Retail and consumer goods industry news

Through its Store No8 incubation arm, Walmart is testing a text to shop service. This forms part of its braoder plans for conversational commerce. Conversational commerce Walmart’s Store No8 and Global Tech teams are testing a beta experience which enables customers to add products to their online shopping list by text. Available in selected areas, the retailer is aiming to make this more w...

Join the webinar: 19 October, 11:00 – 11:45 am Simon Mayhew, Head of Online Insight shares his views on how the sector can meet continued demand while turning a profit. In this unique webinar, hosted by Grocer Vision, Simon Mayhew, shares his views on the challenges the sector faces, the innovations that are improving efficiency and what the future is likely to hold. The panelists exa...

Format innovation continues to be high on the agenda for regional retailers in the US as they aim to differentiate versus their larger, national competitors. On the path to the store of the future Over the last month, three new formats have launched in the US, with a focus on creating stores with destination status. With a goal of creating exciting and experiential formats, these stores ali...

Circle K has retrofitted a store with Standard AI’s autonomous checkout technology in Tempe, Arizona, U.S. The launch follows a successful pilot last year. Our view One of the major benefits of Standard AI’s platform is that it is designed to work without using facial recognition. This will widen the scope of customer adoption, especially those that have data privacy concerns. Biometric a...

As the Mulliez family confirms Auchan is not for sale, its operations in France launch trials for a ‘just walk out’ technology-driven store and a quick commerce solution. Mulliez confirms Auchan is not for sale… Following speculation about a possible merger with Carrefour, the Mulliez family has confirmed that ‘ we will never sell Auchan ’. The president of the Association Familiale Mulliez...

The retailer has been actively opening community-based stores recently. Following the Nangang store, it has opened Taoyuan Qingpu outlet this week. The first hypermarket that connects with Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Taoyuan Qingpu store is in a building that connects with MRT stations. The store’s "quick pick-up" service is designed to meet the consumption patterns of commuters. Sho...

Chilean multichannel grocer SMU is the third largest grocer in Chile (in revenue terms) but operates the largest number of stores. At its annual SMU Day, held on September 30, 2021, it provided an update to its strategy, which has a strong focus on developing its omnichannel capabilities.  Its strategy is centred on four pillars: customer experience, omnichannel growth, efficiency and producti...

7–Eleven has signed a master franchise agreement with Electra Consumer Products Ltd. to develop and operate 7-Eleven stores in Israel.  7-Eleven confirms Israel market entry Speculation first emerged in November 2020, but the retailer has now signed an official agreement. 7-Eleven will support Electra to implement and localise the offer. The shopping experience, food-to-go and variety o...

As Carrefour continues its expansion, deepens its digitisation, and signs up further loyalty card members in Spain, we round up news from the two markets. Carrefour and Coop Trading expand international partnership agreement Following the signing of an agreement at the end of Q2 , Carrefour and Coop Trading have expanded the reach of the partnership to include global branded suppliers fr...

UK convenience retailer McColl’s has announced the conversion of its 100 th store to the Morrisons Daily franchise format, as it aims to extend the roll-out to 350 stores by the end of the next financial year in November 2022. Having converted 69 stores so far in 2021, averaging around two stores a-week, McColl’s has successfully converted as many as six in a seven-day period. It will now nee...