All articles by Planet Retail – Page 24
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News
Walmart’s Pay with Cash scheme accounts for nearly 2% of online orders
Walmart’s Pay with Cash scheme – which allows shoppers to order online and pay in cash in store – accounts for nearly 2% of online orders, according to Joel Anderson, chief executive of Walmart.com. He told a conference in Chicago that 30% of Pay with Cash customers were new to ...
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Metro Cash & Carry to launch online store
Metro Group-owned Metro Cash & Carry plans to launch an online store in the fourth quarter of this year.The service will be aimed at small offices with a product range consisting of office and cleaning supplies and tea and coffee.In August, Metro will begin testing the IT for the ecommerce ...
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Future Group to sell stake in Future Capital Holdings
Multi-format retailer Future Group is to sell its stake in Future Capital Holdings (FCH) to private equity firm Warburg Pincus. As part of the transaction, Pantaloon Retail and its subsidiary Future Value Retail will sell their stake in FCH to Cloverdell Investment Limited, an affiliate of Warburg Pincus.V Vaidyanathan, vice-chairman ...
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Billa plans store expansion and modernisation
Rewe Group’s supermarket division Billa has earmarked e300m (£255m) for store expansion and modernisation over the next two years. The current rate of 35 refurbishments per annum in Billa’s home market will be increased.Since 2006, when the modernisation programme began, about half of its 1,000 stores have been revamped, costing ...
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Multichannel to be centre of strategic plan for Leclerc
Hypermarket business Leclerc said multichannel would be at the centre of its strategic plan, ‘Leclerc 2015’.Stores will feature a specialist offer and organise products into departments to support its drive-in stores or pick-up locations. By 2015, Leclerc will develop new product offers: it forecast that non-food, in its present form, ...
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Grocer ITM reports like-for-like revenue growth
Grocery retailer ITM (Intermarché) has, after several years of struggling sales, reported like-for-like revenue growth of 3.1% to e19.2bn (£16.3bn) excluding fuel for the 2011 financial year. Like-for-like sales in the first four months of 2012 rose 7.9%.ITM’s hypermarkets outperformed its supermarkets in 2011, delivering a 3.9% uplift in sales, ...
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Grocer Migros to roll out self-scanners
Grocer Migros is to roll out self-scanning with mobile devices across the country next year. The retailer has been testing mobile scanning with technology from Motorola since 2011, as well as stationary self-checkouts.While mobile self-scanning has been tested at two stores, stationary self-checkouts have been installed at three; both options ...
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Toys R Us reports net loss of $60m
Toys R Us reported a net loss of $60m (£39m) for the quarter ended April 28 compared with a loss of $67m (£43m) a year ago, despite a 0.9% drop in sales, thanks to margin improvements and cost controls. Net sales totalled $2.6bn (£1.7bn), hit by a decline of 5% ...
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Neiman Marcus posts total revenues increase
Department store group Neiman Marcus posted total revenues of $1.06bn (£670m) for the 13 weeks ended April 28 compared with $983.8m (£621.7m) in the corresponding period in 2011. Like-for-like revenues rose 6.7%. Operating earnings were $146.6m (£92.6m) compared with $123.2m (£77.6m) the previous year, an increase of 19%. Net profit ...
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Carrefour to take control of discount supermarket chain Eki
Carrefour has got the green light from the Argentine competition authority for the acquisition of discount supermarket chain Eki. Carrefour will take control of the struggling Argentine retailer, which operates 120 stores across the country, while retaining its 2,300 employees. The transfer contract is expected to be signed before July ...
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Rite Aid elects John Standley to chairman position
Pharmaceutical retailer Rite Aid’s board has elected president and chief executive John Standley to the additional position of chairman, with effect from June 21. Standley will succeed Mary Sammons, who has served as chairman since June 2007 and whose term of service in the role concludes at the June annual ...
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DIY specialist Hornbach to ramp up expansion plans
DIY specialist Hornbach is to ramp up the pace of its expansion. In the current and next financial year, 15 new stores are to be built, most of which will be outside Germany in new markets such as Slovakia, Switzerland and Sweden. The retailer’s medium-term goal is to increase the ...
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Best Denki to launch ecommerce operation in Indonesia
Japanese electronics retailer Best Denki is to launch an ecommerce operation in Indonesia. The venture will be run in partnership with Japanese online shopping business Rakuten and Indonesian multimedia company PT Global Mediacom Tbk. The transactional website, called Rakuten Belanja Online, is to go live on June 1. Indonesia is ...
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Department store group Target to move away from budget image
Department store group Target intends to move away from its budget image to attract younger shoppers. Managing director Dene Rogers wants Target to fill the gap between department stores David Jones and Myer and budget chains. Rogers said Target intends to increase its focus on children and teenagers’ clothing. Part ...
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Seven & launches recreational store format in Indonesia
Japanese grocer Seven & I has launched a recreational store format in the country. The shop blends a small supermarket with inexpensive ready-made food and seating. It is aimed at young people, with 24-hour opening, live bands and free Wi-Fi. The format is in line with the its efforts to ...
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H&M plans to increase sourcing from Bangladesh
H&M plans to source more products from Bangladesh, although unrest there present a hurdle to expansion. The fashion retailer sources approximately 25% of its products from the country and aims to increase the figure significantly. H&M plans to use its influence to apply pressure to its suppliers in Bangladesh to ...
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Ikea appoints Marek Feltl as chief executive
Ikea has appointed Marek Feltl as chief executive of the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia as of July. Feltl moves across from Italy, where he was deputy chief executive. He succeeds Andrew North, who will begin a new role in Ikea franchise partner development in Asia. Feltl said: “My main ...
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Drugstore chain Schlecker’s German stores set to close
All of insolvent drugstore chain Schlecker’s 2,800 German stores are set to close after administrators to the business failed to find a buyer. Around 13,200 jobs will be lost in the country.After months of attempting to save it, administrator Arndt Geiwitz said there was no way to keep the business ...
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GNC teams up with US cable TV network to launch online TV series
Nutritional products retailer GNC has teamed up with US cable TV network Discovery Fit & Health to launch Transformation Diaries, an online TV series following four women working to achieve their personal ‘live well’ goals. In addition to their personalised webisodes, Transformation Diaries will chronicle each woman’s journey through first-person ...
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Seven & I plans new 7-Eleven stores in the US and Canada
Convenience store operator Seven & I plans to add 630 new 7-Eleven stores in the US and Canada by the end of the year. The retailer has built and acquired a total of 600 stores in the US and Canada in 2011 and 56% of its US growth has been ...