April 14 – JD.com Creates Offline Catering Supply Chain Solution
JD.com with Juqi, a dinning chain in Beijing, announced a supply chain cooperation, positioning JD.com as the first platform in China capable of providing a one-stop supply chain solution covering both the full category of food and materials supply, and integrated warehousing and distribution services. Through the cooperation, JD will also provide intelligent inventory management. From JD.com

April 14 – Amazon Spain to Begin Operations of New Logistics Center in Fall
Amazon Spain will open a new logistics center in Murcia, Spain to increase capacity and give greater support to small, independent vendors. The facilities focus on sustainability and have integrated energy saving technologies and low energy consumption systems. Article in Spanish From Amazon.com

April 13 – UK’s Tesco Announces Online Sales Growth
Tesco’s online sales for 2020/21 surged to GBP 6.3 bn for the year, representing an increase of 77% as it doubled its online fulfillment capacity. Retail sales increased 7%, year-on-year, up 6.3% in like-for-like sales, although pandemic related costs of GBP 892 million caused a decline in group operating profit of 28.3%. Retail sales in the UK and Republic of Ireland. From Tesco

April 13 – Lidl Opens First Opole Outlet in Poland
Schwartz Group’s Lidl has opened its first retail store, Opole, an outlet in Poland retailing electronics, clothing and accessories. Article written in Polish. From Wiadomości Handlowe

April 12 – Finland’s S Group Renovates Network of Stores
In a project that began in early 2020 and has continued through the pandemic, Finland’s retailer S Group is updating its network of around 400 store. The upgrades feature higher-quality, customer-oriented and energy-efficient store formats across the retailer’s network of outlets in Finland.  From European Supermarket Magazine

April 12 – Alibaba Penalized by Anti-Monopoly Authority

Alibaba received penalty of USD 2.8 bn imposed by the anti-monopoly authority in China, which sighted Alibaba with restricting merchants from doing business or running promotions on rival platforms. From BBC

April 11 – UK’s Next Retailer will Feature Homebase Products
In multiple Next fashion retail stores in the UK, Homebase DIY chain will feature mini garden centers.  Customers will have access to expert gardening advice, plants, pots and tools alongside Next’s range of clothing and housewares. From The Guardian

April 8 – Amazon India digitizes 2.5 million SMEs, enables exports worth USD 3 billion
Amazon India has announced the progress its commitments made in January 2020, confirming that it has digitized 2.5 million MSMEs, enabled cumulative exports worth USD 3 billion and helped create about 1 million jobs in India.  Last year Amazon announced an investment of USD 1 billion to digitally enable 10 million MSMEs, enable ecommerce exports worth USD 10 billion and create 1 million additional jobs in India between 2020 and 2025 and they are on track to fulfill these commitments. From Amazon

April 8 – France’s Monoprix Opens Hybrid Pedestrian Drive
In a trial that is part of the launch of Casino Monoprix’s click & collect (Cliquez & Retirez) serviced by Ocado and featured in all Monop c-stores, the retailer has opened a hybrid pedestrian drive in central Paris. Customers can pick up orders placed via Monoprix Plus service on Monoprix.fr, alongside an instore convenience store assortment of 400 SKUs. Article written in French. From Linéaires

April 8 – Italy’s Esselunga Sees Growth
Italy’s Esselunga supermarket chain reached sales of EUR 8.37 bn in 2020, an increase of 2.9% year-on-year, which is ahead of the market average increase of 2.2%. A large contributor to this growth was ecommerce sales, which saw an increase of .9% in the first half of 2020 and 4.8% in the second half of the year. From European Supermarket Magazine

April 7 – Carrefour Opens First Autonomous Stores in Brazil
Carrefour Brazil opened its first two fully autonomous stores, using use scan & go technology, which Carrefour is using in 40 Express stores.  These two new stores are Carrefour Brazil’s first unstaffed stores. The retailer is testing this concept with approximately 800 SKUs. From Retail Analysis

April 7 – Supermarket Loyalty Has Been Difficult During Pandemic
Research has shown that due to the ongoing struggle to find online shopping slots during successive lockdowns in the UK, shoppers were unable to remain loyal to their supermarket of choice. During the most recent UK lockdown Aldi and ASDA have been leaders in attracting the most new grocery shoppers in-store and online than other leading supermarkets. From International Supermarket News

April 7 – MercadoLibre Triples Investment in Mexico
Fueled by a major increase of online shopping during the pandemic, Argentina-based MercadoLibre will invest USD 1.1 billion in Mexico this year to expand services and storage capacities in Mexico this year. The investment approximates adding 4,000 new jobs in Mexico. Article written in Spanish. From América Retail

April 7 – Russia’s AliExpress Discloses 2020 Results
At the end of 2020, the turnover of AliExpress Russia was 151% more than in 2019 and daily orders in March 2021 were approximately 64,000 with more than 26.2 million total unique buyers for the fiscal year. The site had a 8.8 million daily visits with the number of unique visits in 2020 exceeding 72.5 million, representing an increase of 30% from the previous year. Article written in Russian. From Retail.ru