Retail and consumer goods industry news

Walmart de Mexico is to invest around $1.4bn in 2013 in expanding its operations in Mexico and Central America. Store growth across existing and new cities Although Walmart de Mexico did not reveal how many stores would open as a result of this investment, total space growth will be between 7.8% and 8.7%. In Mexico , space growth is forecast to be between 8% and 9%, and around 6% in Centr...

Qatar-based Al Meera has announced that it has opened its first Géant hypermarket in its home market, following the agreement it signed with Casino in 2011. Géant brand to be expanded by Al Meera Al Meera signed a franchise agreement with Casino that will see it add hypermarkets and supermarkets in Qatar and Oman. The recently opened store, at the Hyatt plaza in Doha, is the first evidence ...

Lee Seung-han will retire from his position in May following 16 years leading Homeplus in South Korea. CEO of Malaysia to take the reigns Lee's continuous service with Tesco since it entered the market in 1999 has contributed to the retailer's positive growth trajectory. Whilst Tesco's recent performance has been tested by challenging trading conditions following legislative changes, South ...

CVS pharmacy, one of America's largest drugstore chains, has announced the relaunch of its private label food brand. Improvements all round CVS pharmacy has relaunched its Gold Emblem range of private label products.  The range comprises around 250 products across a number of food categories, including snacks, desserts, beverages, confectionery, juices and breakfast bars.  The new i...

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 ...

Loblaw has reported that total sales, for the full year to December 29, 2012, increased by 1.1% to $31.6bn, with net earnings down 15.5% to $650m. Retail sales increased by 0.8% to $31.0bn, with same store sales down 0.2%. Retail operating income fell by 16.1% to $1,101m. Improving trends provide confidence on strategy Although the retailer only delivered marginal sales growth, and operating...

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...