Convenience news

Monthly data updates from 7-Eleven, Lawson and Ministop, focusing on sales, customer footfall and average customer spend in Japan.  Japan’s convenience channel shrinking All of the leading convenience retailers are seeing a decline in sales year-on-year (YoY). Seasonal effects and changes in COVID-19 cases and restrictions are impacting customer footfall, leading to sales fluctuation month ...

Amongst all modern retail channels, the impact of COVID-19 from a global perspective, has varied the most in convenience. The channel, however, continues to offer a massive opportunity for retailers and suppliers globally, benefiting from longer term consumption trends such as smaller households and more consumers shopping locally. With this in mind, we have identified five themes that we expect ...

Seven & i Holdings, Aeon and Lawson have posted their Q3 results for the nine months ended November 30, 2020. Summary and our view On January 7, 2021, the Japanese government declared a state of emergency in Tokyo and three surrounding prefectures. The Q3 results do not reflect this latest announcement, the Christmas trading period, nor the recent snow storms, but show the continued negativ...

In line with much of the UK grocery retail sector major regional co-operative Central England has reported a buoyant Christmas trading performance, announcing sales growth of +9.2% for the three weeks from the middle of December to 2 January. New Year’s Eve saw the highest growth With 260 stores across 16 counties of midland and eastern England, Central England Co-op reported especially str...

Co-op wholesale subsidiary, Nisa has announced that it successfully onboarded 620 new stores to its distribution network in the course of 2020, a significant rise on 2019. This provides a significant platform for growth into 2021 following the significant boost seen in performance over 2020, with Nisa sales reported up 14% in the half year to July. Mix of independent and multi-site operators a...

France-based Casino is sustaining its pace of innovation, both in-store and online. With COVID-19 changing shoppers’ behaviours the retailer has launched a new banner, #Home, and is evolving its online offer. Casino adds #Home to its range of banners… Continuing its trialling of new banners and concepts, local trade publication LSA has launched a new banner, #Home, with the opening of its f...

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...

Midcounties Co-op has reported a positive performance over the Christmas period. In the three weeks to 2 January 2021, like-for-like sales increased by 7.7%. Sales of locally-sourced products up 60% The retailer said sales growth was boosted by its enhanced seasonal range, including a record number of locally-sourced products. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Midcounties Co-op incre...

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...

Mexican business FEMSA, which owns the OXXO convenience store chain, are trialling autonomous convenience stores in Mexico. The small-sized units are designed to serve customers in hospitals, apartment complexes and offices. FEMSA has launched two stores in the format, which it has named OXXO Smart. Source: FEMSA Key characteristics of OXXO Smart The stores are fully autonomous (r...