News

Retail and consumer goods industry news

07 November 2013
As Ireland becomes the first Eurozone country to exit its bailout programme, we report back with five trends from Dublin on how Irish retailing has adapted to austerity and become a world leader in foodservice / convenience fusion concepts. 1. Value remains paramount While the economy is improving, consumer confidence currently remains at a low ebb. With one in three homeowners in negative equ...
07 November 2013
Comparethewholesaler.com, the latest online initiative seeking to bring greater clarity and transparency to pricing in UK wholesaling, is now live. Providing publicly available pricing data on a range of branded lines in core retail channel product areas, the site offers comparative information culled from cash & carry depots in a variety of locations across the UK. Data gathered and submitted by...
07 November 2013
Lotte and Shinsegae are amongst the retailers investing in this key growth channel. Shinsegae integrating grocery and non-food platforms Despite spinning off its grocery operations under the Emart banner in 2011, Shinsegae plans to combine both its department stores and grocery business in a new online platform. The same strategy was implemented by Japanese retailer AEON last year when it...
07 November 2013
In the past few days, Metro has revealed management changes in China, alongside new online developments in Germany and Russia. Going online in Russia At the beginning of November, Metro Cash & Carry Russia has unveiled a new online shop for office supplies. The service will be aimed at small and medium enterprises with a product range consisting of over 5,000 SKUs of office and cleaning s...
06 November 2013
The parent company of the Bargain Booze franchise, now renamed Conviviality Retail, has appointed Kenton Burchell to be its new commercial director.  Joining from Musgrave Retail Partners GB, parent to the Londis and Budgens symbol groups, Burchell will take up the role in March 2014. Second Musgrave executive to join Conviviality Kenton Burchell has been with Musgrave for 13 years, and was p...
06 November 2013
Boots has announced the introduction of contactless payment to all of its UK stores allowing customers to pay for goods now using their contactless cards. Growth of contactless payment Boots has been working with Visa Europe and Worldpay to roll out the service across its entire store network. Nigel Shortt, Head of Delivery - retail at Boots UK said “At Boots UK, we are continually looki...
06 November 2013
Coop Danmark, Denmark’s largest grocery retailer is collaborating with Galleria, a Chicago-based category planning solutions provider. The partnership aims to improve the customer experience, as well as undertake work to automate and optimize Coop Danmark’s merchandising strategy in over 1200 Danish stores. Galleria CEO ‘confident’ of partnership Ian Duncan-Lewis, CEO of Galleria commented “Co...
06 November 2013
Leading north-west regional supermarket operator, Booths is rolling out a range merchandising innovations in its flagship Knutsford store, in Cheshire, with the aim of increasing shopper engagement through customer experience, as it seeks to develop a world-class format for the future. Brings focus to destination categories These innovations, including the first ever wine tasting machine in a...
06 November 2013
Whole Foods Market’s total sales in the fourth quarter increased by 2.2% to $3.0bn (12 week period this year versus 13 week period in 2012), with comparable store sales up 5.9%. For the full year, the retailer’s total sales increased by 10.4% to $12.9bn, with comparable store sales up 6.9%. Slowest comp sales growth since Q1 2010 The story of the quarter is the marked slowdown in Whole Fo...
06 November 2013
Alliance Boots have appointed Richard Ashworth, currently working as Walgreens Corporate Operations Vice President, Western United States to the new post of Director of Healthcare, Health & Beauty UK and Ireland. This newly created role will report to Simon Roberts, Managing Director, Health & Beauty, UK and Ireland. Further development of the joint vision Following the move by Alex Gourlay to ...