Retail and consumer goods industry news

Caprabo is cutting prices on more than 2,000 food products, including private label, brands and fresh, in an initiative designed to help improve its price image. Cuts effective from April Caprabo's director general, Alberto Ojinaga, said the move marks the retailer's most ambitious set of price cuts yet.  The cuts apply to more than 1,000 branded food items, 600 private label and 300 f...

Woolworths has launched a new beauty department in its flagship Town Hall store in central Sydney. New beauty bar, dedicated staff and free treatments On our last visit to Woolworths Town Hall store the work for the new concept was underway and this week sees the launch of a new beauty category for Australia's market-leading retailer. The new beauty department features a unique store-in-...

Wesfarmers has announced the appointment of Stuart Machin as managing director of Target, its general merchandise business. Long career in grocery retail Mr Machin replaces Dene Rogers, who is leaving to pursue other opportunities. He has held the position of stores development and operations director at Coles  since August 2008, where a key focus was the development and rollout of new sto...

Swiss discounter Denner is allowing customers to determine the prices of various products via an online voting system which it is calling 'social discount'. Denner CEO: 'We want to give consumers a voice' Denner's social discount website is a step on from parent company Migros'   social media site Migipedia, which offers the chance to comment and make suggestions on the products it sell...

Magnit is planning an aggressive expansion plan, opening almost 10,000 stores within the next five years. Convenience stores a focus The retailer is aiming to double the number of convenience stores that it operates to 12,000, and to boost the number of drugstores to 4,000. It also plans to increase the number of hypermarkets to 500 - almost quadruple its current total. Investment i...

As part of its 40th anniversary year, leading UK wholesale buying group Landmark has launched a three-week promotion for retailers offering its 40 best-selling Lifestyle private label products at wholesale prices that guarantee 40% profit on retail on all these lines.  Beginning on the 1st April, the '40 Great Groceries' promotion runs until the 20th. 30% POR guarantee ongoing plus cash back sup...

Waitrose has announced that sales in the week before Easter hit a new record and were the highest weekly sales outside the Christmas period. Biggest ever week outside Christmas Total sales (excluding fuel) for the week ending March 30th were £140.7m. This represented a 33.9% increase on the same week of last year and a 14.8% increase on last year's Easter week. Record sales at Waitrose.c...

Celesio has opened a new concept pharmacy store in Ireland under the Lloydspharmacy brand. Flagship store for Ireland The new concept stores have already been rolled out in the UK and Italy as part of a major realignment of Celesio’s retail profile and it’s plan to become “the leading pharmacy brand in Europe”. The opening of the new store in Blackrock, Co Dublin is to be the flagship...

Following the addition of 200,000 sq ft of new space to its estate in the first three months of 2013, Morrisons has set itself a new three year target of expanding its sales space by 2m sq ft. Focus on the south Key openings of the quarter include: The first two Morrisons M local stores in London (at Ealing and Hornchurch), taking the total to 14. These are well located to be supplied f...

Target’s first stores in Canada have their official launch today. The 24 stores in Ontario soft-launched over the last three weeks enabling the retailer to test systems and processes, including its supply chain. Food and grocery less critical in driving traffic in Canada The official launch of these stores is marked by its first promotional flyer.  Target's private label general merchand...