Europe news & analysis

The health and beauty retailer has acquired a 49% stake in its hearing provider David Ormerod Hearing Centres in the UK. Boots UK committed to developing hearing care Boots HearingCare currently operates over 340 practices within Boots stores in the UK . The investment demonstrates Boots UK’s commitment to developing hearing care services across the UK enabling customers to have access to ...

Waitrose will launch a new drive-through click and collect service as  part of a wider multimillion pound investment in its multichannel operations. Complementing existing services Waitrose will open its first drive-through collection point in Cheltenham in March, followed by drive-throughs in Southend, Salisbury, Wolverhampton and Lincoln. Shoppers will be able to pick up online orders ...

German discount chain Lidl is planning to extend its executive board with two new additions from its Central Europe teams. New appointments from within Lidl team Two major changes will take place with the Lidl board, subject to consent from supervisory bodies expected in April. The first will see Bojan Luncer, who joined Lidl Croatia in 2002, become responsible for multiple country oper...

Kaiser's Tengelmann is to modernise or rebuild around 50 stores in the North Rhine-Westphalia region of Germany this year, according to trade press reports. Aim is to increase revenue contribution North Rhine-Westphalia is Tengelmann's third-largest region in terms of store numbers, after Berlin and Munich; it operates around 160 supermarkets there.  However, according to Lebensmittel Ze...

Spain's Condis Supermercats has reported a 0.6% fall in 2012 sales, to €801m.  High levels of investment in 2012 The supermarket chain, based in Cataluña, ended the year with 409 stores, up 15 on 2011, and over 180,000 sq m of sales area.  Levels of investment were higher in 2012 than previously.  A total of €25m was spent; €17m of which was on new store openings and remodellings, in line ...

DIA has reported net sales growth of 4.1% for 2012 (+5.2% excluding currency effect), and adjusted EBITDA growth of 8.6% (+9.4% ex. currency effect) Tough comparatives in Q4 Net sales growth in the fourth quarter was 2.4% (+4.4% ex. currency effect).  A tough comparison in Q4 2011, weak business conditions in Turkey and depreciation in the Brazilian and Argentine currencies meant a lower...

Casino has reported a 29.3% increase in trading profit, reflecting the move to take control of GPA in Brazil in 2012. In France, trading profit declined by 8.6%, with a drop in domestic trading margin. However, overall trading margin was up and the group is confident its domestic 'back to basics' commercial plan will kick in and management stressed that its small format exposure lies in its favou...

L'Oréal has announced the launch of its own online store in France, where the whole of its product range will be available to order. The company has also announced investment in a new R&D hub in Asia. Additional opportunities for growth Despite L'Oréal's reliance on its major retailers, the company is keen to stress that it is not looking to circumvent the retail channel. However, as more ...

The new Sephora flagship store in Shanghai features an innovative new development centred around 'The Fragrance Bar' in-store experience. Exciting and innovative concept in retailing 'The Fragrance Bar' provides shoppers with a unique in-store experience in order to maximise shopper engagement.  The new flagship store has six stations, each equipped with with an iPad, surrounded by ten fra...

With this year's official Fairtrade Fortnight beginning on 25th February, we take a look at how retailers are supporting the event, driving an ethical agenda in the face of a highly value orientated market. The Bean Machine The Co-operative has commissioned a car powered entirely powered by waste coffee beans to celebrate ten years of selling 100% Fairtrade coffee. Having broken the Guinn...