In June, Sobeys’ parent company, Empire Company Limited, became co-owner of Scene+, an established loyalty programme in Canada. With a plan to transform it into one of the country’s leading loyalty programmes, the retailer has embarked on national roll-out. We look at how it’s launching the programme in-store in western Canada. National roll-out to be completed by early 2023 Sobeys commence...

We review Sobeys’ first quarter performance and the outlook for the year ahead as it continues to advance its ecommerce, value and loyalty initiatives. Q1 key numbers Total sales increased 4.1% to $7,938m Same-store sales, ex-fuel, increased 0.4% Excluding fuel, gross margin increased 63 basis points Net earnings flat (-$1.0m) Final year of Project Horizon The retailer s...

Following a successful pilot, Walmart Canada is planning a nationwide roll out of its AI (Artificial Intelligence) solution for on-shelf availability. Technology will reduce out-of-stocks The technology was developed by Focal Systems, a San Francisco based company that specialises in retail automation. It uses a network of shelf-edge cameras to automatically detect availability issues (e.g....