US: Raley’s builds up leadership team with 2 longtime execs
Raley’s, the West Sacramento, California-based operator of 126 grocery stores, has promoted 2 veteran leaders within the organization. Craig Benson was named senior vice president, head of technology, and Levi Wingo was named vice president, operations. “This is an exciting time for Raley’s”, said Laura Croff, senior vice president, human resources. “We have built a strong leadership team that will support the advancement of our vision and purpose.”
Source: supermarketnews.com
Ahold Delhaize USA expands distribution worker use of robotic exosuits
ADUSA Supply Chain, the distribution and logistics arm of Ahold Delhaize USA, plans to scale up the use of wearable robotics to help grocery distribution center workers with lifting. ADUSA said that it has piloted “exosuits” from Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Verve Motion over the past year, with the technology assisting in millions of lifts of product. Based on positive feedback from wearers, the pilot will be broadened to include more than 250 suits in affiliated DCs.
Source: supermarketnews.com
Amazon sees suppliers as prime targets for ownership stakes
Amazon is demanding that some suppliers grant the online retail giant the right to buy shares of their stock at, potentially, bargain prices. What the suppliers get in return are contracts with the eCommerce king. The Wall Street Journal reports that the online retailer has reached these kinds of deals with at least a dozen publicly traded companies. What Amazon gets is the rights, known as warrants, to buy the suppliers’ stock at some future time.
Source: pymnts.com
US: Hy-Vee’s Mealtime To Go serves up breakfast
Hy-Vee has added breakfast to the menu of prepared meals offered by its year-old Mealtime To Go curbside pickup service. Dubbed by the grocery retailer as the “Best Breakfast in America”, Hy-Vee’s breakfast menu runs the gamut from skillet, breakfast bowl and omelet entrees to pancakes, waffles, French toast and sandwiches, along with platters including classic breakfast items such as bacon, sausage, steak, eggs, homestyle potatoes and fresh fruit.
Source: supermarketnews.com
UK’s Lollipop: The Monzo of supermarkets?
It would be hard to come up with a startup that’s more zeitgeisty than Lollipop. The grocery shopping app’s founder wants to use his experience in fintech to do for supermarket shopping what digital banks did for financial management: make it quick(er), easier and perhaps even a little bit fun. If it can pull that off, it might just create an investor’s dream. “If Monzo did supermarkets, what would that look like?” says Lollipop founder Tom Foster-Carter, the former COO of Curve and Monzo. His answer: Lollipop. The free app helps busy families plan their weekly meals, meet their health goals, find a bit of menu inspiration and save time by automatically sticking all the ingredients needed in a basket – and getting them sent to your door.
Source: sifted.eu
Kenya: Carrefour takes on Naivas in Kisumu with 2 outlets
Carrefour is set to open 2 branches in Kisumu as it hopes to cut down on Naivas Supermarket dominance and get a piece of the lakeside city’s growing middle-class shoppers. The French giant retailer is banking on their strategic location at United Mall along the busy Kisumu-Kakamega highway and Mega Plaza at the central business district to stamp their presence against old players in the region.
Source: businessdailyafrica.com
UK: Asda launches one-hour Express Delivery service
Asda has become the first supermarket to offer its full online product range available for Express Delivery giving its customers faster and more convenient delivery options. The new super speedy service has been launched at 3 Asda stores this week following a successful trial, and gives customers the option to shop Asda’s full online range of more than 30,000 grocery products for delivery in 1 hour (Express Delivery in 1 hour is subject to slot availability, distance from an Asda store and the number of items selected).
Source: corporate.asda.com
Alibaba betting big on Vietnam e-commerce potential
Fast increasing online groceries demand and the high growth potential of Vietnamese e-commerce market are factors driving Chinese giant Alibaba’s investment in Vietnam. A consortium led by the Chinese e-commerce giant invested $400mln in The CrownX, a subsidiary of conglomerate Masan Group that operates retail chain WinMart. The investment was seen as a chance for Lazada, Alibaba’s e-commerce platform, to create a business relationship with WinMart for the online groceries business, Singapore-based technology media company Tech in Asia said.
Source: retailnews.asia
Musgrave highlights £160mln spend on NI food & drink
Musgrave is shining a spotlight on its support for Northern Ireland food and drink, and the wider economy, in a multi-channel marketing campaign across SuperValu and Centra stores. The campaign, Because Local Matters, highlights the group’s annual spend of £160mln on local food and drink, while employing almost 5,000 people in 300 locations and contributing around £350mln to the NI economy.
Source: belfasttelegraph.co.uk
Belgium and Luxembourg: Delhaize to become the exclusive operator of Foodmaker restaurants
Delhaize and Foodmaker are structuring their partnership: the supermarket chain will become the exclusive “main franchisee” of the Foodmaker restaurant concept in Belgium and Luxembourg and will be responsible for further developing the network. Delhaize and Foodmaker have been working together for over a decade: Foodmaker’s products can be found in all of the retailer’s outlets and on its website. Delhaize also has 150 Foodmaker salad bars, where customers can assemble their salad.
Source: retaildetail.eu
UK shop prices fall faster but inflation pressures mount – BRC
Prices charged by British retailers fell slightly faster in June than in May due to a fierce battle between supermarkets, but growing costs linked to COVID-19 and Brexit might add to the rise in broader inflation soon, an industry group said. The British Retail Consortium’s shop price index for June showed prices were 0.7% lower than a year before compared with a 0.6% fall in the year to May, which was the smallest drop since February 2020.
Source: euronews.com
UK: 1 in 5 ready meals now plant-based or vegetarian, survey shows
A fifth of ready meals sold by UK supermarkets are now plant-based or vegetarian and are the cheapest option at the majority of retailers, according to a survey. Among the ready meal category, plant-based options are the fastest growing, up by 92% since the Eating Better alliance’s first survey in 2018. According to the latest research by Mintel, 86% of UK adults eat ready meals, with 3 in 10 people eating chilled ready meals at least once a week.
Source: standard.co.uk