Canada news

With a new leadership team in place, Loblaw has reassessed almost 20 strategic initiatives. Against a strong second quarter performance, we look at some of the areas the business will be focusing on through the second half. Loblaw Q2 key numbers Total revenue up 4.5% to $12.5bn Operating income up 86.1% to $752m Net earnings up 660% to $56m Food retail same-store sales declined ...

As part of its plan to develop new revenue and profit pools, Walmart is to start offering several of its technologies and capabilities to other businesses. Enabling further investment in the customer value proposition Under this initiative, Walmart will aim to monetise the technologies it has developed over the last few years to support its digital transformation and moves towards creating ...

Earlier this year we published our five trends to watch in North America in 2021. We review our predictions and highlight what’s happened and why we’ve had to revise our outlook. Pandemic duration beyond our initial expectations The first half of the year has progressed broadly in line with our expectations, outlined in our report, North America strategic outlook 2021 . However, the du...

Having undertaken three major divestments in the last year and digital growth set to outpace sales through physical formats, a very different Walmart will emerge over the next five years. We highlight the five major changes to plan for. Business in transformation Walmart is the world's largest retailer, with activities spanning North America, Latin America, Asia and Africa. It has emerged a...

Leading US-based quick commerce company, Instacart, has appointed Fidji Simo as its new CEO, effective August 2. We look at her background, what she brings to the role, and some of the key challenges ahead. Facebook veteran Simo joins Instacart from Facebook where she was vice president and head of the Facebook app. She has overseen its development over the last ten years, including News Fe...

Canada's leading retailer, Loblaw, has opened its first Real Atlantic Superstore format in over a decade. We look at the concept which features the latest conventional neighbourhood model décor. Built for the future This is a new build store, located in a growing community within the Halifax Regional Municipality. It is expected to experience sustainable population growth for many years to ...

With more than 14,000 stores globally, Couche-Tard’s vision is to become the world’s preferred destination for fuel and convenience. Its mission is to make its customers’ lives a little easier every day. We review the retailer’s future outlook and annual results for the year ending 25 April 2021. Key numbers Fourth quarter merchandise and service revenues up 15.2% to US$3.7bn Same-sto...

With the key summer trading months underway, we look at how Canadian retailers are gearing up for a summer of fun, grilling and sport. Theme creates relevance With retailers and suppliers facing tough comparables over the summer months due to the elevated at-home demand last summer, they are focused on driving sales through getting behind key events, including the Olympics and Canada Day. T...

As Sobeys lapped last year’s strong fourth quarter performance, sales and profitability declined. However, it delivered a strong two-year stacked performance and remains on-track with its growth initiatives, including the acceleration of its ecommerce business. Q4 and FY key numbers Q4 sales declined 1.3% to $6.9bn, with same-store sales down 6.1% Q4 two-year stacked same store-sales ...

Walmart is converting its Supercentre hypermarket in Terrace, BC to a cashier-free model, using different configurations of self-checkouts. US trial The store in Terrace has been selected due to its high self-checkout use. The store will be remodelled to feature traditional self-checkouts and larger self-checkouts for bigger baskets and carts, with store associates available to support cust...