Nestlé Ranked Most Valuable Food Brand in The World
Nestlé is ranked the world’s most valuable food brand by Brand Finance, a consultancy. Coca-Cola is not surprisingly ranked as the most valuable non-alcoholic beverage brand.
Food News
News articles from the FOOD research project.
Discounters are winning market shares
We see it all over Europe. Discounters take market shares from supermarkets. It happens in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and UK to name a few markets.
7-Eleven tests delivery robot in South Korea
Global convenience store giant 7-Eleven has begun a test run of a robot delivery service in South Korea in conjunction with Neubility, a South Korean startup.
The ICA brand weakens
Forget Volo, forget Coca-Cola, forget Ikea. Until less than a year ago, Sweden's strongest brand was ICA. Now it is history! How can such a strong brand break down in less than two years?
Lidl is targeting 300 stores in Sweden
Lidl tried to build a business in Norway from 2004 to 2008 but had to pull out with significant losses. In Sweden, on the other hand, which besides lower import tariffs, in many ways is not entirely unlike Norway, Europe's largest grocery chain is doing well.
Danish Salling Group criticizes Carlsberg
“It is not the supermarkets that have shovelled money into the inflationary year 2022,” emphasizes Salling Group's outgoing CEO, Per Bank. “Carlsberg earns 12 times more than grocery retailers in Denmark, it is not fair”, he stresses.
ICA's future report 2023: A new communication universe awaits
For the seventh year in a row, ICA publishes its future report – this year the focus is communication and marketing. The report examines AI (artificial intelligence), the emergence of new business models and what the future of sustainability work looks like.
Fulfilment costs: Will more retailers follow Tesco?
Tesco’s fresh request that its suppliers should contribute more towards the cost of fulfilling online orders could result in other retailers copying their move. It is obviously a development that the suppliers do not want, in Great Britain or other markets.
Danish Dagrofa in profit
Dagrofa makes progress in 2022 results despite difficult market conditions. The food service and logistics businesses pull up the overall result. CEO Tomas Pietrangeli has succeeded in stopping the losses in Dagrofa and has now delivered two years of profits.
Food 2023 Very Successful
The 200 participants who attended the NHH Food conference 13 March participated in a seminar full of professionalism and competence. NHH Food is now, arguably, the most important conference of the year - on the grocery market.
Norwegian grocery chains are efficient
Some quarters claim that competition in the grocery retail sector in Norway is too weak. There is no basis for such conclusions, according to the master students Adrian Jacobsen & Douglas Jansson at NHH. On the contrary, there is much evidence that Norwegian grocery retailers are the most efficient in Scandinavia.
Coop Denmark ends home deliveries
Danske Coop stop home deliveries due to lack of volumes and profit and terminates the leases on a number of warehouse buildings throughout the country.
A turbulent 2022 for ICA
"We are leaving a year that has been exceptionally turbulent. We had a lower result and margins than last year in ICA Sweden and in addition the profit sharing from the ICA stores is lower compared to 2021", comments CEO Nina Jönsson.
Global trends according to IGD
With inflation driving significant increases in production costs and retail prices across most major markets IGD emphasize that there will be a concentrated focus from retailers and suppliers on driving out costs and improving the efficiency of supply chains.
Best Christmas for Aldi in UK ever
In Denmark, Aldi is selling out to Norwegian Rema 1000 after losing millions and millions in the Danish grocery market over several decades. In the UK, Aldi has never done better with market share growth and increased profitability. The big difference is not entirely obvious.
Reitan Retail buys Aldi's stores in Denmark
German Aldi has never made money in Denmark. Amazingly Rema 1000 has made money from day one, since Odd Reitan opened the first Danish store in 1994. The success of Rema is one of the reasons why Aldi has sold most of its Danish stores to the Norwegians.
Axfood takes market shares
While ICA is losing market share, it seems that arch-competitor, Axfood, is gaining market share.
Challenging market situation for ICA
“Since late summer, the difficult economic situation has become obvious to all of us and higher costs greatly affect the behaviour of our customers who prioritize low price and increase the proportion of low-price products when shopping,” says Per Strömberg about the results in ICA for the third quarter.
Kroger buys Albertsons for 24,6 billion dollars
The buyout will form one of the world's absolute largest retail companies and number two in USA, only behind Walmart.
Danish Salling Group invests in solar systems worth billions
The goal is for solar energy to cover at least 25 percent of Salling Group's energy consumption in 2028.
Nina Jönsson new CEO in ICA
Per Strömberg has chosen to leave ICA Gruppen, where he has served as CEO since 2012. The Board of Directors has appointed Nina Jönsson as the new CEO. She is currently CEO of Plantagen, a garden chain.
Kroger is tightening the reins on the unvaccinated
Maybe the American grocery chain Kroger should be a role model for other retail chains in the world? Maybe for many authorities too? It is not a human right not to be vaccinated, but a duty to take the immunisation, Kroger has decided.
Nestlé sells part of L'Oreal
The world's largest food and beverage producer, Nestlé, is selling parts of its equity portfolio in L'Oreal, a world-renowned manufacturer and marketer of beauty products.
Carrefour Opens New Scan-Free Convenience Store
The world's second largest grocery chain and founder of the format hypermarkets, French Carrefour, recently opened its new “Flash store” in Paris.
Ica closes the door
The Swedish grocery giant, ICA, no longer wants to be in the stock market's open spotlight, but wish to go private, behind more closed doors. Maybe because it will be more difficult for competitors to “read” ICA?
Private Label must hold their prices
In the current inflationary environment, where FMCG manufacturers are looking to pass on the full impact of cost increases to consumers, retailers in many markets are strategically poised to hold prices of their private label products in categories where they want to increase penetration and grow value sales.
British Morrisons Go Private
Shareholders in Morrisons have approved CD&R’s £7.1bn takeover offer, bringing the curtain down on a fiercely contested battle for the UK’s fourth-largest grocer.
Coop's climate investment is OK
Considering the great focus on climate change throughout the world, Coop Denmark has set itself a goal of reducing its CO2 emissions by 75 percent by 2025.
Tesco posts impressive results
Tesco’s forecast for full-year earnings are impressive. Nonetheless there are considerable headwinds ahead, but the company benefits from a robust supply chain.
Empty Christmas shelves in UK
Covid has created supply problems in all industries all over the world the past year. The combination of Brexit in the UK and Covid triples the challenges. Iceland, the frozen food chain in the UK, warns that there may be empty shelves for Christmas.
Rema fastest growing discounter in Denmark
Fakta is no longer Denmark’s second largest grocery chain. Rema 1000 has taken that position with 353 stores against Fakta’s 340 stores. However, the lead dog is still Netto, owned by The Salling group, with 516 discount stores.
Industry mix is name of the game
Industry slippage or industry mix, as some prefer to call it, is nothing new, but nonetheless very important in all retailing. This year it is one of the main topics at the FOOD conference.
Ica Sweden not growing at the same rate as the market
Ica Sweden did not have the same growth as the market during the second quarter. It also includes e-commerce which is related to the very strong volume increase that the Ica stores managed to achieve last year when they grew much faster than the market.
Morrisons sold
Morrisons’, Britain's fourth-biggest supermarket group after Tesco, Sainsbury’s, and Asda, has agreed a 6.3-billion-pound ($8.7 billion) takeover by a trio of investment groups led by Fortress Investment Group.
Morrisons in Play
US private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice is expected to push ahead with its pursuit of Morrisons despite an initial offer at £5.5bn being rejected. Analysts believe the UK’s fourth largest supermarket chain could also attract bids from other companies, including Amazon.
American grocery business post Corona
As North American consumers begin to adjust to the next normal, McKinsey, a global and prestigious consultancy, anticipate that the landscape of winners and losers in grocery will cease to be determined by format.
Axfood buys Bergendahls Food
Axfood acquires Bergendahl's wholesale business and one tenth of City Gross. A transaction of SEK 2.5 billion with full call option exercise.
Aldi Denmark has an accumulated loss of DKK 4 billion
It is no secret that Aldi Denmark has been under pressure for many years, and that the money has flowed out, while the German owners have poured new capital into the discount chain - a total of around DKK 4 billion, according to Børsen, a newspaper.
Five reasons FMCG businesses should be investing in Asia
Asia remains a major growth opportunity for FMCG businesses, particularly in the short term, consultancy IGD concludes in a new report.
The green trend is growing
Women are leading the way in the transition to a sustainable food system and real flavors are taking place among the substitutes. These are among the conclusions in this year's future report from ICA, "Growing Together".
Salling Group with historical results
Denmark's largest grocery group, Salling Group, came out of 2020 with the best underlying result and the highest turnover ever. CEO Per Bank believes in even more growth in top and bottom line.
Tesco profits dive
Tesco profits dive 20% despite surging grocery sales during pandemic. The pre-tax profits tumbled by almost 20 per cent to £ 825 million over the past year, despite big increases in turnover.
Netto tests climate labeling
As the first store chain in Denmark, Salling-owned Netto is now testing how climate labeling of grocery purchases can work. This is done in a pilot test in two selected stores, where signage and labeling of the products will guide customers to the less climate-damaging alternatives.
American giant Costco opens in Sweden
Next autumn, the US-based chain Costco will open its first Swedish store in Arninge, Täby, north of Stockholm. A contract with the property owner Trophi for premises of 13,000 square meters is ready, confirms CEO Jan Björk.
Heavy Covid 19 costs for Morrisons
Annual results released by Morrisons last week confirm that while its sales have benefitted from surging demand in supermarkets over the last year, profits have taken a major hit from costs related to operating its business during the pandemic.
Rema 1000 most sustainable in Denmark
Rema 1000 is now perceived as the most sustainable brand in Denmark, new research shows. For the past three years, the grocery group Coop has been the most sustainable brand in Denmark. Now it is Rema.
Reitan’s green convenience
With a new concept, Reitan Convenience in Sweden hope to create the world's greenest convenience/grocery store, claims Mariette Kristenson, CEO of Reitan Convenience Sweden.
Tesco disappears from Southeast Asia
The massive private Thai group, Charoen Pokphand, rebrands all former Tesco stores in Malaysia and Thailand to Lotus’s. No more Tesco in Thailand and Southeast Asia.
End of Netto in Sweden
In 2019 Denmark's largest grocery group, Salling Group, said goodbye to the Swedish market with the divestment of a total of 163 Netto stores, which were sold to the Swedish company CBS for almost DKK 1 billion.
ICA disappoints the market
The Swedish giant, ICA, disappoints the market at the end of the year and the stock exchange sends the share values down by about 0,4 percent. The reason is that ICA is growing slower than the market, hence losing market share in a market that is growing strongly due to the Corona pandemic.
Amazon expands biometric palm scanning system
Amazon recently announced that the company is expanding the rollout of its biometric palm scanning system to more of its branded stores, allowing customers to pay with nothing but their hands.
Five trends to watch in 2021
Driving online profitability, creating safe shopping spaces, and bringing the out-of-home experience in-home are among the key trends expected to shape global retail in 2021, according to new predictions from IGD.
French Labor Minister says no
Labor Minister Elisabeth Borne gives a clear message that she is against a takeover of French retailer Carrefour by Canadian convenience-store operator Alimentation Couche-Tard.
Alimentation Couche-Tard offers $ 20 billion for Carrefour
The owner of the Circle K petrol station chain, Canadian Alimentation Couche-Tard, is offering $ 20 billion for the world's second largest grocery chain - French Carrefour SA. That is about 30 percent above current capitalized values in Carrefour.
Jack Ma goes missing
Alibaba's founder, Jack Ma, has gone missing after he publicly criticized China's financial system and called for reforms.
Brexit food price increases are modest
It is reason to believe that food prices in UK will rise modestly in the wake of Brexit because food import and export regulations are very similar to the situation ex ante Brexit.
Salling Group with record growth in turnover
Denmark's largest grocery group, Salling Group, was extremely busy in 2020 and increased its turnover at an unprecedented rate.
Giant bang for the grocery giants
The Norwegian Competition Authority is cracking down hard on the use of “price spies” in the major grocery chains in the Norwegian market and warns of a possible fine of NOK 21 billion to NorgesGruppen, Coop and The Reitan Group combined.
Accelerating online growth for ICA in 2020
The Swedish grocery giant ICA reports accelerating online growth so far in 2020, not least driven by Covid19. Turnover at the store level is also increasing for the same reason.
Tesco Shareholders Set For £5bn Payout
Tesco has announced that it expects to complete the £8bn sale of its businesses in Thailand and Malaysia to the CP Group within days.
Strong Q3 in Walmart
The world’s biggest grocery retailer, Walmart, is among the many grocery retailers that scores high on Covid19. The retail giant delivered a positive surprise despite analysts' optimism about its performance.
Unilever tests 4 day week
Consumer goods giant Unilever will trial a four-day working week in New Zealand to enhance worker wellbeing and boost productivity.
Grab Inc stands firm on IPO plans despite Covid19
Singapore's Grab has not changed its thinking regarding a future IPO because of COVID-19, according to its president, Ming Maa.
Walmart to sell most of Seiyu to KKR and Rakuten
U.S retailer Walmart Inc has agreed to sell most of Japanese supermarket chain Seiyu to the investment firm KKR and e-commerce company Rakuten in a deal that values Seiyu at $ 1.65 billion (172.5 billion yen).
Walmart drop robot plans
Walmart has dropped plans to use roving robots to scan shelves and keep track of inventory, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.
Corona is a nightmare, but drives forward new technologies
Covid19 is a plague and a nuisance for everyone. However, for the grocery retail business it has led to strong growth and increased profitability because people do not eat out anymore. It is more important to note that the Corona is also pushing forward new technological solutions in the value chain.
France advises Arab countries to stop boycott
Supermarket shelves are empty of French products in Kuwait City in a protest of cartoons in the French media illustrating the Prophet Mohammed. The protests are spreading at an alarming rate to all Muslim countries.
Asda sold to Issa brothers in a deal worth £7 billion
The Issa brothers and TDR Capital - a private equity firm - acquire majority ownership stake in the supermarket chain ASDA from US retail giant Walmart.
Lidl scraps plans to launch online in the UK
Lidl is scrapping plans to launch into online grocery in the UK as it closes its digital logistics arm and declares to focus on bricks-and-mortar business.
Tesco ups shareholder payouts as profit soars
Tesco increases shareholder payouts as half-year profit soars increases 28.7% to £551 million, mainly due to Corona! *
Franchise is hot in Denmark
The reason is that the strong success of Rema 1000's in Denmark is now being copied by rivals.
Walmart needs 20,000 more employees now
The American grocery chain Walmart will employ 20,000 seasonal workers to handle e-commerce, and important autumn stunts such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Thanksgiving and Christmas shopping.
Walmart teams up with Zipline for one-hour deliveries by drone
The retail giant and the drone company will start trials in early 2021.
Iceland creates 3000 new jobs amid online boom
Iceland, the British frozen discount grocer hires 3000 new workers amid online boom. Trial with food delivery platform Uber Eats has also been launched in London, with plans for a larger rollout if successful.
This is Coop Denmark’s new CEO
Executive Vice President Kræn Østergård Nielsen has been appointed CEO of Coop Denmark. Thus, the Danish grocery giant has found a replacement for its longtime CEO Peter Høgsted
Amazon has ordered 1800 electric cars for Europe
The online giant Amazon is expanding and has ordered almost 2,000 green vans for the European market.
Danish Coop opens new discount chain concept
Coop is rebuilding 13 of its Fakta stores, which in future will be called Coop 365. The ambition is to take market shares from Lidl and Rema 1000.
Excellent results in ICA Sweden
Covid-19 does not have a negative effect on everyone. The grocery giant ICA has never done as well as it does now - in Sweden. The reason is, simply put, that because of Corona, customers eat more at home.
Lidl Outlines Expansion Plan in Great Britain
Lidl has revealed that it will be opening one store per week in the UK over the next six months, creating up to 1,000 new jobs by the end of the year. The 25 new stores will be opening across England, Scotland and Wales.
Aldi is still losing millions in Denmark
The discount chain got new capital injection of DKK 370 million in April but is still losing big money.
Norwegian government impose measures, but drops a ban on price discrimination in the grocery retailing
The government wants more control over the purchase prices and makes access to retail space easier. But it will not refuse the suppliers to give the chains different prices.
Danske Salling Group buys 300 stores in Poland from British Tesco
“Discount is Salling Group's key to Poland,” says CEO Peder Bank after the 181-million-pound deal with British Tesco was officially approved last week.
UK watchdog closes investigation into Tesco
Britain’s accounting watchdog said it has closed its examination into accountants at Tesco in relation to the British supermarket chain’s 250-million-pound overstatement of profit in 2014.
Lidl with strong development in Northern Ireland
As seen in Britain, the grocery market in Northern Ireland is experiencing strong growth because of the lockdown.
Aldi UK with traffic lights at entrances
Aldi has started rolling out a new automated traffic light system at its entrances to control the number of shoppers going in and out of stores during the coronavirus outbreak.
Walmart sales surge on coronavirus led demand
Over the past couple of years, many experts have predicted that Walmart's time was over. The future belongs to online stores, some experts claim. Q1 for Walmart, however, tells a different story. The future probably belongs to strong retailers with both online - and – traditional stores.
Scenarios beyond covid19: rebound, reboot, reinvent
Governments around the world are edging toward plans to exit mass population lockdowns, albeit at different speeds and in different ways, but the persistent questions for business are around what the future holds and how it should be navigated.
ICA shares are down despite strong growth in Q1
It seems investors do not care that ICA Sweden had more than 8 per cent growth in Q1 2020 - which is huge in grocery context. The reason, of course, is the Corona-crisis.
Tesco starts laying off army of temporary workers
Britain's biggest supermarket hired 45,000 extra workers at the height of the crisis but is letting some go earlier than planned.
How FMCG can prepare for the “next normal"
As the coronavirus pandemic spreads across the globe, threatening both lives and livelihoods, fast moving consumer-goods manufacturers continue to play an important role: producing essential items we all rely on for our health and well-being.
UK Supermarket Sales Fall as People Ease Up on Stockpiling
Industry executives and market analysts have confirmed that supermarket chains have seen a significant downturn in sales over the last couple of weeks following an easing of stockpiling and the introduction of stringent social distancing measures in stores.
Fastest UK turnover gains ever during Corona stress
Latest grocery market share figures from Kantar show year-on-year supermarket sales grew by the fastest rate in over a decade during the 12 weeks to 22 March – increasing by 7.6%.
Denmark is considering gradual reopening after Easter
Denmark will not open the borders, although there is optimism about the gradual opening of workplaces and educational institutions, says Mette Fredriksen, Denmark’s prime minister.
What food retailers should do during the coronavirus crisis
The food-retail industry plays a critical role in these uncertain times. Here are six actions food retailers should take to help their communities, their employees, and their business.
Aldi Best supermarket in Great Britain
Aldi is the supermarket in the UK most recommended by its customers, with none of the “Big Four” making into the top 10 ranking, according to YouGov, a consultancy.
Danish e-commerce increases to 146 billion
Danes spent DKK 146 billion on the Internet during 2019. That makes it another record year for Danish e-commerce. This concludes the Association for Danish Internet Commerce in an analysis for 2019.
Nestle boss announce more deals
Nestle SA Chief Executive Officer Mark Schneider says the world’s largest food and beverage company plans to become more aggressive with acquisitions, identifying areas including metabolic health and nutrition to push sales growth that remains behind the company’s target.
ICA is disappointing the market
The grocery giant in Sweden, Ica, did not quite reach the expected result, with recurring costs weighing on the company's Swedish operations. Like industry colleague Axfood, which also opened its books last week, the Ica share fell on the Stockholm Stock Exchange on Thursday morning by six per cent.
Great Britain: Discounters and Online prosper
Latest grocery market share figures from Kantar show the Big Four supermarket chains continued their downward trend in the new year, whilst the likes of Aldi, Lidl, Ocado and Co-op made further gains.
Automation is necessary now
Automation will reshape retail business models and the broader value chain, creating organizations with fewer layers and a better trained and trusted workforce empowered by real-time data and analytics.