Events and promotions news  

In this update, we look at what has happened at retailers across the region in the third quarter of 2016, including market entries & acquisitions, new store concepts, online & technology developments, loyalty enhancements and new appointments. MARKET ENTRIES & ACQUISITIONS Albania –  SPAR has opened its first stores in the country in partnership with Balfin Group, making Albania the 4...

Casino-owned, Brazil-based GPA has announced third quarter results saying consolidated total sales rose by 4.4% to BRL15.1 bn (US$4.7 bn), with its performance driven by its food businesses and its Assaí atacarejo fascia in particular. As in recent quarters the overall results were held back by weakness at its Cnova ecommerce division, but there was brighter news in its Via Varejo arm where sales...

Leading UK delivered wholesaler Palmer & Harvey has partnered with Zapper, to offer a mobile payment platform to its independent retail customers.  The app-based system, first developed for the restaurant sector, has now been adapted for convenience stores, providing retailers with an off-the-shelf, and easy to implement solution to bringing the speed and ease of digital payment to their customer...

We round up the latest news from Denmark and Finland where Reitangruppen is re-branding  forecourts, Coop Danmark is promoting organic and S Group is enjoying growth in the sale of organic products. . Reitangruppen re-brands Uno-X forecourts Reitangruppen is to re-brand 87 of its 262 Uno-X petrol forecourt stores as Bonus. This will allow Reitangruppen to ‘create an environment where p...

Konzum is introducing exclusive prices as an additional benefits of its MultiPlusCard loyalty programme as of tomorrow (6th October). Exclusive prices on select products This will see a price reduction of up to 40% in 1,000 premium products across a variety of fresh and ambient categories. Konzum will communicate this at the shelf edge so shoppers will be able to see the current price...

Leclerc's store in Quimper, Brittany, is the first to install the Data Tag solution which shows price comparisons on the electronic shelf-edge label. 3,000 labels, updated in real time Leclerc has installed around 3,000 electronic labels, which display the product's price in local competitors' stores; this figure is crossed out, to avoid confusion with Leclerc's price. Sourc...

Sainsbury's has reported a 0.4% fall in total retail sales for the 16 weeks to September 28th, with results impacted by weaker LFL sales (-1.1% from -0.8% in Q1) and slightly stronger deflation. However in a call to investors CEO Mike Coupe was confident about the response of trading to recent developments and upbeat about future opportunities. The LFL fall was principally caused by softness in no...

Finland's S Group has taken the next step in the digitalisation of its loyalty program, shifting away from paper-based coupons as of the end of October. Benefits accessible in real-time online The change will allow loyal shoppers to access their e-bonus benefits in real-time rather than six times a year through a paper statement. This can be done through the retailer’s app, website or s...

We round up developments in central & eastern Europe, including the launch of a new store in Zagreb that aims to raise awareness of food waste; while discounter Penny has begun selling non-standard shapes and sizes of fresh produce in-store at a discount in the Czech Republic. Surplus store offers discounts of 50-90% The new store in Zagreb offers shoppers factory surpluses at a discount of...

Aldi UK has announced plans to invest £300m in updating existing stores as it reveals 2015 sales increased by 12%. Sales up 12% to £7.7bn In the full year to 31 December 2015, Aldi's sales for its UK and Ireland business increased by 12% to £7.7bn. This sales increase of over £0.8bn year-on-year comes as Aldi continues to focus on being price leader in the UK. This strategy is working f...