All articles by Planet Retail – Page 46

  • News

    Auchan set to more than triple store count

    2011-07-21T00:00:00Z

    French hypermarket operator Auchan has said that it plans to more than triple its store count in Russia within five years.The retailer aims to be operating up to 150 stores in Russia ranging between 107,640 sq ft and 215,280 sq ft. It said it would probably open more Radouga discount ...

  • News

    Casino’s board rejects planned merger

    2011-07-20T10:57:00Z

    Casino’s board has rejected the planned merger of Brazilian hypermarket and supermarket operator Grupo Pão de Açúcar – in which the retailer has about a 40% stake – with French competitor Carrefour.On the back of the news, the Brazilian state development bank said it was pulling its $3bn (£1.9bn) investment ...

  • News

    Sales rise for Beauty retailer SaSa

    2011-07-20T10:57:00Z

    Beauty retailer SaSa’s sales rose by 34.6% for its first quarter ended June 30, 2011.Like-for-like sales growth in Hong Kong and Macau was 26.3%. Other markets (comprising Mainland China, Singapore, Taiwan and sasa.com) had a year-on-year growth of 21.4%.

  • News

    Drugstore operator Rossmann reports revenue growth

    2011-07-20T10:56:00Z

    Drugstore operator Rossmann reported revenue for the first half of 2011 grew 12% to E2.4bn (£2.1bn). Rossmann currently has 2,450 stores, of which 1,600 are in Germany and 850 are in Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Albania and Turkey.The retailer plans to generate full-year revenue in excess of E5bn (£4.3bn) ...

  • News

    International expansion for Netfix

    2011-07-13T09:51:00Z

    Netflix is to launch its subscriber video streaming service across 43 countries in Central America, South America and the Caribbean this year, marking the next phase of its international expansion. The company said that customers in those regions will gain access to local and foreign TV programmes as well as ...

  • News

    Duane Reade to open flagship store on Wall Street

    2011-07-13T09:46:00Z

    Drugstore chain Duane Reade is to open a new 22,000 sq ft flagship store on Wall Street with a more upmarket focus. The location will be the store’s first pharmacy linked to Walgreens’ pharmacy system, which means that customers can have their Walgreens pharmacy information available at Duane Reade’s new ...

  • News

    Boulanger begins rebrand of Saturn stores

    2011-07-13T09:44:00Z

    Consumer electronics retailer Boulanger has begun the rebranding of the Saturn stores it acquired from Metro Group last week. HTM Group, the owner of Boulanger, plans to rebrand the Saturn stores to Cap Boulanger, and then to Boulanger by 2014.Six Saturn stores are going to be remodelled by the end ...

  • News

    Metro Group prepares for sale of hypermarket chain Real

    2011-07-13T09:41:00Z

    Metro Group is said to be preparing for the sale of its hypermarket chain Real with hopes of achieving R2bn (£1.7bn) for the company’s stores.Though the official sale process has not begun, investors including KKR, Apax and Apollo, as well as a French investor group led by former chief executive ...

  • News

    Pick n Pay considers job cuts

    2011-07-13T09:39:00Z

    Grocery retailer Pick n Pay is considering cutting 3,100 jobs, equating to 8.5% of its non-franchise sales floor workforce, due to decreased profitabilty.The retailer announced a drop in operating profit of 14.2% to R1.4 billion (£12.5m) at the end of its last financial year ended 28 February.Pick n Pay operations ...

  • News

    Trent holds plans to open Arcadia Group outlets

    2011-07-12T17:27:00Z

    Tata Group’s retail arm Trent has put on hold plans to open Arcadia Group outlets in the country to instead focus on Inditex-owned brand Zara.The company had entered into a franchisee agreement with Arcadia Group three years ago and was planning to open at least 15 stores for Arcadia’s Topman ...

  • News

    Japanese retailer AEON reports revenue decline

    2011-07-12T17:24:00Z

    Multi-brand Japanese retailer AEON has reported a decline in revenue to ¥1.2trn (£9.1bn) for the first quarter of the financial year ended 31 May, down from JPY1.21trn (£9.2bn) for the same period in 2010.Net profit also fell, to ¥5.76bn (£47.3m), though operating profit grew to ¥28.3bn (£0.2bn). The company is ...

  • News

    Net retail sales increase at X5

    2011-07-12T17:21:00Z

    Grocery giant X5 said consolidated net retail sales increased by 41% to RUB112.2bn (£2.44bn) in the second quarter of the financial year.The impressive performance was attributable to X5’s supermarket chains, Perekrestok and Pyaterochka which saw sales up 18% on a like-for-like basis. During the quarter, X5 added 138 net new ...

  • News

    SPAR to launch a new convenience concept

    2011-07-12T17:17:00Z

    SPAR in Switzerland has entered into a partnership with A H Meyer & Cie AG, to launch a new convenience concept, SPAR express at AVIA petrol stations. The first outlet opened in Zurich last week, with a second opening due this week. The SPAR express stores have a sales area ...

  • News

    Grocer Albertsons to banish self-checkouts

    2011-07-12T17:00:00Z

    Grocer Albertsons is to banish self-checkouts from all of its stores in a bid to increase its customer service offer. Due to the costs involved with flooring and conduits, the retailer will be removing the self-checkout lanes relatively slowly, in line with the current store remodelling programme.In some stores, the ...

  • News

    Hornbach reports sales increase

    2011-07-08T00:00:00Z

    Home improvement retailer Hornbach said consolidated sales for the first three months of the financial year to May 31 rose 11.1% to E918.1m (£795m). Net income for the period rocketed by 30.6%. Sales at the 92 DIY stores in Germany grew by 10.7% overall, and by 7.7% on a like-for-like ...

  • News

    Tengelmann Group to withdraw from US

    2011-07-08T00:00:00Z

    Germany-based Tengelmann Group is apparently looking to withdraw from the US after 32 years of operation by selling its stake in bankrupt grocer A&P.Tengelmann joint chief executive Christian Haub said: “From today’s point of view, it seems rather unlikely that we will continue to hold a stake in A&P.”Tengelmann is ...

  • News

    Coop Italia reports gross sales growth

    2011-07-08T00:00:00Z

    Italian market leader Coop Italia has reported gross sales grew by 1.1% to E12.9bn (£11bn) in 2010, while its operating margin grew 0.7%.The retailer opened 37 stores which led the network to 1,444 stores in total. Coop’s private labels generated sales of E2.7bn (£2.3bn), a share of 25% of the ...

  • News

    Ahold appoints former Tesco and Carrefour exec

    2011-07-08T00:00:00Z

    Grocer Ahold has appointed former Tesco and Carrefour executive James McCann to a newly created role on its corporate executive board as chief commercial and development officer, effective September 1. This position will help drive the retailer’s growth strategy. McCann will focus on developing “innovative ways to serve customer needs, ...

  • News

    Boulanger receives approval for acquisition

    2011-07-08T00:00:00Z

    Consumer electronics retailer Boulanger has received the approval of the competition authorities for its acquisition of Metro Group’s Saturn stores in France. The purchase price of the transaction has not been made public. In order to get the approval of the competition authorities, HTM Group, the owner of Boulanger, has ...

  • News

    Walmart considers entering Nepal

    2011-07-07T00:00:00Z

    Walmart is considering entering Nepal through a partnership with a Nepali department store operator. Walmart India executive RP Singh expressed interest in expanding into Nepal at a meeting with officials. She also discussed the legal issues of expanding into the country. “On behalf of Walmart, Singh showed keen interest to ...