Canada news

Early year initiatives suggest we’re on-track with our North American retail trends outlook for 2021. It might be a little early to mark our success, but we’re already seeing new proof-points in support of our views. Outlined in our report, North America retail outlook 2021 , we highlight new initiatives which have emerged since the start of the year to reinforce the trends we identified....

With a consumer and foodservice portfolio focused on flavourings, McCormick has been well-positioned to capitalise on the pandemic-driven growth in home cooking. We look at why it expects this to persist, even when the pandemic ends. Pandemic-driven demand Global demand for flavour remains the foundation of its sales growth. The business plans to continue capitalising on the switch to eatin...

Loblaw has launched its partnership with Loop, the circular ecommerce platform developed by TerraCycle, to offer a range products in refillable packaging. Offering branded and private label products Having announced the partnership in 2019, Loblaw has initially launched in the Ontario market. Customers can shop for a range of food and household products in refillable packaging, including ic...

Autonomous, or checkout free, store concepts have been gaining ground over the last few years, with companies piloting different models. This has accelerated since the start of the pandemic as retailers look to develop contactless and frictionless solutions. We highlight four which have recently launched, or are set to make their debut, in North America. 1. CIBO Express, Newark Airport, New Yo...

With health and wellness the focus for many retailers at the start of the year, we look at three new initiatives from North America. These are centred on helping consumers make healthier choices, access specialist information, and track progress on their healthy eating journeys. USA: Hy-Vee launches virtual dietitian platform The new platform, Healthie, from Midwest-based Hy-Vee, enables cu...

Having entered in preliminary discussions around a potential transaction, these have now ended, with Carrefour and Couche-Tard switching their focus to explore opportunities for operational partnerships. Opposition to any deal The discussions had been initiated by Couche-Tard’s “friendly approach” to Carrefour with the objective of acquiring the France-based retailer. However, these d...

Couche-Tard, which operates the Circle K brand globally, has launched a live retail lab store in Montreal featuring an autonomous shopping experience, in partnership with McGill University. Autonomous store experience The lab store has been launched to enable the testing of innovative and frictionless technologies in a live environment. Located on McGill University’s downtown campus in the ...

Canada's Couche-Tard, which operates the Circle K chain of convenience stores globally, has submitted a non-binding offer letter to Carrefour for a "friendly combination" at a price of EURO 20 per share, in a US$20bn deal. The terms of the transaction are under discussion, but there can be no certainty at this stage that these discussions will result in any agreement or transaction. Retail’s d...

Undoubtedly 2020 was a year of unprecedented change for the North American food retail sector. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been broad and long-lasting, accelerating change in several areas. We look at how the market is expected to evolve over the next 12 months against the backdrop of a prolonged pandemic and the resetting of many business models. Source: IGD Research 1. Cr...

We review Costco’s first quarter results and how the underlying strength of its proposition is driving up traffic and basket size. First quarter key numbers Net sales increased 16.9% to $42.4bn Comparable stores sales (ex-fuel and currency impacts) increased 17.1%, with US up 17.0%, Canada up 16.8% and other international up 17.7% Ecommerce comparable sales were up 86.2% Net inc...