To follow is a brief review of retail news from around the world:
December 28 – New Shopping Mall Developments Planned for 2018 in Mexico
Mexican developers are completing at least five large scale shopping mall projects set to open in 2018. The major new retail and entertainment complexes are under construction in cities including Puebla, Mérida and Mexico City via combined investment of approximately US$400 million. *This article is written is Spanish. From El Financiero
December 28 – Walmart Opened 79 New Stores in Mexico in 2017
Mexico’s largest retailer, Walmart, reported it opened 79 new stores during 2017, which includes 22 new stores in western Mexico and another 10 in the country’s southeast region. The western state of Jalisco, in which the city of Guadalajara is loocated, alone received 10 new Walmart stores last year. *This article is written in Spanish. From El Financiero
December 20 – La Comer Plans to Open 8 New Stores in 2018
Mexican grocery and general merchandise chain La Comer (formerly Comercial Mexicana) reported plans to open eight new stores in 2018. The expansion will include an unspecified number of locations under the City Market format, which targets an upper income market and sells quality kitchenware. *This article is written in Spanish. From El Financiero
December 20 – Amazon Plots Physical Stores in Germany
Amazon is plotting physical stores in Germany, in response to Germans’ preference for shopping in-store, Amazon’s chief there, Ralf Kleber, told German newspaper Berliner Morgenpost. Kleber provided no official launch date for stores, but emphasized that German consumers are increasingly turning to last-mile delivery. From Retail Dive
December 19 – Bunnings Has Purchased Land in Melbourne’s Southeast Side With Plans to Build a New Store
Approval has been received for Bunnings to build a 16,000 sq meter warehouse store in the Melbourne’s burgeoning Southeast side, which has an estimated population growth of 65% by 2041. This new Bunnings retail warehouse would be the anchor store for the new business park, in plan to be built. From InsideRetail
December 19 – Aldi Opens First Stores in Northern Portugal
With 54 stores already in Portugal, the German retailer, which has been in Portugal since 2006, has plans to continue expanding throughout Portugal. These new stores represent a total of 57 stores in the country, with plans to open many additional outlets in 2018. From European Supermarket Magazine
December 19 – Springboard, a Retail Intelligence Agency, Forecasts that Retail Store Footfall will Decline on Year-On-Year on Christmas Eve in the UK
However, an uplift of 7.8% across the UK until Friday December 22 is anticipated as last minute shoppers head to high streets for retail diversity, restaurant and cafés. The Saturday pre-Christmas is anticipated to see a drop of footfall by 2.9% due to anticipated holiday travel. From Springboard
December 18 – Australia/New Zealand Retailer, Bunnings Opened its First Warehouse Store in the UK
On December 14 in South York Shire, Bunnings unveiled the first of the £500 million it plans to invest in the UK and Ireland over the next 5 years. This first South Yorkshire-based Bunnings warehouse is 70,000 sq feet and offers over 30,000 product SKUs. From Bunnings.com
December 18 – Japanese Discount Store, Don Quijote, Plans Additional Stores in Asia
After opening its first store in Singapore in December, Don Quijote, with over 160 stores with a range of products from electronics to basic groceries, plans to open stores in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Taiwan and Thailand. From Insider Thailand
December 17 – JD.com Plans to Open Hundreds of Unmanned Stores
JD.com plans to use RFIDs and cameras with facial and image recognition technology to improve on Amazon’s “Go” store technology. JD.com will partner with Hong Kong real estate giant, China Overseas Land & Investment Ltd, and the company has already tested its trial store with 10,000 employees at its Beijing headquarters. From Quartz
December 15 – Amazon is Crowned as the Leading Online Retailer in Mexico in 2017
Amazon.com is on track to exceed US$505 million in Mexico sales this year, making it Mexico’s leading on-line retailer, according to a Euromonitor report cited in El Financiero. Internet sales represent strong growth potential in the country, currently accounting for only 3% of annual retail sales. *This article is written in Spanish. From El Financiero
December 14 – Colombian Supermarket Retailer, Olimpica Ends 2017 with 351 Stores
Olimpica has grown 9% in 2017 and despite falling consumption levels in Colombia, the retailer has maintained growth for more than 10 consecutive years. Last year the company opened 37 new stores. In 2017, 23 new outlets were planned and it is expected to open at least 35 new stores in 2018. From AVI Retail
December 14 – Amazon and FlipKart Report Increased Turnover
Flipkart has enjoyed a steady increase in revenue over the last three years, with a recent posting of a 19% turnover increase for the year ending in March 2017. Flipkart’s rival in India, Amazon a tremendous increase in turnover over the same period. From Economic Times
December 13 – Soriana Opened Its First Gas Station
Mexican Retail Chain, Soriana opened its first gas station in the North Central Mexican state of San Luis Potosí. This first gas station is located within the Soriana retail store parking lot, as is common with American retailers. The gas station is operated under the Permex name. From Retail Net Group
December 11 – Walmart Mexico Introduces In-Store WiFi to Increase Customer Engagement
Walmart hopes to increase consumer familiarity and comfort with online shopping while in stores with an aim to drive future online sales. Walmart Mexico hopes to grow online sales, which were only 1% of all third quarter sales in 2017. From Reuters
December 11 – E-Commerce Platform, Shopee Has Reached $5 billion in Gross Merchandise Value
Shopee operates in six South East Asian markets, aside from Taiwan, where it began operations. In this, its second year in operation, the e-commerce platform currently supports 180 million active listings and 4 million sellers. From InsideRetail
December 9 – Retail Giant Steinhoff Rocked by Accounting Scandal
South Africa-based German-listed retail giant Steinhoff had been a darling of fund managers with its eclectic, sprawling, consumer-focused empire with outposts in 30 countries. But on Wednesday the music stopped when Steinhoff revealed it was under criminal and tax investigation in Germany over suspicions of accounting irregularities and that its chief executive, Markus Jooste, had resigned. He had led the firm for two decades. From ETRetail
December 8 – Walmart will have Wi-Fi Connection in all Stores in Mexico
Mexico’s largest retailer, Walmart, announced plans to install WiFi internet in all its stores in Mexico, except for the Bodega Aurrerá Express format and Medimart pharmacies. The strategy is aimed at collecting increased data on customer behavior and driving more traffic to stores, the company explained. *This article is written in Spanish. From El Financiero
December 8 – Rewe to End Temma Chain in Germany
After 8 years of trying to succeed with an organic fresh market concept in large Germany cities, Rewe is planning to close 7 out of its 9 branches by the end of January. The retailer plans to expand its organic assortment in its existing Rewe stores, expanding on its success of increasing its organic assortment from 100 to 600 products over the past 2 years. From Fresh Plaza
December 8 – German Retailer, Metro, Exits China Convenience Store Market
After only 2 years, Metro has closed all of its convenience stores in China. Metro, however, states that this will not impact their long-term plans for development in China with O2O stores, food delivery service, and e-commerce channels where the retailer feels it can provide added value to the Chinese consumers. From South China Morning Post
December 7 – Walmart, Mexico’s Largest Retailer, Reports Highest Year-End Sales in 6 Years
Mexico’s largest retailer, Walmart, reported its highest sales for a November since 2012. The 7.6% increase in same-store sales over the previous year is partially attributed to strong performance during the “Buen Fin” retail promotion weekend during November. *This article is written in Spanish. From El Financiero
December 7 – SPAR Thailand Expands Rapidly in First Year
Dutch Retailer, SPAR, now has 26 stores in Thailand, 18 of which opened between October 2016 and mid-2017 and 8 of which opened during the second half of 2017. 26 SPAR stores, with 18 opened between October 2016 and mid-2017. Thailand SPAR stores are branded “SPAR – The Fresh and Easy Food Market”. From SPAR International
December 6 – Walgreens To Invest $416 Million In Chinese Pharmacy Chain
Walgreens Boots Alliance said Wednesday it would expand its global retail pharmacy operations by taking a 40% stake in Sinopharm Holding Guoda Drugstores Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Chinae National Accord Medicines Corporation. From Forbes
December 6 – Walmart Name Change Reinforces Commitment to Ecommerce
Walmart changed its corporate name from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to Walmart Inc. The company’s CEO Doug McMillon explained the name change was due to its growing presence as a retailer who serves customers no matter how they choose to shop – in stores, online, on their mobile device, or through pickup and delivery – called omnichannel by the retail industry. Walmart vowed to strengthen its stores around the world and to expand its ecommerce capabilities. From eCommerce Bytes
December 6 – Spinneys to open 18 new UAE stores by 2020
Supermarket chain Spinneys Dubai plans to open 18 UAE stores by 2020 as part of an expansion drive. It will also open a new headquarters in Dubai’s Meydan area by April 2019 featuring a flagship store and a cookery school. From Arabian Business
December 5 – Coppel Mexico Plans to Double Online Sales
Mexican department store chain Coppel plans to double its online sales in 2018 through aggressive strategies, the company reported. Plans include promotional campaigns, new payment methods, free shipping and leveraging its network of over 1,400 stores. *This article is written in Spanish. From El Financiero
December 4 – Christmas Sales Are Up in Atlantic Canada
In spite of all Sears stores closing in Atlantic Canada, representing the loss of around 1000 jobs, Canadian’s Atlantic Provinces Economic Council has reported that there is an optimistic forecast for 2017 retail Christmas sales season. From Global News
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