All articles by Planet Retail – Page 72
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News
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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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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Leclerc's sales rose
Hypermarket chain E.Leclerc reported full-year group sales rose 5% to E29.4 bn (£25.7bn), excluding petrol, and 5.6% to E27.2bn (£23.8bn) in France.The retailer said the strong performance was due to its permanent price cuts, which were reinforcedin 2009. E.Leclerc also revealed that sales for its umbrella private label Marque Repère ...
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Macy's to launch outlet store
Macy’s-owned Bloomingdale’s plans to launch outlet stores.The first four outlet stores will open in the second half of the year, with two expected to be located in South Florida.The 25,000 sq ft stores will carry clothing and accessories for women, men and children. They will feature both new merchandise and ...
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Growth in Woolworths sales
Woolworths has announced in a preliminary statement that sales rose 9.3% in the 26 weeks to the end of 2009, increasing 4.4% on a like-for-like basis.Clothing and general merchandise sales grew 9.7%, while food achieved 8.9% growth.Less upmarket competitor Shoprite reported like-for-like sales growth of 6.4% for its first half ...
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Your Personal Store to expand in the Philippines
AS Watson-owned chain Watsons Your Personal Store is to expand in the Philippines as it eyes sales growth of 11% this year and targets more than 5% market share of the country’s PHP90bn (£1.21bn) beauty business.Watsons Philippines chief executive Robert U Sun said the company would convert up to 10 ...
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More details on Priba
More details have been revealed about Auchan’s new discount format Priba, which is to launch at Mulhouse in eastern France.The logo for the banner will be coloured half apple green and half raspberry pink. Auchan intends to introduce new shopfittings and gondolas to the store, which is to be converted ...
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Walmart to cut jobs
Walmart plans to cut about 11,200 jobs at its Sam’s Club warehouse chain as it outsources its in-store product demonstrations.The move is part of an effort to improve sales at Sam’s Club, which has underperformed compared with the retailer’s other fascias.The cuts represent about 10% of the 600-store chain’s 110,000 ...
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Target to expand to Canada
Discount retailer Target is making plans to expand outside the US, including a foray into Canada.The retailer wants to open its first stores outside its home country within three to five years. It is considering Canada, Mexico or Latin America as its most likely destinations.“As we approach each of these ...
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Australian law modification
Australian Competition Minister Craig Emerson has unveiled planned changes to the Trade Practices Act to increase the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s powers to stop small-scale acquisitions.The changes are part of a long-standing election promise that appears aimed at Woolworths, which in recent years has been aggressively acquiring small stores, ...
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Walgreens to acquire pharmacies in Puerto Rico
US pharmacy retailer Walgreens is to acquire three pharmacies in Puerto Rico from local player El Amal, which filed for bankruptcy last year.As part of the deal, Walgreens has also agreed to buy prescription stock from a further 11 El Amal pharmacies. The sale is expected to be completed in ...
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Schlecker renovating stores
Pharmacy giant Schlecker is to make changes to its store portfolio this year in an effort to fend off its aggressively expanding rivals, DM and AS Watson-owned Rossmann.The retailer plans to renovate up to 500 of its 9,000 traditional Schlecker outlets, steam ahead with rapid expansion of its larger XL ...
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SuperValu is one of the latest US retailers to launch a range rationalisation programme
In some categories, the SKU count will be reduced by up to 25% as the grocer aims to reduce costs and remove complexity from the shopping experience.According to chief executive Craig Herkert, the move is designed to eliminate redundant package sizes rather than get rid of entire product brands. “I ...
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Who is buying Buy The Way?
Bidding is coming to a close for local convenience store chain Buy The Way, which was put up for sale by private equity owner Unitas Capital late last year.AEON-owned Ministop, Lotte Group - which owns the 7-Eleven franchise in South Korea - and US private equity firm Carlyle Group have ...
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Carrefour to create an executive board
Carrefour is to create an executive board that, along with group executiveLars Olofsson, will be charged with developing the group’s strategy, operational goals and oversee execution.Newly appointed France executive director James McCann, formerly Tesco’s Hungary chief, will be among the new board members.Separately, Carrefour has reported sales of E96.2bn (£86.5bn) ...
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Best Denki to close stores
Electronics retailer Best Denki plans to close 50 to 70 stores by February 2012 and cut staff numbers by several hundred to slash costs.The cuts follow the revelation of increased losses in the retailer’s third quarter.Best Denki will also liquidate its Sakuraya subsidiary, with its 15 stores closing next month.Chairman ...
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Future Group opens 900 stores
Future Group plans to dramatically expand its KB’s Fair Price discount grocery fascia, opening up to 900 stores.Locations for the new sites have yet to be finalised; the retailer is expected to expand its presence in regions it already operates in such as Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.Customer director Damodar Mall ...
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Delhaize Group sales up 1.2%
Sales at Delhaize Group rose 1.2% last year at a constant exchange rate, with organic revenue growth of 2.4%.Growth was helped by a solid performance in Belgium and double-digit rises at its Greek, Romanian and Indonesian operations.At its US arm, sales fell 1.3%, affected by the strengthening of the US ...
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Like-for-likes sales down 1% for Douglas Group
Perfumery operator Douglas Group admitted that the global economic and financial crisis hampered its 2008/09 financial year, as it posted results for the period.Consolidated sales rose 2.3% to E3.2bn (£2.9bn). However, like-for-like sales slid 1% against the previous year’s figure.The brakes were applied to the retailer’s capital expenditure during the ...
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US sales down 0.3%
Retail sales fell 0.3% in December compared with November, casting uncertainty over the recovery of the economy.Figures from the US Commerce Department showed electricals sales were among the biggest fallers.It also said concerns over job security are expected to continue to restrict spending, with unemployment still at 10%.December’s figures end ...