Latest insights and store visits

As Despar Centro Sud launches an online grocery service and Carrefour expands its partnership with Supermercato24, we round up news from the country.

Carrefour expands collaboration with Supermercato24

Carrefour and Supermercato24 have announced they are expanding the coverage of their partnership beyond the 14 cities where the service is operated into the regions of Toscana and Campania. The agreement will enable shoppers to have their orders delivered to their homes within one hour of ordering. They will pay the same price for their products as they would in-store.

Commenting on the service, Carrefour’s director of ecommerce and digital transformation, Enrico Fantini, said: “ Carrefour Italia is very attentive to innovation and continues to invest in solutions that can allow us to be closer to our consumers and their territory, both online and at sales points.”

Despar Centro Sud launches online

Despar Centro Sud, meanwhile, has announced it will launch an online grocery service, Despar a Casa. The solution will be added following input from ReStore, a provider of ecommerce services for Italy’s retail industry. Following the launch, Despar Centro Sud said it plans to invest €7m in expanding its store network.

Despar a Casa will enable shoppers to buy from the retailer’s total range, while it is available without having to spend more than a certain amount. Shoppers will be able to have orders delivered to their homes or to collect it from the Interspar store in Corato. Initially the service will be available in the municipality of Corato, near Bari, before it is potentially rolled out to other locations in the Calabria, Puglia, Basilicata, Campania and Abruzzo regions, depending on its success.

John Lewis & Partners has announced it will trial a click and collect service in a number of Co-op food stores.

Delivering convenience for customers

The click and collect trial, part of John Lewis’ strategy to reach more customers, will initially be launched in Co-op’s Manchester Support Centre and will offer next-day click and collect for customers in areas with a smaller John Lewis store presence. Further roll out is planned for five additional stores across London, Manchester and Nottingham from May 28^th 2019. Customers will also be able to return orders to the Co-op stores throughout the trial.

The move follows a similar trial of a click and collect with Booths in 2018, which has since been expanded to eight stores. John Lewis customers can also already collect orders from Waitrose & Partners stores.

Mark Pettigrew, director of innovation and format at Co-op, commented:

“It is all about creating ease, convenience and choice for today’s time-pressed shopper. This is an exciting development, innovations and new technologies are driving a number of initiatives and creating value in our communities through increased offers and services for our members and customers”.

Benefits for both parties

The John Lewis click and collect service at Co-op stores provides benefits for both companies. For Co-op, the retailer will see benefit from increased traffic into store. The returns service also gives increased convenience to John Lewis shoppers, whilst also reaching new customers in areas of lower store presence.

South Africa-based, Walmart owned Massmart has appointed a new chief executive less than a month after it announced its existing chief executive, Guy Hayward, would step down by the end of 2019. Simultaneously, the retailer has said that it is expecting its operating profit to be flat.

Ex Walmart Japan to become new CEO…

Massmart has appointed Mitchell Slape as its new chief executive. Slape was previously interim president and chief executive of Walmart Japan. Massmart said Slape would start ‘from the 1st day of the month following the date of approval and grant of his intra-company transfer permit and visa to work in South Africa’.

…As it says its operating profit will be flat

As part of its AGM, separate from the chief executive appointment, the retailer provided a general trading statement. Massmart reported that for the first 20 weeks total sales rose 6.1% to ZAR33.5bn (US$2.3bn), with comparable sales rising 4.1%. It noted that product inflation, year-to-date, was 2.5%. Massmart said total sales growth was 5.4% at its operations in its home market and 13.9% outside, in Rands.

By category, the retailer said total growth stood at 7.3% for food, 13.3% for liquor, 2.2% for durable goods and 4.3% in home improvement. Meanwhile, by division, Massmart reported that:

• Massdiscounters: total sales growth + 4.9%, comparable sales growth +2.7%
• Masswarehouses: total sales growth +4.2%, and comparable sales growth +2.6%
• Massbuild: total sales growth + 4.3%, comparable sales growth +1.0%
• Masscash: total sales growth +9.8%, comparable sales growth +8.2%

Massmart to continue expansion

The retailer has previously announced its expansion plans for 2019 to 2021. In the timeframe it will look to open 47 new stores, with about a third of the new selling space to be opened outside South Africa.

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