Food
Cigarettes have become an increasingly rare sight on store shelves, with several chains choosing to stop tobacco sales voluntarily. In the United States, Beverly Hills even is the first place to ban the selling of tobacco altogether.
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Supermarket group Spar International continues to expand: for the third year in a row, turnover has grown by more than 5 % as Dutch and Austrian sales soar.
General
Retailers often make their omnichannel models needlessly complicated and expensive. The problem is they start from the wrong assumptions. In his newest book, retail professor Gino Van Ossel makes a case for pragmatism.
Belgian Colruyt Group had a first with its latest yearly report, as it added a separate sustainability report to its already rather elaborate yearly booklet. Which facts were especially noteworthy? RetailDetail found it all out.
A solid holiday season allowed Belgian Colruyt Group to raise its market share and even keep its profit margins at the same level - contrary to expectations. The company also posted another online growth, meaning online is now worth 370 million euro.
Spar International has set its sights on Greece as the next country to conquer and lead as the foremost independent food retail chain. Spar Hellas will cooperate with Asteras and Mesis to develop more than 500 Spar stores over the next four years.
Retail Partners Colruyt Group – Colruyt Group’s entrepreneurial division – is creating an app for Spar which allows customers to use their smartphones to scan and pay for their own groceries.
There was one store, located on the Groenplaats in Antwerp, still holding back Ahold and Delhaize’s Belgian merger, but it has now been sold to Colruyt Group, which will turn it into a Spar.
Supermarket chain Spar will become the “first international retailer” to enter Belarus. It intends to open about sixty stores by 2020, in a collaboration with the Almi Group.
Supermarket chain Spar is now also active in Cyprus, albeit in a collaboration with Ermes Department Stores. Just like in other countries, Spar aims to become the country’s largest when it comes to independent supermarket entrepreneurs.
Supermarket company Spar International’s turnover grew 4.5 % to 33.1 billion euro in its past fiscal year, excluding exchange rate fluctuations. Its continuous expansion helped achieve that growth.
Supermarket company Spar International announced it intends to open fifty new stores in Ukraine over the next three years. The very first one of those fifty has just opened its doors in Rivne.
Belgian Colruyt Group has introduced the Xtra card and the mobile Xtra app as the single loyalty card for all of its store formulas. The company hopes it will help understand customer behavior better and will build a platform with never-before-seen capabilities.
Supermarket company Spar opened its first two Albanian supermarkets, thanks to a collaboration with Balfin Group, a company with more than 10 years of experience in the Albanian supermarket industry.
Supermarket chain Spar UK has joined forces with Holland & Barrett, giving the latter's products increased visibility in Spar's stores. A pilot program is already active in three stores.
Retail report
Budget private labels are not the right strategy to fight off hard discounters, according to the International Private Label Consult (IPLC). Their inferior quality damages a supermarket's brand image and its margins are dwindling.
