US: Online grocery shopping and store pickup trends accelerated by the pandemic are now slowing
About 50% of grocery shoppers began buying online and picking up in store during the pandemic, but only half of those customers will continue this behavior in the future, according to new research by ChaseDesign, the human-centered design agency. Buy online pick up in store (BOPIS) programs allow customers to purchase items online and collect them at the retailer store rather than getting it delivered.
Source: businesswire.com
US: UNFI unveils new “Fuel the Future” growth plan
United Natural Foods, Inc. unveiled its new growth strategy, outlining the pillars of its “Fuel the Future” plan and its focus on increasing market share through network optimization, stronger innovation, and an enhanced customer experience during the Company’s virtual Investor Day event.
Source: businesswire.com
Russian instant grocery-delivery service sets sights on U.S.
Samokat, Russia’s biggest instant grocery-delivery service by orders, is aiming to be the first of its peers to take a share of the booming U.S. market. The founders of the St. Petersburg-based company are launching the service, to be called Buyk, in August in New York. They are targeting 10,000 orders a month there by year-end.
Source: bnnbloomberg.ca
UK: Ocado settles litigation with former employees
Ocado Group announced that it has settled its litigation with 2 former employees, Jonathan Faiman (who left in 2008) and Jon Hillary (whose employment was terminated in 2019) and the competing business they set up, Project Today Holdings Limited (“T0day”). The Defendants have made a significant payment to Ocado as part of the settlement. A spokesman for the company said: “Ocado has never been stronger. Our people have built a great business. It is our duty to protect our people and their work from any unlawful and illegitimate use by third parties for their own ends”.
Source: ocadogroup.com
Germany: Edeka NST sees retail sales up 14% in FY 2020
Edeka Nordbayern-Sachsen-Thüringen (Edeka NST), 1 of 7 regional groups of companies in the Edeka group, has reported a 14% growth in retail sales to €4.6bln in its financial year 2020. The retailer attributed this growth to the performance of independent retailers in the group. The increase in retail sales was driven by the group’s expansion programme and the ‘store relaunch programme’ for repositioning existing stores.
Source: esmmagazine.com
British judge: “Deliveroo riders are not employees”
According to a British appeals court, Deliveroo meal delivery riders in the UK are independent contractors, not employees. But with that, the discussion about gig workers’ rights is not quite over. The ruling is important for Deliveroo, because the employment status of the riders has been under discussion for some time. Moreover, the earnings model of the meal delivery company relies heavily on the couriers’ self-employed status. The share price on the London stock exchange went sharply higher as a result.
Source: retaildetail.eu
E-Food: Farmy Switzerland continues its growth with Scallog Robots
The boom in e-food orders gives an ongoing boost to Farmy, the Swiss online shop for regional and organic products. In the city of Winterthur, Farmy clients benefit from now on from free deliveries. Warehouse robots from Scallog support the order preparation specialists in the central logistics hub in Zurich.
Source: globaltrademag.com
Two ‘virtual supermarkets’ to open in Portugal: report
Portugal will soon see 2 new players enter the ‘dark store’ business in the food retail sector, according to a report in Economia Online. Barcelona-based Blok is already present in Spain and Italy and will now expand to Portugal. It is already seeking people for its warehouses, which will deliver products purchased by app users. It is also looking for warehouses in Lisbon and Porto to store products. For Gorillas, Portugal will be its fifth market, after Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, and France.
Source: esmmagazine.com
Too Good To Go UK reaches food waste milestone
Surplus food app Too Good To Go has saved 5mln ‘Magic Bags’ of food in the UK in the 5 years since it launched. Too Good To Go lets consumers buy surplus food from businesses to stop it from going to waste. Consumers simply download the free Too Good To Go app and search for nearby businesses with unsold food. They then purchase a ‘Magic Bag’ of surplus food and collect it at an allotted time.
Source: talkingretail.com
China: Tencent-backed Missfresh valued at $2.5bln after shares slump in debut
Tencent Holdings Ltd-backed Missfresh Ltd’s shares fell more than 18% in their U.S. stock market debut, giving the Chinese online grocery company a market capitalization of about $2.5bln. The company sold 21mln American depositary shares (ADSs) in its initial public offering (IPO) at the lower end of its target range, raising $273mln.
Source: reuters.com
UK June retail sales jump, stocks dwindle: CBI
British retailers reported a jump in sales in June as the country’s fast vaccination programme encouraged shoppers to go out and spend, the Confederation of British Industry said. The CBI’s measure of the volume of sales rose to +25 from May’s +18, the highest since August 2018, while sales were reported as above seasonal norms – which excludes the effect of last year’s lockdown – were the highest in over 4 years.
Source: esmmagazine.com
Landmark Foundation Earth project launches to issue environmental scores on food products
Global food giants and a group of Europe’s leading supermarkets have teamed up with the world’s top food and environmental scientists to form a new non-profit organisation that will issue front-of-pack environmental scores on food products from this September. Foundation Earth is the brainchild of Denis Lynn, the Northern Irish food entrepreneur who tragically died in May 2021 following a freak quadbike accident. M&S, Sainsbury’s and the Co-op join the world’s biggest food company Nestlé, protein giant Tyson Foods and Spanish supermarket Eroski on the Foundation’s industry advisory group, each signing up to “explore the potential for environmental labelling on food products and to support Foundation Earth’s ambition to help build a more sustainable food industry”.
Source: foundation-earth.org