October 26 – Ikea Acquires Real Estate in London
With plans to open a large store on London’s Oxford Street in fall of 2023, Ikea acquired a building previously occupied by Topshop. The 22,000 square meter building was bought for GBP 378 million. From Retail Detail
October 26 – Amazon India Announces New Store and Pays Cashback
Ahead of the holiday season of Dhanteras, Amazon.in announced a new Dhanteras Store which will bring a wide selection of specially curated products ranging from gold and silver coins, festive jewelry, electronics, pooja items, home décor, large appliances, smartphones, accessories, Amazon Devices, digital gold and much more. In addition to celebrate the holiday, Amazon Pay will offer cashback on digital gold to all its customers from October 20 to November 4. From Amazon
October 26 – Auchan Plans to Sell Business in Taiwan
After 24 years in Taiwan, Auchan is planning to stop operating in the country. With this move, the French supermarket group will be fully withdrawn from Asia. It is anticipated that PX Mart, a local operator, will take over the RT-Mart hypermarket joint venture between Auchan and the Ruentex Group by mid next year. From Inside Retail
October 26 – Carrefour Launches Rapid Grocery Delivery
France’s Carrefour has launched a rapid delivery platform, allowing for about 2000 food and non-food SKUs to be delivered in less than 15 minutes. The platform partners with Uber Eats and Cajoo, a start-up in which Carrefour has stake. From Retail Detail
October 25 – Alibaba Group’s Logistics Arm Expands to Hong Kong
For the first time outside of Mainland China, Cainiao Network, the logistics arm of Alibaba Group, has expanded from to Hong Kong. The new network will include 10 Cainiao Post stations, as well as 60 collection points in the hopes to streamline its last-mile logistics operations for consumers in the area. From Supply Chain Digital
October 26 – Russia’s Lenta Reaches 13% Sales Increase in Q3
Russia’s Lenta reported a 13.5% year-on-year growth in retail sales, to RUB 116 billion in its Q3. Online sales grew by 237% year-on-year, to RUB 4.4 billion with online orders up 231% to 2.4 million in the third quarter. Hypermarket sales accounted for 86% of the company’s sales during the quarter. From European Supermarket Magazine
October 26 – Aldi Nord Opens New Technology Hub
Aldi Nord has opened a new technology hub in Kraków, Poland at which the retailer anticipates to have around 250 employees by the end of 2021. The technology hub will serve as an asset in the retailer’s new emphasis on digitalization. From Retail Detail
October 25 – UK’s John Lewis Launches New Showroom Store
With an aim of showcasing its new Anyday range which is comprised of furniture, housewares, tech products and clothing, John Lewis has opened a flagship store. The line, designed in-house, is priced approximately 20% below John Lewis’ current own-brand products. From Retail Gazette
October 22 – Italy Delays Single-Use Plastic Tax
Coupled with tax on products containing sugar, Italy’s proposed single-use plastic tax was due to begin at the start of 2020 and was originally designed to raise more than EUR 1 billion annually. These levies, now postponed for a fifth time in Italy, will be delayed until 2023. From European Supermarket Magazine
October 21 – Report Gives Insight to Canadian’s Planned Holiday Shopping Behavior
A survey conducted by the Retail Council of Canada indicates that Canadians have planned to spend more this holiday season and they anticipate shopping in-store. The survey indicates that the British Columbians will be the biggest spenders, spending more than 14% of what they spent for holiday 2020.
From Global News
October 21 – Carrefour Opens 1000th Express Store
With the opening of its 100th store in 2021, Carrefour has reached 1000 Express Stores in Spain. Under the Express banner, the Carrefour runs supermarkets and neighborhood stores that operate as franchises. For the last five years Carrefour has been opening more than 100 Express stores per year.
From European Supermarket Magazine
October 19 – Chile’s Falabella Invests in Brazilian Startup
In continuation of its development of its LATAM business, Falabella has invested in Pismo, a Brazilian payment and processing startup. Pismo has a presence in Brazil, the United Kingdom and the United States and expects to expand its operations in other parts of Latin America with Falabella’s investment. Article written in Spanish. From Peru Retal
October 19 – Germany’s Globus Sees Increase in Sales
Germany’s hypermarket, Globus, has reported 2.4% increase in sales at its year end to EUR 7.76 billion. The group also operates in Russia, Luxembourg and Czechia and Luxembourg and reported a 6.1% increase in operating profit in the period, to EUR 301.3 million, compared to the prior year.
From European Supermarket Magazine
October 15 – JD.com to Open Store in the Netherlands
China’s ecommerce retailer, JD.com will open a brick-and-mortar store in the Netherlands under the Ochama banner on November 11. This follows the opening of a JD.com European distribution center in April 2021. From Retail Detail
October 15 – Monoprix Has New Warehouse for Non-Food Sector
Two years after the launch of the project, France’s Monoprix has a new logistics site dedicated to its non-food activities including fashion, textiles, home décor. At the cutting edge on the ecological level because carbon neutral, it also offers robotic solutions to boost its productivity and absorb the development of e-commerce. Article written in French. From LSA
October 11 – Auchan Attempt to Take Over Carrefour was Blocked
In a disagreement over valuation and structure of the deal, the attempt by Auchan to take over Carrefour was halted at the beginning of October. Earlier in 2021, Canada’s Couche-Tard aimed to take over Carrefour, but the deal was stopped by the French government. From Retail Detail
October 11 – Sweden’s ICA Sees Sales Increase
Sweden’s ICA reported a .6% year-on-year sales growth in like-for-like stores in September 2021. Total sales for the period amounted to SEK 10.3 billion excluding VAT, which represents a 0.9% growth in sales. From European Supermarket Magazine
October 8 – Finland’s S Group Extends Agreement with Carrefour
Finland’s S Group has announced that it will expand its purchasing agreement with France’s Carrefour to include a range of internationally-branded products. Previously , S Group and Carrefour had an agreement to include the purchase of private label products. The new agreement provides for the purchasing of international brands. From European Supermarket Magazine
