Missfresh racks up $495mln in funding as China’s e-grocery booms
China’s Missfresh announced a new funding round of $495mln led by a fund under state-backed China International Capital Corporation. Other investors include ICBC International Securities, Tencent, Abu Dhabi Capital Group, Tiger Global, and a fund managed by the government of Changshu county, home to Missfresh’s east China headquarters. By placing mini-warehouses closer to customers, the six-year-old startup is able to offer 30-minute delivery to households across 16 Chinese cities.
Source: techcrunch.com
Israeli Discount to accept $427mln offer for Shufersal stake
Israeli holding company Discount Investment Corp said it has decided to accept an offer from institutional investors to sell its shares in supermarket chain Shufersal for 1.46bln shekels ($427mln). Discount received an offer of 23.5 shekels for each of its 61.96mln Shufersal shares, equal to a stake of 26%.
Source: reuters.com
Flipkart buys parent Walmart's Indian wholesale business
Flipkart said it had acquired parent Walmart Inc’s local cash-and-carry business, as the e-commerce firm strengthens its wholesale offerings to compete better with Amazon.com Inc. The deal will allow Flipkart to launch a digital marketplace called Flipkart Wholesale next month, the Bengaluru-headquartered firm said, without disclosing any financial details of the deal.
Source: in.reuters.com
Ireland: SuperValu launches new reusable fruit, veg & bakery bags
SuperValu has launched a new reusable fruit, vegetables and bakery bag, which is washable and certified food safe. The new bags are a sustainable alternative for customers, who can reuse the shopping bags for their next visit to their local SuperValu, the retailer said. "SuperValu is working hard to offer our customers sustainable choices with continuous measures being introduced to meet this”, said Ray Kelly, interim managing director, SuperValu. Grocery shoppers can purchase 2 reusable bags for €1 at designated points in most stores nationwide.
Source: checkout.ie
Holland: Sligro suffers huge loss after Covid hit
Dutch food wholesaler Sligro suffered a 17 % turnover drop last semester, as the Covid-19 fallout also halved its EBIT and pushed net profit far below zero. While the first trimester of the year still showed a small turnover growth, sales melted away from March. Sales dropped by as much as 55%, CEO Koen Slippens says. However, that drop has been decreasing ever since, reaching 35% by the end of June. Still, the company's turnover fell off the billion-euro threshold down to 943mln euros, while last year's net profit (13mln euros) made way for a net loss of 72mln.
Source: retaildetail.eu
DIA’s transformation strategy showing positive effects in Brazil
DIA reported a 14.9% growth in like-for-like (LFL) sales in Q2 at a group level, while it was also able to report LFL growth in all its markets for the first time since Q4 2016. In Brazil LFL sales grew 14.7%. Net sales in Brazil were up 20% in local currency, but this was outweighed by a 28% devaluation of the Brazilian Real during the period. The strong results were despite DIA having significantly fewer stores, having closed over 300 unprofitable stores during 2019.
Source: retailanalysis.igd.com
US: Bashas’ deploys NCR point-of-sale technology
Bashas’ Family of Stores has gone live with NCR Emerald, the next-generation, cloud-enabled point-of-sale (POS) platform offered on a subscription basis for grocers. Emerald “is a key component of NCR’s Next-Generation Retail Store Architecture, providing retailers the ability to simplify store operations and introduce future innovations in a fraction of the time and cost”, NCR said.
Source: progressivegrocer.com
US: Southeastern Grocers aims to ease coin shortagee
To address the current nationwide coin shortage while also helping the needy, Southeastern Grocers Inc. (SEG) has launched SEG Positive Change Round Up Campaign. From Friday, July 24, customers throughout SEG’s store footprint can round up their grocery bills to the nearest dollar at checkout. All change donated will be electronically collected and the total rounded up to the nearest dollar by the grocer.
Source: progressivegrocer.com
US: Bogopa Service Corporation acquires 2 Fairway Market locations
Bogopa Service Corporation, operator of 26 Food Bazaar Supermarkets in the New York, New Jersey, Connecticut area, has acquired Fairway Markets in Red Hook, Brooklyn and Douglaston, Queens. “These 2 new Food Bazaar locations will continue to provide the Douglaston and Red Hook communities with the highest quality and variety of perishables, groceries, and other unique food offerings that our shoppers have come to expect”, said Fairway Market Chief Executive Officer Abel Porter. “We are pleased to pass the baton to Food Bazaar, knowing they will welcome our employees to the Bogopa family and will deliver a world-class shopping experience for their customers.”
Source: businesswire.com
Canada: Online grocery sales up 280% at Loblaw
Grocery e-commerce sales skyrocketed at Loblaw during a second quarter that also saw a decline in profit due to pandemic-related operational costs. The Brampton, Ontario-based retailer reported that it incurred $210mln in pandemic-related costs during the second quarter ended June 13, including e-commerce investments and $134mln in pay bonuses for its 200,000 employees. Loblaw's e-commerce investments certainly are paying off for the company, which reported a 280% increase in digital sales to $895mln, surpassing its 2019 full-year total of $746mln.
Source: progressivegrocer.com
