The Netherlands: Jumbo profit is hampered by weak Belgian expansion
Dutch retailer Jumbo reported disappointing numbers due to the rising cost of living due to rising inflation and losses at the beginning of its business in Belgium. The rising prices have impacted the satisfaction of customers, as Jumbo’s annual report illustrates. Jumbo had record-breaking revenue of 10.3 billion euros by 2022 (including La Place, a restaurant La Place chain La Place), but its operating profits (ebitda) decreased by 5 percent by 659 million euros. The net profit before tax dropped from 80 to 114 million euros. The 27 Belgian shops contributed to retail sales of 216 million euros in the last year, according to Dutch supermarket chain says in its report on its 2022 year-end report.
Source: RetailDetail
New Zealand: Woolworths to provide Circle K stores in New Zealand
Woolworths has signed an agreement to wholesale to Pamma Retail Group – the New Zealand master franchisee for the global convenience store Circle K – to supply grocery items to the company’s New Zealand stores. This is the sixth confirmed wholesaler that Woolworths has signed since Woolworths NZ launched its wholesale company, New Zealand Grocery Wholesalers (NZGH) which was launched at the end of June, last year. Australian-headquartered Woolworths is the owner of the Countdown, SuperValue and FreshChoice grocery chains in New Zealand.
Source: Reuters
France: Picnic expands to Paris
Dutch online market Picnic is all set to take on Picnic, the French capital. It should be ready by the end of this month which is nine months behind its previously scheduled date. This was due to various unexpected challenges, LSA reports. The first was the shortage of steel, which stopped the business from opening its refrigerated warehouses within the timeframe. The company was supposed to launch 10 new hubs for logistics in northern France this year, but they only opened two. Next was the amount of capacity required for Picnic’s electric delivery trucks. It took the company several months to resolve the issue, and solved the problem in the last week. It is expected that this year will be an increase for the delivery service: through its operation from Paris, Picnic hopes to triple or even quadruple French sales. In the last year, (Northern) France accounted for 30 million euros of sales.
Source: RetailDetail
UK HTML0: “Russian Lidl’ Mere planning to launch a new store within the UK
Last this year Mere is called Russia’s answer to Lidl it shut its initial and sole UK branch in Preston following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Also, it halted plans to launch more stores within the UK. Mere has also stopped operations in several different European nations citing “economic motives” and “political circumstances” in Russia as well as Ukraine as the reasons behind the decision. But, the company is currently hiring for positions in the UK in preparation for a scheduled relaunch, according to The Grocer. In a posting on LinkedIn in the last week, Mere’s Executive Director Olena Solodka wrote: “We are currently hiring!”
Mirror Source: Mirror
Zimbabwe: SPAR Zimbabwe offers 500m2 of “fresh is the best’
In the ongoing process to transform the retail experience, SPAR Zimbabwe invested in one of their main retail stores. The transformation was finished in less than four weeks. The renovation expanded the amount of space that is of frozen and fresh products in addition to the menu of food services. The renovated area of 500 square meters SPAR Supermarket are now displaying SPAR’s “fresh is best” policy. The latest fixtures and fittings represent the future trends of supermarkets with improved shelves and innovative point-of-sale technologies as well as focus lighting and the linear lighting of LED. “We are thrilled to be able to announce that we have reopened SPAR Bridge. The renovations we completed were an incredible time, and we’re very pleased by the results and it’s an enormous improvement in retail quality across Zimbabwe,” said Cypren Borerwe who is the General Manager at SPAR Zimbabwe.
Source: Spar
UK: John Lewis eliminates Waitrose staff bonuses and warns about job cuts in the wake of a loss of PS234m
John Lewis, and Waitrose employees will not receive any bonuses this year following the retail group was in the negative, registering a more than anticipated PS230m annual loss. Sharon White, the chairman of John Lewis Partnership, the chairman of John Lewis Partnership, warned about the possibility of losing jobs in her statement that “inflation has hit us like a storm” and that rising energy, freight as well as fuel costs increasing PS180m in cost. The increase in costs pushed the group to the 2nd annual loss for the company in the company’s past. White stated that certain Waitrose customers were turning towards discount stores, since the company “saw shifts in post-Covid shopping from the internet to stores” and tightened belts at the time of record low consumer confidence.
Source: The Guardian
UAE consumers have slowed down their spending during the fourth quarter of 2022.
UAE shoppers began turning more skeptical in the latter period of 2022, following successive increases in interest rates and increasing concerns that the world economy was about to enter the full-blown recession. Customers were seeking specials and discounts on necessities, while reducing purchases of non-essential items like electronics’ according to the most recent status of the market report of Majid Al Futtaim which is the operator of supermarkets and hypermarkets. malls ‘ operator. “Average spending per transaction at supermarkets and hypermarkets decreased by three percent. But overall spending in this segment increased by 11 percent over the previous year which indicates a trend towards lower amount of baskets, as well as more frequent transactions.”
Source: Gulfnews
Belgium: 83 Delhaize shops remain closed
83 Delhaize’s supermarkets have not opened their doors for customers on Thursday in protests against franchising 128 Belgian shops that remain under the control of the corporation directly. However, the remaining 45 independently-owned supermarkets are open, spokesperson Roel Dekelver said. The majority of this concern stores located in Wallonia and Brussels that are closed because workers protest against plans of the chain’s supermarket made public last week to transform the 128 stores that are under its management into franchises. This would mean less wage and work conditions for Delhaize workers, which the unions are not willing to take into consideration. Delhaize hopes more stores are expected to open in the next days. It is unfortunate that some shops are in limbo threatens the business as well as its futureprospects, Deklever stated.
Source: Brusselstimes
US: Empire reports $125.7M net profit after recovering from the Sobeys’ cyberattack
Empire Company Limited. announced that its net income exceeded $125.7 million during the most recent period as the Sobeys grocery chain bounced back after a cyberattack in November. The company announced its results on Thursday on the grocery store operator’s third-quarter were compared to $203.4 million of net profits for the same time prior to. Empire’s net earnings during the time that ended on Feb. 4, came to 49 cents for each share, lower than an average of 77 cents for each share during the 3rd quarter in previous fiscal year. Empire reported “unusually huge” rental income due to lease termination as well as increased property sales through Crombie Real Estate Investment Trust. Empire’s adjusted net profits totalled $164.8 million, which is down from $203.4 million in the previous year.
Source: RedDeerAdvocate
US The shoppers are hit with extra charges as stores make significant store changes to accommodate the ban on plastic bags
More than 3000 Americans were affected by a higher cost for shopping because their city’s government taken the controversial step of deciding to prohibit plastic bags completely. Radnor Township, Pennsylvania, is a suburb within Philadelphia has officially commenced the ban on plastic bags Wednesday. However, the plan was adopted in September 2022. In the new policy, there are no single-use plastic bags permitted at grocery stores and restaurants. But, retailers can hand the recyclable bags at the additional cost of 10 cents. Customers can also bring their own bags that are reusable at no cost. “From the environmental as well as economic standpoint, the most effective alternative to plastics is to change to recycled or reused paper bags” municipal officials wrote in a statement. The information was provided the Philadelphia NBC affiliate WCAU.
Source: The Sun
US: Kroger sees e-commerce as future profit engine
The retailer is looking towards its automation relationship with Ocado and its nascent media and retail business to reach its aim of earning more money on the internet, its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rodney McMullen said Wednesday. Kroger believes its online business will produce margins nearly as good as the ones it has seen as its traditional business of supermarkets the chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rodney McMullen said Wednesday during the Bank of America Consumer & Retail Conference. “If you consider the online operations, you will see that it is a business that has been growing in size has been profitable for a while. Barely. If you take a look at the execution, you’ll realize it has lots of work to accomplish. However, I am certain that we’ll make it and figure it out,” McMullen said.
GroceryDive is the source. GroceryDive
US: Walmart pumps $200 million into Indian Fintech PhonePe as part of a continuing fundraise
Indian electronic payments company PhonePe announced on Friday that it had secured $200 million from major backing Walmart Inc (WMT.N) at the pre-money price of 12 billion. PhonePe is already India’s most valued payments company and one of the nation’s most well-rated startups, claimed it was part of an ongoing fundraise that could reach as high as $1 billion. The company has raised $350 million from private equity company General Atlantic and $100 million from Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global and TVS Capital Funds in the recent two months, with the same valuation of 12 billion. American retailer Walmart purchased the majority stake in PhonePe in the year 2018, is expected to remain a majority shareholder in the company, the Indian firm said not disclosing the percentage. PhonePe was split from Indian online retailer Flipkart at the end of last year after which it moved its headquarters in Singapore to India in the process of Walmart paying the $1 billion in tax costs to pay for the move.
Source: Reuters