August 19 – France’s Les Mousquetaires Plans Store Openings in Portugal Intermarché, the banner under which Las Mousquetaire’s stores will operate in Portugal, plans invest €200 million to open 105 stores by 2023, of which €60 million will be invested in 2019 to open 15 new stores. From European Supermarket Magazine
August 19 – Retailers Rethink Black Friday Sales
In a survey of more than 400 US and UK retail marketers, retailers are anticipating 2019 Black Friday revenue to be 25% higher than 2018, and revenue from the wider holiday season to be 28% higher than last year. From Insider Retail
August 19 – Amazon Japan Relies on Freelance Drivers
Amazon Japan, looking for ways to fulfill promises for some deliveries within 2 hours of an order, has contracted with freelance drivers. From Nikkei Asian Review
August 19 – Walmart Brasil Rebrands and Targets Growth
A year after acquiring majority stake in Walmart Brasil, Advent has rebranded its hypermarkets and supermarkets to Grupo BIG, which will feature 100% local management. Grupo BIG (formerly Walmart Brasil) is the third largest food retailer in Brazil, with around 550 stores. From European Supermarket Magazine
August 16 – Australia’s Westfarmers Repositions Target
In an effort to differentiate from its sister brand, Kmart Australia, Australia’s Target will offer higher quality apparel, housewares and toys. The shift will reposition the department store to compete against more specialty and middle-market offerings. From Inside Retail
August 16 – Walmart China and Dada-JD Set Sales Record During China’s omni-channel “8.8 Shopping Festival” from July 18 to August 14, created in partnership between Walmart and JD.com. From Access Wire
August 16 – UK’s Homebase Acquires Bathstore
Homebase will take control of Bathstores’s 44 outlets and a website, which will continue to operate independently from Homebase’s site. From Housewares Live
August 16 – Alibaba’s Sales Surge After Adding 20 M users Online giant, Alibaba’s second quarter revenues increased 42% by increasing active users by 20 million, to 674 million. From Inside Retail
August 15 – Grupo Exito’s Sales Rise 9.8% in Q2
Driven by sales recorded in Colombia, Brazil and Uruguay, which increased during Q2 as well as growth on exito.com, carulla.com, virtual catalogs and marketplace by 47% compared to the same period of 2018, the retail group reported 9.8% rise in sales. Written in Spanish From GrupoExito.com
August 14 – Spain’s El Corte Ingles Announces Usage of Renewable Energy Resources As part of The ‘Climate Protection’ program of the United Nations Global Compact and the European Retail Trade Board, El Corte Ingles announced that 98.5% of the energy it used in 2018 was sourced from certified renewable resources. From European Supermarket Magazine
August 13 – UK’s Lakeland Launches New Customer Loyalty Program
Lakeland has launched myLakeland, its new customer loyalty program, with customer recognition and experience as the main goals. From Housewares Live
August 13 – Germany’s MediaMarkt Sees Major Losses
Parent company, Ceconomy, confirmed their losses have grown by 50% for MediaMarkt and Saturn, however, there is a transformation plan in action to turn around the losses. From Retail Detail
August 13 –India Ikea Faces Local Competition in India
With major expansion planned for the coming years in India, Ikea may be facing strong competition from local player, Pepperfry. Pepperfry has taken many steps to safeguard its success in the Indian market, including building its own logistics arm. From Inside Retail
August 12 – France’s Carrefour Decides not to Open Automated Store Carrefour ended its plans to open its first automated store in Brussels city center, stating that it came across unresolvable problems. It’s unclear if the retailer will pursue the concept in the future. From Retail Detail
August 12 – The Netherlands’ Delhaize and bol.com Increase Cooperation
Delihaize and bol.com are working together to increase traffic with a back-to-school cross-promotion, aiming to reach Belgian families with children. From Retail Detail
August 9 – UK’s Tesco to Downsize Hypermarkets in Poland Tesco plans to change approximately 60 hypermarkets in Poland to “compact hypermarkets”, which will be reduced in size by 1/3 of the current size. Currently there are 350 stores of the British network in three formats in Poland: supermarkets, compact hypermarkets and large hypermarkets. From ISN Magazine
August 8 – Canadian Tire to Buy Party City Stores
The estimated party supplies market is CAD 12 billion per year. Canadian Tire hopes to capitalize on this with the purchases of Party City’s 65 stores throughout Canada. From Global News
August 6 – Brazil’s GPA to open Minuto Pão Stores With a maximum of 150 square meters per store, GPA is testing the concept of convenience stores stocking approximately 2000 items and plans to open 15 stores in 2019. From RLI
August 1 – TheMarket Online Platform Launches in New Zealand
With Backing of New Zealand’s The Warehouse Group, TheMarket launched in New Zealand with more than 1500 brands and promises to add new products weekly. The new site will avail global brands to consumers in the market in a way not previous offered. From Inside Retail
August 1 – Thailand’s Central Group Plans to Spin Off Retail Division With approximately 2000 stores in Thailand, over 130 in Vietnam and 9 in Italy, Thai mall operator, Central Group will list its Central Retail Corporation unit, combining retail businesses in all three countries. From Inside Retail
