Online news

As IGD launches its new five year UK market and channel forecasts, senior retail analyst Nick Gladding outlines the thinking behind the new projections. Brexit reshapes the forecast The most striking feature of the new numbers is a much faster rate of growth than last year's five year forecast to reflect a greatly changed market outlook following the UK’s vote to leave the European Union.  ...

The latest release from the British Retail Consortium Retail Sales Monitor (BRC-RSM), shows that UK sales grew by just 0.2% in the four weeks of May, with like-for-likes slipping into decline and falling by 0.4%.  The slowdown was fundamentally attributable to weakening non-food sales, as nine of the 11 non-food categories captured by the Retail Sales Monitor recorded only flat or declining figur...

A year after first coming to the United Kingdom (UK), AmazonFresh is now available in an additional 42 postcodes in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire. The online grocery service is now available in 302 postcodes across London and the South East of England. This new expansion means that Amazon Prime members in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire can order their full weekly grocery shop from a range of ...

Ocado has announce that on 3 rd June 2017 it signed an agreement with a regional European retailer to use Ocado Smart Platform (OSP).   The retailer wishes to remain anonymous until it launches its online business in order to retain competitive advantage.  Ocado will provide this partner with its full software platform, know-how and support services required to create an efficient and inte...

Walmart is testing a new ecommerce fulfilment model using store associates to make deliveries at the end of their working shifts. Pilot program live in three stores Through this program Walmart associates make deliveries to customers’ homes at the end of their working shifts, delivering general merchandise products which are ordered online from Walmart.com and Jet.com. The pilot has been up...

Tesco has tested robot delivery, as part of its wider 'Tesco Now' one-hour delivery trial. Starship Technologies robot Tesco has partnered with Starship Technologies to deliver groceries to an address in central London, via an automated six-wheeled robot. The automated robots are able to carry items within a three-mile radius of a store of delivery hub. The robots are fitted with anti-theft...

E-commerce giant Alibaba is penetrating deeper into the offline sector by taking 18% stake in Lianhua Supermarket to build its "new retail" model. The deal Alibaba spent an estimated but unspecified amount of over HK$630m (US$80.88m) for an 18% stake in Hong Kong-listed Lianhua Supermarket, and became the second-largest shareholder of Lianhua. Alibaba bought the Lianhua stake from Shanghai ...

We round up the latest news from Denmark as Aldi closes 32 stores and Coop Danmark wins an award for its app. Aldi closes 32 stores to invest larger 'more modern shops' ... Aldi has closed 32 of its 220 stores in Denmark, following reporting a loss of DKK 243m (EUR 32.7m) in 2016. The retailer has reported losses in Denmark since 2010. Commenting on the development, Thomas Bang of Aldi ...

We consider the success of start-up apps in Latin America that offer alternative ways to buy groceries. Cornershop: choice of supermarkets Cornershop is a grocery app which operates in Mexico and Chile. It allows customers to find products from a range of supermarkets and speciality stores. It will then deliver them in 90 minutes or under. Supported by a recent successful funding round C...

Amazon looks to set to bring its Amazon Go store to the UK after its application to trademark its slogans was approved, according to reports. Amazon's application to trademark the store's slogans approved According to a Bloomberg report, the UK Intellectual Property Office has approved Amazon's application to trademark the slogans "No Lines. No Checkout. (No, Seriously.)" and "No Queue. No ...