All articles by Planet Retail – Page 71
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News
Loblaw launches discount brands
Following a similar move by Tesco in the UK, grocer Loblaw - whose chief operating officer Dalton Philips has just been revealed as Marc Bolland’s replacement as chief executive of Morrisons in the UK - has launched a new line of discount brands in Canada.The range features category-specific brands such ...
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Future Group in talks for foreign tie-ups
Future Group - which runs the country’s largest listed retailer Pantaloon Retail - is in talks for a foreign tie-up and hopes to file papers for an IPO in its investment arm soon, said chief executive Kishore Biyani.He would not name the overseas retailers being considered for a tie-up, although ...
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Lidl prepares for stagnating German sales
Lidl is preparing for sales growth to flatten out in its domestic market.Sales in Germany are reportedly stagnating as new stores cannibalise sales. Lidl has opened over 80 stores in the past year in Germany.However, according to German trade paper Lebensmittel Zeitung, the group is close to acquiring Tengelmann’s Plus ...
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Walmart cuts 300 head office jobs
Walmart is to cut 300 jobs at its headquarters in Arkansas as chief executive Mike Duke attempts to cut costs and make the retailer more efficient.In a memo sent to employees, Duke said managers were asked to look for opportunities to eliminate duplication and reduce costs when deciding which jobs ...
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Dollar General to open 600 stores this year
Fixed-price retailer Dollar General is gunning to open a further 600 stores over the next 12 months, creating about 5,000 jobs. The 5,000 anticipated new jobs come on the heels of about 4,000 jobs created by Dollar General in 2009, according to the retailer.Meanwhile, Dollar Tree reported record net sales ...
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Movie Gallery to close 805 stores
Film rental chain Movie Gallery plans to close 805 poorly performing US stores after falling sales and mounting losses led to its second bankruptcy in three years.The closures affect a third of the retailer’s 2,415 US stores and several thousand of the company’s 19,100 employees are likely to lose their ...
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Mercadona to test Wincor Nixdorf automated checkout
Mercadona will be the first retailer to test Wincor Nixdorf’s new prototype of a fully automated checkout in the retailer’s laboratory later this month.According to Wincor Nixdorf, the new prototype for an automated checkout will for the first time make it possible to accurately read more than 95% of the ...
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Carrefour likely to sell Moscow leasing rights
Carrefour is likely to sell its Moscow leasing rights to Auchan and OBI, according to Reuters.Carrefour, the world’s biggest retailer, has failed to find one single buyer for all of its three hypermarkets in Russia.
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Sales rise at LVMH’s Selective Distribution
LVMH has reported a 4% year-on-year rise in sales at its Selective Distribution business, which includes Sephora and DFS, its luxury duty free arm, to €4.38bn (£3.9bn).Profit from recurring operations was flat at €388m (£349m). LVMH said: “Sephora had a good year with further growth in revenue and profit from ...
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Mobile phone retailer Svyaznoy to offer financial services
Local mobile phone retailer Svyaznoy is to offer financial services in its stores following the chain’s merger with Russian bank Promtorgbank. 100% of Svyaznoy securities and an 87% stake in Promtorgbank will be assigned to a new company. Svyaznoy owner and founder Maksim Nogotkov will retain a controlling stake in ...
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Lowe’s opens first store in Mexico
US-based home improvement chain Lowe’s has opened its first store in Mexico, in the northern industrial city of Monterrey.The retailer has made a $100m (£61.6m) investment in the Latin American country and plans to open five stores in the Monterrey area over the next few years.
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Shoprite to sell Indian operations to Future Group
Shoprite is preparing to sell its operations in India to Future Group, according to unconfirmed reports in the local media.It has been rumoured that Future Group is ready to buy the Shoprite store in Mumbai, and take on the employees there.Shoprite has reportedly called off its franchisee deal with Indian ...
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Macy's to cut 1,500 jobs
Department store operator Macy’s is to cut 1,500 store-level jobs, according to reports in the US press.The move comes as the retailer strives to improve efficiencies across the company. Remaining staff will undergo training to take on additional responsibilities.Macy’s spokesman Jim Sluzewski declined to confirm the number of redundancies, but ...
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Aldi maintains profit in Germany
Despite massive price cuts and falling sales during 2009, Aldi managed to maintain its profit margins in Germany.According to German trade magazine Lebensmittel Zeitung, sales declined by around 3% to 4% for Aldi Nord and 1% to 2% for Aldi Süd, mainly due to 12 rounds of permanent price cuts ...
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Woolworths Australian sales up
Woolworths reported Aus$27.2bn (£15.17bn) sales for its first half ended January 3, a 6% increase (excluding petrol sales) on the same period last year.The company said its Australian food and liquor sales for the period were Aus$18.1bn (£10.1bn), a 6.8% increase. Woolworths chief executive Michael Luscombe said supermarkets achieved solid ...
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Supermarket sales up in Brazil
Supermarket sales in Brazil rose 5.5% in 2009 on the year before, according to the Brazilian Supermarket Association (ABRAS).The increase was attributed to the rising spending power of low-income groups in the country, which was bolstered by tax cuts on a range of products, including domestic appliances.ABRAS is expecting growth ...
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Metro Canada sales increase
Metro Canada has announced that sales increased 1.7% to CAD2.65bn (£1.56bn) in the first quarter of the year. The rise was achieved despite a slight drop in basket value and tough comparatives last year, when high food price inflation and the temporary closing of several stores of a competitor had ...
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Venezuelan government might enter a partnership with casino
President Hugo Chavez said he is considering an offer for his government to enter a partnership with French retailer Casino, whose chain of Exito hypermarkets were expropriated earlier this month for allegedly exploiting a currency devaluation to raise prices.Chavez said representatives of the French group “calmly came to talk” with ...
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Retail sales down in Japan
Retail sales fell 0.3% in December from a year earlier, as consumers sought out cheap goods while employment conditions remained unstable.The figure declined for the 16th month in a row, data released by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry showed. Sales at department stores, grocery stores and book stores ...
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Lotte Shopping gross sales increase
Department store and hypermarket operator Lotte Shopping has reported a 12.1% increase in gross sales to KRW3.4 trillion (£1.83bn) during its fourth quarter.Operating profit rose 22.2% to KRW260bn (£139.5m). Pre-tax profit was up 17.9% to KRW249bn (£133.6m).