Retail and consumer goods industry news

Reporting sales growth of 5.3% to RMB 28.99bn alongside a decline in profit of -0.7% to RMB 3.9bn, domestic Chinese retailer Lianhua outlines its strategy for an improved performance in 2013. Competing in an increasingly challenging market Announcing its results for the financial year ending December 2012, Lianhua reported pressures from an unfavourable business environment impacted per...

We’ve been in-store at three different Sainsbury’s stores to assess how it is implementing its strategy. King's Lynn, Norfolk is one of Sainsbury's newest large format stores while in London the Sainsbury's Locals in Clapham Common and Earlsfield demonstrate a more flexible and shopper centric approach to convenience. Driving non-food King's Lynn is now Sainsbury's 'flagship' st...

Walmart has announced plans to test in-store lockers for products ordered online in the US. This was among a number of new initiatives highlighted at its e-commerce media day held at its global e-commerce head office in San Bruno, California. Lockers offer added convenience The test of the lockers forms part of a broader plan by Walmart to integrate its physical stores with its online ...

Last week we examined how retailers in Australia are creating formats that are strengthening multi-channel competition. However, moving from the macro environment and drilling down further, retailers and suppliers are progressively starting to evolve their strategies to become shopper and insight led, with differentiation a word that we are increasingly hearing. An area we are likely to see i...

DinoSol has opened a HiperDino store in the Canary Islands, incorporating the latest technologies, which will serve as a pilot for store openings and remodellings in 2013. Technology will include wifi The 1,300 sq m store in Las Palmas incorporates electronic labelling, 32 in-store screens featuring advertising for brands, and wifi.  It will soon introduce an app which will allow shoppers...

Spanish supermarket operators Condis and Caprabo are both looking to drive growth by opening franchised stores in 2013. Condis starts 2013 at a fast pace Condis has already opened a dozen new franchised stores, covering some 3,670 sq m, over the first quarter of this year.  Nine are in Cataluña, two in Girona and one in Guadalajara.  Caprabo targets 100 franchised stores by 2015 Ca...

Leading Beijing grocery operator Wumart announced full year revenue of RMB 17.3bn, an increase of 5.7% year on year. Consolidated gross profit rose 7.4%, reaching RMB 3.4bn. Maintaining a competitive advantage in fresh categories In a challenging environment for growth, Wumart's like-for-like growth of 2.1% has been aided by improvements to its fresh categories, an area of competitive...

Sainsbury's has announced it is planning to open 50 new convenience stores in London and the South East by early 2014. Targeting convenience  Convenience at Sainsbury's is growing at 18% year on year which highlights the importance of the channel in the retailer's strategy. So far this financial year the retailer has opened 87 convenience stores, taking the total number of stores in ...

In the first of this year's regular updates on the world's top retailers, we look at recent developments at Carrefour, Tesco, Metro and Walmart. We see how online and digital strategies are becoming more important, and how they are adapting to changing conditions in various markets around the world. Carrefour embarking on second phase of plan to deliver better profits Carrefour rev...

Speaking to local newspapers, the president of Carrefour Poland, Jean Anthoine, has discussed the company’s strategy for the market, potentially dispelling speculation that the retailer was set to exit. Retailer to participate in market consolidation Anthoine was quoted as saying that Carrefour wanted to be actively involved in the consolidation of the market and would be targeting the acqu...