Liang Wei, general manager of Lianhua Supermarket, said that although inflation in China is serious, the company will still maintain the 2008 ratio between its operating expenses and its sales volume at the level of 2007.

Lianhua Supermarket plans to open 400 outlets, including large-scale supermarkets, supermarkets, and convenience stores, in 2008. At present, it owns 120 large-scale supermarkets across China, of which 25 are in Shanghai. According to the development plan of the company, it will open 15 new large-scale supermarkets every year and its number of stores in the large-scale supermarket sector will be 126 by the end of this year.

At the end of 2007, Lianhua Supermarket had 3,722 stores, including 111 large-scale supermarkets, 1,731 supermarkets, and 1,880 convenience stores. Its net profit in 2007 was CNY268 million, an year-on-year increase of 11.05%.

Pasco, Itochu Corporation, and Wei Chuan Corp., a subsidiary of Ting Hsin International Group, will jointly invest JPY1.1 billion to establish a joint venture in September 2008. Of the total investment, Wei Chuan, Pasco, and Itochu will contribute 60%, 24%, and 16%, respectively.
The factory of the joint venture, which is expected to be put into production in February 2010, is planned to be in Shanghai. The factory will manufacture Wei Chuan-Pasco bread brands, including sliced bread and Pasco bread snacks. These products will be sold in convenience stores and supermarkets.

A representative from Pasco said that the Chinese bread market has a great potential and the company is pleased to offer safe and high-quality bread products. This cooperation between Chinese and Japanese companies will form one of the biggest bread manufacturers in China and the goal of the joint venture is to become the leader in China’s bread industry.

Modiv Media said that the roll out began December 2008 with a second DeliVision launch in the West Roxbury, Massachusetts location. Overall, nearly 400 stores in 10 states, including Stop & Shop, Giant Eagle, Giant Food, Ukrop’s Super Markets and Roche Bros, are now using DeliVision.

According to Modiv Media, Modiv DeliVision combines queue optimization, convenient self-service kiosk ordering, and targeted promotions delivery.

Jeff Dineen, director of retail information systems at Roche Bros, said: “We have been extremely impressed with DeliVision’s performance during the pilot at our Westwood location. The addition of DeliVision across the chain dovetails perfectly with our corporate mission of delivering unequaled service and courtesy.”

Cheshunt, England-based Tesco will reduce the cost of 3,000 so-called every day items such as fresh meat and baby food, the company said today in an e-mailed statement. Asda similarly plans to cut the price of 5,000 “every day essentials,” according to a statement on the retailer’s Web site.

Both supermarkets have stepped up promotional offers since January to prevent more shoppers turning to discount retailers such as Germany’s Aldi Group and Lidl. Tesco’s market share has fallen in the last three months, according to research company Taylor Nelson Sofres Plc. The retailer this month increased its range of low-price branded products and in January reduced prices of more than 3,000 items following cuts at Asda.

“Millions of customers are right now worrying about how they are going to make this month’s pay packet stretch until the next one arrives,” Richard Brasher, Tesco’s commercial and marketing director, said in a statement.

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When contacted, Future Group CEO Kishore Biyani said: “We have been evaluating the option of creating a new entity for our value retailing businesses.” Last year, Pantaloon Retail had secured board approvals for hiving off the businesses into independent subsidiaries that could be listed at a later date.

Under the proposal, Pantaloon Retail will be a holding company. Pantaloon officials familiar with the development said the group is examining a structure that would eventually enable it to strike a JV with a global retailer. Pantaloon Retail has been in talks with Carrefour, the world’s second-largest French supermarket group, for a JV in India.

Under the scheme of things, Future Value Retail would serve as a major supply-chain entity for all Future Group store formats and help the company prune costs, a group official said. Technically, the sourcing and back-end of the store formats would be one while the front ends would continue to operate as separate entities. Currently, all Food Bazaar outlets, comprising its food and grocery supermarket business, are located within Big Bazaar formats.

While Big Bazaar is the group’s hypermarket business and has 109 stores, Food Bazaar is a supermarket chain that has 152 stores with most of them housed adjacent to Big Bazaar. Food Bazaar’s business model resembles the value model of global retailer Wal-Mart. According to Nielsen data, Food Bazaar’s share in the FMCG space in terms of modern trade is about 28%. Pantaloon Retail is estimated to report sales of Rs 10,000 crore for 2008-09 while the combined revenues of Big Bazaar and Food Bazaar are estimated to touch Rs 5,000 crore.

A proposed joint venture with a foreign retailer would enable the Future Group access sizeable dollar funds needed to expand its business. A foreign partner will also help the group bring in more efficiency in sourcing and logistics, helping it drive down prices and boost margins. Besides Big Bazaar, the Future Group runs Food Bazaar, KB’s Fair Price shops, Pantaloons, Central, Home Town, eZone and Aadhaar. The Pantaloon Retail stock closed at Rs 130.15, up 5.46%, on the BSE on Monday.

In a challenging consumer environment, bargain hunters are flocking to modern value-retail formats like Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar, D’Mart and More, which have been coming up with discount offers to attract customers. This reflects a global trend, wherein value-retail formats are growing despite the overall slowdown in the economy. Last month, US-based Wal-Mart reported a strong 5.1% increase in same-store sales (excluding gasoline sales) in the US, even though lifestyle chains, like Target, Macy’s and Abercrombie & Fitch, suffered a drop in sales.

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Pantaloon may use the new format to strike JV with France’s Carrefour
A proposed JV would bring in the required funds for Future Group to scale up its business Presence of a foreign partner, in all likelihood, will have a positive impact on the efficiency level, which would bring down prices and help margins

As food chains nationwide boost brew sales, the O’Hara grocery chain is asking the state Liquor Control Board to transfer a restaurant liquor license to a Giant Eagle Market District store expected to open this fall at the new Settlers Ridge development in Robinson. Giant Eagle is pursuing other licenses, including one for a store in Pine.

Wegmans and other grocers in the state have opened cafe-style areas in some stores that sell six-packs of beer along with other beverages. The small, in-store restaurants allow them to take advantage of recent legal interpretations of Pennsylvania’s restrictive liquor code, which bars most sales from grocery stores.

Now it’s Giant Eagle’s turn.

Spokesman Dick Roberts said Giant Eagle has yet to work out some details, such as what brands of beer it might sell, but one thing’s certain: Pennsylvania’s licensed beer distributors will fight before the Robinson store or others ring up their first sales.

The Malt Beverage Distributors Association is challenging each license transfer to go before the LCB. A board hearing examiner will schedule a public hearing in the Pittsburgh area before a final vote on Giant Eagle’s license for the Robinson supermarket, said LCB spokeswoman Francesca Chapman.

Mary Lou Hogan, executive secretary and counsel for the Philadelphia-based distributors association, said grocery chains are stripping away beer sales from neighborhood businesses that only can sell it by the case or keg, without having to follow the same rules such as limits on hours.

Peggy Alston worries sales will fall at her family’s Pike Beverage Outlet, a distributorship about two miles from Giant Eagle’s Settlers Ridge site.

“I’m not allowed to sell flowers or groceries or baked goods for extra income, but Sheetz and then Wegmans and now Giant Eagle can get licenses to sell beer,” she said. “It’s another slap in the face for small businesses, and for the customers it will mean limited choice and service.”

Another nearby Giant Eagle supermarket sends customers from other states who are used to buying beer in grocery stores to her business, Alston said.

Nationwide beer sales last year weakened in bars, restaurants and other businesses where customers typically drink on-site, while they increased 1.2 percent in grocery and convenience stores, the Beer Institute said.

“Beer and wine sales are critically important to supermarket sales,” said retail analyst Burt P. Flickinger III. While the profit margin on most groceries might be 1 or 2 cents on the dollar, he said, it averages 3 to 4 cents on beer sales.

Pennsylvania’s liquor laws hurt consumers, regional brewers such as Lawrenceville’s Iron City Brewing Co. and grocers, he said.

“When you have one of the most inefficient distribution systems in America, it adds tremendous costs for consumers and it penalizes the sales and operating profits of food retailers who, were they able to sell beer, could compete more effectively with the Wal-Marts and Sam’s and other big players,” he said.

Consumers, too, have differing opinions.

“Buying beer and wine (at the supermarket) is like getting milk and bread,” said Rob Hornison of Hempfield.

Colleen Friedline, 55, of Export opposes loosening liquor restrictions.

“There’s enough temptation for people to go out and get drunk, to ruin their lives and the lives of their families … and kill other people,” she said.

Pennsylvania’s restrictions on beer sales are thought to be the second-tightest in the nation, behind Utah, said Cris Hoel, a Pittsburgh attorney who has represented alcohol trade associations and grocery chains, but isn’t involved in the cases here.

The state’s tough stance on liquor, including its controlled beer-distribution system, dates to the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, when states were told to set their own laws.

Then-Gov. Gifford Pinchot, an ardent alcohol foe, reluctantly accepted its legalization.

“He did his best to make sure the laws were as harshly worded as they could be,” Hoel said. “We’re still living with the remnants of that today.”

Subsequent attempts to loosen controls went nowhere. Gov. Dick Thornburgh ran into opposition from religious and other groups in 1981, when he tried to sell off state liquor stores. Later privatization attempts by Gov. Tom Ridge in 1997 and, most recently, state Sen. Rob Wonderling, R-Montgomery County, failed.

Hoel noted one reason for maintaining the status quo: Pennsylvania’s wine and liquor sales generated $1.76 billion last year, putting $433 million into the state Treasury.

With the licenses it’s seeking, Giant Eagle couldn’t sell alcoholic beverages on shelves, as it does in Ohio. The Pennsylvania stores would partition off areas with at least 400 square feet that seat 30 or more people, serve food prepared on site and ring up their own sales.

Customers could buy the equivalent of up to two six-packs to carry out or order a beer or glass of wine to drink at the restaurant.

Wegmans was the first supermarket chain to open restaurants and sell beer in Eastern Pennsylvania, and Commonwealth Court in February upheld the licenses. The beer distributors association is waiting for the state Supreme Court to decide whether it will consider a further appeal.

Wegmans has obtained or is applying for licenses for 14 stores, according to the Liquor Control Board’s Web site. In addition to Giant Eagle’s applications, Weis Markets and Whole Foods Markets are moving toward beer sales in Pennsylvania.

The license for Giant Eagle’s Robinson store is the first to go before the LCB for approval. Supervisors in Pine, where a large, new-concept Giant Eagle opened in February, have scheduled a May 4 public hearing on a license transfer.

“We want to ramp up the volumes,” said Mark Price, managing director of Waitrose. “Delivery charges are a real irritation for customers when they’re spending £90 on a shop.”

Britain’s worst recession in more than two decades has heaped pressure on supermarket chains to pitch their pricing strategies correctly as customers tighten their belts.

Waitrose, with 200 branches across the UK, has benefited as people eat out less, according to Mr Price. The chain, which recorded a 6pc jump in sales over Easter compared with last year, said it was winning customers from rivals such as J Sainsbury.

Owned by The John Lewis Partnership, Waitrose is betting that its move will help prise shoppers away from rivals in the online grocery market, which it claims will enjoy sales of £13bn within four years.

The charges will cease from Wednesday although the Waitrose Deliver service will still require a minimum order of £50. Waitrose Entertaining, its service for party food and drink, does not have a minimum order requirement.

The decision to scrap the charges comes in the same week that shoppers at online delivery service Ocado will be able to buy Waitrose food cheaper online than from the supermarket for the first time.

John Lewis Partnership has a stake in Ocado but does not fully own it, so the internet delivery company is able to charge what it likes for Waitrose products.

Mr Price has said there are many promotions that Waitrose runs in store that Ocado does not offer. The free delivery is not being offered by Ocado.

Mr Price said trading in the first three months had been better than expected and he was in the optimists camp regarding the rest of 2009.

Featuring even more products and services, the new supermarket offers a full-service pharmacy with a convenient drive-up window, and a new Quick Stop fuel and convenience center featuring the latest technology to enable customers to redeem promotional offers right at the pump.

Boasting an expanded meat department offering select cuts of meat with preparation and cooking tips daily; fresh seafood; more than 600 produce items; and a full-service deli offering a complete selection of salads, premium deli meats, a wide variety of domestic and imported cheeses, and a wide to-go assortment of quick and easy hot lunches and dinners. The store also packs a full selection of Spartan brand products; a fresh floral department offering fresh-cut flower bouquets, potted plants and balloons; and energy-efficient lighting and heating equipment, among other eco-friendly features.

Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Spartan Stores’ Glen’s Markets has 34 locations throughout northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula, including locations in Munising, Sault Ste. Marie, Traverse City, Petoskey, Cadillac, Cheboygan, West Branch, Gaylord, Midland and Houghton Lake.

source: progressivegrocer.com

Costco, which will charge as much $60 in annual membership fees to Australian customers, will open its Melbourne outlet Aug. 17 with a 14,000 square meter (151,000 square feet) store, almost three times the size of typical supermarkets.

”We operate with low margins and with our membership fees, we can sustain low margins,” Australian Managing Director Patrick Noone said in an interview. ”Lower prices are important because people shop with us to get value.”

The Melbourne outlet, located in Docklands on the fringe of the central business district, will be followed by a store in Sydney’s western suburbs before Costco looks at more openings in the nation of almost 22 million. The Washington-based retailer enters a market where Woolworths and Wesfarmers’ Coles unit control almost three-quarters of retail grocery sales.

”We’ll have to see a competitive response from Coles and
Woolworths,” said Saxon Nicholls, at Herschel Asset Management in Melbourne. ”The Australian retailers already have substantial scale in the market and it will depend on Costco getting its own scale in Australia.”

Fundamental difference

Costco’s impact on rivals may extend beyond any market share it wins, with the company’s practice of pricing goods as much as 15 per cent below rivals likely to influence perceptions of value, according to analysts at Macquarie Group.

”Membership fees allow Costco to operate at low margins and are a fundamental difference in the business model,” Macquarie said in a July 7 note to clients. ”All other retailers of like products could be forced to price within these bounds depending on consumer response to Costco.”

Noone, an Australian who has worked for Costco for two decades, said the size of the Australian network will depend on the success of the first two outlets, with the company typically targeting a ratio of one store per 500,000 people.

”It all depends on how well we do what we say we are going to in Australia,” Noone said. ”When I was in Canada we started building warehouses to that ratio but when I left our brand name was such that we could build to 200,000 or 300,000 people and have a successful store.”

Vegemite, not peanut butter

The Australian outlets will carry about 3,800 product lines, compared with 27,000 in some Coles outlets, with some variation for local tastes. Instead of bulk packages of peanut butter popular in the US, Costco may stock items such as large sizes of Vegemite.

While both Coles and Woolworths trial hardwood floors, redesigned fresh produce sections and new shelving in their supermarkets, Costco maintains its warehouse design with concrete floors, exposed light fittings and inventory stacked on wooden pallets.

The Australian unit has no plans to sell coffins, as some of its US outlets do, although Noone expects the product range to evolve as Costco gains acceptance from consumers.

”If we can get good volume we will stock it and sell it,” Noone said. ”We look at areas we can show great value and that is why we sell diamonds and liquor and candy and all the other things.”

Costco, which will charge as much $60 in annual membership fees to Australian customers, will open its Melbourne outlet Aug. 17 with a 14,000 square meter (151,000 square feet) store, almost three times the size of typical supermarkets.

”We operate with low margins and with our membership fees, we can sustain low margins,” Australian Managing Director Patrick Noone said in an interview. ”Lower prices are important because people shop with us to get value.”

The Melbourne outlet, located in Docklands on the fringe of the central business district, will be followed by a store in Sydney’s western suburbs before Costco looks at more openings in the nation of almost 22 million. The Washington-based retailer enters a market where Woolworths and Wesfarmers’ Coles unit control almost three-quarters of retail grocery sales.

”We’ll have to see a competitive response from Coles and
Woolworths,” said Saxon Nicholls, at Herschel Asset Management in Melbourne. ”The Australian retailers already have substantial scale in the market and it will depend on Costco getting its own scale in Australia.”

Fundamental difference

Costco’s impact on rivals may extend beyond any market share it wins, with the company’s practice of pricing goods as much as 15 per cent below rivals likely to influence perceptions of value, according to analysts at Macquarie Group.

”Membership fees allow Costco to operate at low margins and are a fundamental difference in the business model,” Macquarie said in a July 7 note to clients. ”All other retailers of like products could be forced to price within these bounds depending on consumer response to Costco.”

Noone, an Australian who has worked for Costco for two decades, said the size of the Australian network will depend on the success of the first two outlets, with the company typically targeting a ratio of one store per 500,000 people.

”It all depends on how well we do what we say we are going to in Australia,” Noone said. ”When I was in Canada we started building warehouses to that ratio but when I left our brand name was such that we could build to 200,000 or 300,000 people and have a successful store.”

Vegemite, not peanut butter

The Australian outlets will carry about 3,800 product lines, compared with 27,000 in some Coles outlets, with some variation for local tastes. Instead of bulk packages of peanut butter popular in the US, Costco may stock items such as large sizes of Vegemite.

While both Coles and Woolworths trial hardwood floors, redesigned fresh produce sections and new shelving in their supermarkets, Costco maintains its warehouse design with concrete floors, exposed light fittings and inventory stacked on wooden pallets.

The Australian unit has no plans to sell coffins, as some of its US outlets do, although Noone expects the product range to evolve as Costco gains acceptance from consumers.

”If we can get good volume we will stock it and sell it,” Noone said. ”We look at areas we can show great value and that is why we sell diamonds and liquor and candy and all the other things.”