Latin America News & Analysis

Grupo Éxito, Casino's Colombian business, opened 60 new stores in 2013, which helped increase revenues for the year by 4.6%. Continues to invest in organic growth Éxito is focusing on neighbourhood and convenience retailing as it seeks to get closer to consumers and become part of their daily lives. Two of the new stores were in Uruguay, where Éxito now operates 54 outlets. The group ende...

International activities were a highlight once again for France's Casino Group, which reported 2013 results today (18 February). The group singled out three key Latin American markets as highlights: Sales improved versus 2012 Casino said sales for Latin America were up 13.1% on an organic basis, excluding fuel and calendar effect, versus an increase of 9.4% in 2012. This compares to an incr...

Casino has reported group sales up 15.9% and an 18% increase in trading profit for 2013. In France, sales were up 5.7% and Casino said it had an "excellent performance internationally." Recovery of activity in France In the crucial home market, Casino reported improvements at both Géant hypermarkets and Casino supermarkets. E-commerce continued to grow, with Cdiscount reporting total ...

As part of its Q4 2013 results, in which it reported double digit growth in gross revenue for both the Consolidated and Food businesses, Grupo Pão de Açúcar said it has "definitively selected the multichannel approach as our strategic priority." Food retail recorded best performance of the year GPA Consolidated reported gross revenue growth of 14.6% in Q4 2013, with the Food business ...

Mexican brewer Grupo Modelo, part of Anheuser-Busch InBev, is to divest its Extra convenience store business to Círculo K, subject to regulatory approval. Grupo Modelo to focus on beer business   The brewer is to concentrate on producing, distributing and selling beer, with the Círculo K stores remaining "one of our most important clients." Círculo K to operate more than 1,000 store...

As we launch a new hypermarkets and supermarkets hub page and insight presentation, we report on three strategies being used to drive growth at hypermarkets and supermarkets. 1. New ways to define value A number of retailers globally are finding that value-focused large formats are hitting a growing sweet spot with shoppers. From the growth of the atacadista format in Brazil from Casino and...

Grupo Éxito, Casino's Colombian business, has acquired 50 discount stores from regional retailer Super Inter. Includes full acquisitions and licence agreements Éxito has entered into an agreement with Super Inter's parent company, Comercializadora Giraldo Gómez y Cía, which will see it acquire ownership of 19 stores and licence agreements to operate 31 others, for a period of five years. Éxi...

Brazilian retailer Angeloni is to invest R$160m in opening four stores in 2014. Growing presence in Paraná Two of the new stores will be in Paraná, a state which Angeloni only entered in 2002. Its core strength is in Santa Catarina, where the other two stores will be located. The retailer's president José Augusto Fretta said Angeloni wants to grow its presence in Paraná, targeting AB co...

Latin American wholesaler PriceSmart has announced two new store locations in Colombia: Medellín and Bogotá. Will take total number of warehouse clubs to six PriceSmart plans to open the two new clubs, which together will cover 25,340 sq m, before the end of this calendar year. An additional outlet, of 11,947 sq m, will open in November 2014 in Pereira. Net sales increase for Q1 fiscal 2...

This weekend saw Doug McMillon take the helm at Walmart as its new President & CEO. We look at the key questions on his to do list. Having previously led the retailer’s international operations since 2009, and Sam’s Club prior to that, the internal appointment will ensure a degree of continuity and consistency. However, the transition comes at a critical point in Walmart’s timeline, particular...