturers have begun testing
electronic product codes, or EPCs, at select Supercentres in the
US. If successful, the concept will change forever the manner in
which manufacturers and retailers operate...
Tesco, Britain's leading food retailer, has this week reaffirmed
its intention of becoming a major player in the Asian supermarket
sector with the announcement of another acquisition there. But the
deal came not, as expected,...
Carrefour might be Europe's biggest food retailer, but even it is
not immune to the continued weakness of the economy in its home
market. The ongoing drop in French consumer purchasing power has
forced the company to invest heavily...
Britain's third and fourth largest grocers have shown contrasting
sales performances in recent weeks, and Morrisons' recent takeover
of Safeway means that Sainsbury is now under serious threat of
dropping further down the...
A recent market survery reveals that the growth of the Polish
discount store market is continuing apace, with the market share
set to grow significantly in the course of the next two years.
Dutch retail group Ahold has confirmed that its Brazilian unit
Bompreco has been bought by giant US retailer Wal-Mart, bringing to
an end several months of negotiations and clearing the way for the
sale of its other Brazilian unit,...
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...
The majority of Polish shoppers still prefer to stock up on
groceries at their local store rather than at western-style
supermarkets or hypermarkets - although urban shoppers are
increasingly turning to the larger store formats.
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...
It is now two years since the publication of the so-called Curry
Report on the future of the British farm and food industry, but
many of the recommendations in the report - notably those
concerning the power of the major supermarket...
If 2003 was all about Safeway, and in the end Morrison's, in 2004
the UK grocery market agenda will be dominated by price. That is
the key finding of a new report from retail market analysts
Verdict published this week.
Europe's largest food retailer Carrefour has followed its decision to withdraw
from the race to acquire Ahold's Brazilian assets with a further
reduction in its presence in Latin America.
Wal-Mart has announced a significant jump in sales for the third
quarter driven largely by its European and South American
operations. In the UK the group's Asda division has continued its
success with strong store sales growth...
Carrefour is reported to have pulled out of the race to buy Ahold's
supermarket assets in Brazil, leaving Wal-Mart of the US and local
market leader CBD as the sole bidders. Carrefour will focus on
organic growth in the Brazilian...
The two franchise operators for the Carrefour retail group had
differing performances in the first half. Guyenne & Gascogne
showed solid growth during the six months, while Hyparlo's sales
suffered as a result of the disposal...
