Discount Variety Retail Chain Pepco Group (owner of European discount retailer brands Pepco, Poundland and Dealz, listed on the WIG and owned by Steinhoff International) pledged to 'protect prices' for cash-strapped shoppers, as it reported a 17.5% increase in first-half revenue, driven by new store openings. The group, which listed on the Warsaw stock market since last May, said it would continue to drive its growth agenda while cutting the costs of doing business. Offset Inflation "This will enable us to offset the majority of our input inflation, allowing us to protect prices for our cost-conscious customers," said interim chief executive Trevor Masters. He cautioned that the market Pepco operates in is likely to stay volatile in the near term, because of inflationary pressures and the conflict in Ukraine, which borders three of the company's largest operating territories. Britain's inflation hit a 30-year high of 7% in March, with households facing the biggest cost-of-living squeeze since records began in the 1950s. In the 19-country Eurozone it surged to 7.5% in March, hitting another record, with months to go before it is set to peak. Half-Year Revenue Pepco said revenue totalled €2.37 billion (US$ 2.6 bn) in the six months to March 31 as it opened 192 new stores, taking the total to 3,696 across 17 countries. It said like-for-like sales growth was 5.3%, driven by growth of 12.1% in the second quarter. Pepco, which does not trade online bar a small Poundland trial, forecast first-half core earnings (EBITDA) within a range of €342 million (US$ 376mn) to €350 million (US$ 385mn). "Within this range, the group remains on track to meet guidance for the full year in the absence of any further significant deterioration in the macro environment," it said. Masters succeeded Andy Bond, who stepped down for health reasons at the end of March. See here for more: https://www.esmmagazine.com/retail/discounter-pepco-in-price-pledge-as-first-half-sales-rise-170867

Discount Retail Chain Lidl Germany (owned by the German Schwarz Group) is installing self-checkouts in its German stores. Unlike in Great Britain and Switzerland, the leading European grocery retail banner is not using solutions from Diebold Nixdorf in its home country, but devices from Swiss hardware specialist 4POS embarking on a platform strategy: The same standard components are used on these devices as Lidl uses at its attended tills. The software-independent hardware enables the discounter to now also use software from GK at its self-checkouts. Cash payment is possible at all devices: thanks to cash recyclers from Glory. At the Lidl store in Bietigheim-Bissingen, not far from the group’s headquarters in Neckarsulm and Heilbronn, the discounter’s customers are already busily using the six self-checkouts that have been set up there in addition to five traditional cash registers. The machines are all equipped with cash recyclers from Glory. Schwarz Group is now planning to introduce self-checkouts of this type in many Lidl shops in Germany. The discounter also offers this type of self-checkout to its customers abroad: They are already in use in selected stores in Romania, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Croatia and Slovenia. Platform strategy for software and hardware But it is not only in terms of software that Lidl is bringing its self-checkouts into line with its traditional, attended tills: The hardware of Swiss specialist 4POS enables the use of exactly the same peripheral components that are also installed at the attended checkouts: For example, the new self-checkout features a touchscreen display from Diebold Nixdorf, receipt printers from Epson, as well as scanner scales from Datalogic, which customers can now use to weigh fruit and vegetables themselves. In addition, 4POS installs checkweighers from the Israeli specialist Shekel at the self-checkouts for Lidl on the area to the right of the scanner, where customers are supposed to place the goods after registering them. As is generally the case with hardware purchasing, Lidl also relies on a two-vendor strategy for the new self-checkouts in order to avoid pressure from suppliers. Thus, not only 4POS will be allowed to supply the new self-checkouts for the German Lidl stores, but also the Swedish cash register and shop fitting specialist Itab. Self-checkouts for all Lidl countries The new self-checkouts will also be introduced step by step in Lidl stores abroad. According to information from Retail Optimiser, they are to be rolled out step by step in all Lidl countries. Only for Switzerland and Great Britain there is no decision yet, as they have already installed numerous Diebold Nixdorf complete solutions. However, at all Lidl self-checkouts, the process appears somewhat difficult for customers who, like many, use a shopping trolley and buy a lot of goods. The self-checkout labelling explains to the shoppers that they should place their shopping basket to the left of the scanner or scan the goods immediately. They then have to place the goods on the checkweigher to the right of the scanner. Difficult for large quantities However, the often very large quantities of goods that many Lidl customers have in their shopping trolleys do not all fit on the checkweigher. If the customers later puts the goods back into the shopping trolley, which the software allows without alarm, there is a risk that they will forget which products he has already scanned, even without fraudulent intent. In the Lidl store in Bietigheim-Bissingen, the Retail Optimiser team could not observe any checks of the scanned baskets by employees. In principle, however, these are conceivable. An exit barrier behind the area where the self-checkouts are set up only opens when the barcode printed on the receipt is scanned at the barrier. Self-scanning with smartphones will come But Lidl is working on a solution for large shopping baskets: it is undisputed that the discounter will introduce self-scanning with customers’ smartphones – most likely as part of its Lidl Plus app: the only question is when. The introduction of self-checkouts also serves this purpose. Because these devices will also serve as payment terminals for users of the app-based self-scanning in the future. This article was written by: Bjoern Weber See here for more from the source: https://retail-optimiser.de/en/lidl-brings-self-checkouts-with-4pos-and-gk-to-germany/

Investigative journalist Rens Lieman worked in the midst of mostly Polish colleagues for four weeks in discount variety retail chain Action's (owned by PE investor 3igroup) hyper-efficiently organized distribution center. How hard does one have to work here to keep the prices in the stores so low? “Am I in the Matrix now?” I ask the colleague who is training me after talking to a computer program for twenty-five minutes so that it gets used to my pronunciation? Just kidding, but one that I keep thinking about as I gain more experience as an 'order picker' in Action's distribution center in Zwaagdijk-East. The ins and outs in this warehouse resemble a computer simulation in which every movement, every action, is preprogrammed. Like ants through an ant city, a few hundred order pickers on electric trucks drive through the long corridors of the distribution center. They drive purposefully and in straight lines. Four open-sided roll containers ride with them on the rear fork of the truck. The mostly young Polish drivers wear comfortable clothing with yellow safety vests over them and have headsets on their heads. They talk into the microphone to the computer, which gives them commands and wants verbal confirmations after each action. We are Action's first distribution center. A large, white box of blocks at a business park in Zwaagdijk-East. Not to be missed if you drive on the Westfrisiaweg that connects Hoorn with Enkhuizen (the Netherlands). The warehouse space has quadrupled in twenty years to more than one hundred thousand square meters, a good fourteen football fields. Action also has distribution centers in Limburg, France, Germany and Poland. 1200 employees work in this in Zwaagdijk-East, 700 of whom are temporary workers. The customer does not have to pay one euro for a quarter of all products that Action sells. This efficiently and cheaply organized distribution center is one of the links that makes this possible. How are things inside? How hard does the work have to be, and who will do the work? To find out, I applied for an order picking vacancy. I was able to start last fall. I would work at Action for four weeks, three days a week, from six in the morning until three in the afternoon. Productivity all that matters Order pickers are standing on their truck. For every box we have to 'pick up', we hop off and on again. In between we do sprints of a few meters. The trucks make a high-pitched whirring sound. We zigzag through the corridors. In this way we collect the products that the 395 Dutch Action branches have ordered. Until the four roll containers are full. Then we have to seal them, label them and have them ready at the truck docks, where another team rolls them into the truck. Repeat. This is how it goes every day, eighteen hours in a row, in two different shifts. “The work is simple, but top sport,” my foreman said during my application. A friendly West Frisian with straightforward communication. He explains that Action considers three things important: safety, quality and productivity. But actually it is mainly about productivity, he admits. The safety protocols are taught to me in my first week. As a reminder, there is a mirror next to the staff lockers with the words: 'Who is responsible for safe working conditions in the warehouse here?' Another one next to it, with the same text, but in Polish. Quality in Action's distribution center mainly means that you don't put chip boxes at the bottom of the stack. And that you do not pick up more than one wrong box per two hundred boxes. Productivity is left as the one and only performance indicator. Work fast. Carry a lot of boxes. Forklift drivers and order pickers have a 'target', as is usual in distribution centers. A minimum requirement, you could call it better. Order pickers have to collect and prepare an average of 130 boxes every hour. Quick talk Every now and then I miss a no-driving sign, or I forget to keep room in my container for a thirty-litre trash can (€24.95). But in general it's fine. I work hard, and because the computer has orders for me non-stop, the workday never feels too long. Exactly the same as the one before. When I squat by the lockers to exchange my work shoes for sneakers, my body feels pleasantly tired, as if I've been working out. I start to recognize colleagues, sometimes strike up a conversation with them when our paths cross in the aisles. Quick talk, because we all have to reach our target. The Dutch-speaking colleagues I speak to do this work because they can't find another job for a while, or because this work simply suits them. The latter group previously worked in the Deen or Lidl distribution center nearby. The work is basically the same everywhere, they tell me. Targets, trucks, voting computers. What makes Action different are the many Polish colleagues in the workplace. Is it nice to work here, I ask one of my colleagues while we prepare containers for the trucks? He shrugs. “Well, as long as you meet your target, they leave you alone and the work is okay. Straightforward." The Poles work longer The vast majority of my colleagues are Polish temporary workers. They work under Polish foremen and team leaders, have Polish contacts at the employment agency. Actions work instructions, forms and computer systems are all also available in Polish. Poles like to work here because they can earn more in the Netherlands than in their home country. Action, in turn, is happy to hire them. According to Action, there are not enough people from their own region who want to do this work under the conditions offered. The Poles work hard - although not always neatly, but that is of secondary importance - and do not complain. Because they are hired through employment agencies, they can be deployed flexibly. Action already needs that flexibility in normal times, it came in handy during the corona lockdown. Action was out of work for five hundred temporary workers in the distribution center in mid-December. Most are now back. In the distribution center I learn some Polish words. Tak (yes) to confirm against the computer, kurwa (whore) to curse if a box falls. Most Poles work hard, I see. I can see from them how you open boxes faster: after you have cut the adhesive tape with your pocket knife, you have to give it a thump with your fist. Above the 'aquarium', the elevated glass building where foremen and other executives have their offices, an electronic board indicates how many boxes still have to be collected that day. One hundred and fifty thousand, two hundred and twenty thousand... If it exceeds three tons, it becomes problematic. Should we all work a little harder, I ask an experienced colleague? "New. Then the Poles are asked to work a little longer.” Unlike the employees, the temporary workers have no fixed end times. And they start an hour earlier. A Polish colleague who tells me about this finds it no problem to sometimes work a little longer. Like many of his compatriots in the Netherlands, he has a limited social life. He does sometimes end the working day together with colleagues from the evening shift. Then they smoke some cannabis in the nearby park or bus shelter, drink beer and play music. In general, temporary workers and employees are satisfied with Action as their employer. (There are many more complaints about the employment agencies, more in the past than now.) The contact is generally friendly, there are career opportunities and temporary workers are not skipped when the Christmas hampers are distributed. Precious minutes Much of Action's wide range passes through my hands. Bulk packages of toilet paper, boxes of batteries, Dove cream, pregnancy tests, printing paper, toys, paint cans. I see them on the shelves of the Amsterdam Action branch where I sometimes visit. With some annoyance I look at the clothes drying racks (€7.95), which I received in my container a week earlier so rotten. On Wednesdays, my foreman walks through the warehouse, clipboard in hand. When he sees one of his team members whizzing down the halls, he or she stops for a moment and looks on his slip of paper for the name in question and his average number of boxes picked per hour for the past week. The computer system has kept up with that. I am above target twice. “Okay, keep it up,” I hear. But I won't go on like this. In week three I will allow myself to talk a bit more with colleagues. Pay more attention to what is written on the boxes, from which factories and through which importers the products are purchased. That depresses my average. More problematic is my fiddling with large plastic storage boxes (€6.95), ironing boards (€12.99) and fake Christmas trees (€29.95). To make room for that in my container, I sometimes have to rearrange it completely, which takes a lot of time. I do not determine myself when my containers are full, the computer has determined that on the basis of the dimensions in the system. And if the computer says it fits, it fits. Unforgivable In week four, I'm five boxes an hour below target. It's okay, I think. But my foreman's face is serious. "Where is it going wrong?" I tell him. But the computer had already told him. The answer is on another piece of paper, which is now also before my eyes. An invisible stopwatch has timed my every move. How long it takes me to load toilet paper, how long to load bins. How that compares to my colleagues. How many seconds pass between boxes in the same aisle, which gives insight into my stacking speed. How long does it take me to seal containers. How long do I take a break. The productivity of distribution center employees is not only measured down to the second. This also happens with stock fillers who work in the stores, I learned from conversations with a stock filler and a store manager who work in various Actions in the southern provinces. Trade union director Nico Meijer of FNV has had Action in his portfolio for six years. “I understand that you measure things to keep an eye on productivity. But it has gone too far, every second of every employee is being mapped. You hardly have room in your work to do it your way. Action is not unique in this, this happens in every large warehouse. But Action is best in class in this regard. The day after the news about my mediocre average, I gear up a few notches. No more talking, smarter stacking, making sure that the material is in order beforehand. My average that day is fine, above the target of an experienced order picker. But in the aquarium it has already been decided by a team leader unknown to me that my probationary period will not be extended. My rising line had dipped. So towards the end of my probationary period, in a job where nothing more than the number of boxes you carry, it's unforgivable. Too bad, the work was just getting used to. There was a flow in how I got on and off, picked up boxes from the floor and attached them to the computer before they were in my container so that I already got a new assignment. That saves seconds. I had become used to getting up early, cycling through the pitch dark on the Zwaagdijk early in the morning. Past the fruit and vegetable growers, where many Poles also work, until the blue-lit Action logo on the side of the white block box looms up to my right. I had gotten used to talking into the headset. Listening to the computer. To the realization that you cannot put anything of yourself into this work; you perform. It had all become normal, but I also realized this: a lot in this distribution center is already computer-controlled, it is only a matter of time until robots take over all this work from me and my colleagues. Ultimately, robots are cheaper. Small or large purse, Dutch or German; we've all come to love Action. The price tag has made us fall in love and blind. How has the budget fighter kept prices so low for nearly thirty years? The people of Leiden had missed the Action. Still, definitely a little. It is not for nothing that they are standing in front of the store on the Langegracht on an icy Wednesday in February. The doors of Action remained closed for almost two months because of the lockdown, this is the first day that the price fighter is allowed to sell items (which were ordered online in advance) again. These people, so in view of all sorts of feathers, had not waited a day, they struck immediately. The newspaper is waiting for them outside. Can we take a look in their bag? Monique Beemer, 25, from Leiden bought 'those fine household items'. And also thermal leggings, scented candles, and batteries that her grandmother always asks her to take with her. "She doesn't mind that they are cheaper but last less than A-brands." Is it normally pleasant to shop in the Action? “The price is nice!” A 48-year-old mother who prefers not to put her name in the newspaper: cleaning products, streamers, small toys. It's her son's birthday, so something had to be brought into the house that he can hand out in class. Student Anna de Groot, 22: rolling pin, washing-up bowl, extension cords and all kinds of other household items. Just moved, hence. In normal times she visits the Action every week, even when she doesn't need anything. She always buys something. Slightly too many scented candles, she must confess. In which they are all the same: it is primarily the price that made them an Action customer. With nine million customers a week in 1,748 stores in eight European countries, Action has become a large, popular and profitable retail chain. There is no comparable store with a higher turnover on the European mainland. The financial results of HEMA and Blokker contrast sharply with those of Action. In everything on the cent Action stores look the same everywhere. Straight aisles, simple signs, full racks. Bright light, no music. You could call it bland. "The cheapest possible store design, so that our prices remain low," Actions spokesperson calls it. Action sells six thousand products: cat food, toys, home decor, household items, stationery and ten other product categories. A quarter of the products cost less than a euro. The average product price is below two euros. To get the prices so low you will never find an Action in the best retail locations. Always just one block away. Or in the basement or on the first floor of a retail property that is in an A-location. Action is economical in many more areas. The products it sells are never of the best quality and are often produced cheaply in low-wage countries. Action hardly advertises, only in folders and door-to-door papers. On business trips, management is not allowed to spend more than eighty euros per hotel night, in the expensive cities no more than one hundred and ten. This cheap store design has another advantage, says Tim Zuidgeest, neuromarketer at Unravel Research. Neuromarketers conduct marketing based on insights from brain science. “If the store looks cheap, it also feels like a cheap store to the customer. It reinforces the association they already have with Action. A more luxurious store design would make Action more expensive.” This is indeed taken into account when refurbishing stores, says Action director Sander van der Laan. Zuidgeest also notices something else: “Action charges prices down to the decimal point. Another way to get the customer to think: I pay the lowest possible price, apparently it couldn't be cheaper." Spending money always hurts a little. Except at Action. It costs so little that a purchase does not cost a cent, figuratively speaking. Zuidgeest: “That also means that you don't even take a few seconds to think about a purchase: do I really need it, can someone make it for that price?” Only one third of Action's range is fixed, two thirds changes. About 150 products are replaced on the shelves in each store every week. Another cleverness in the Action formula: if you see something beautiful in the Action, you should immediately take it with you, you never know whether it will still be for sale on your next visit. Folk shop In the Netherlands, three quarters of households shop at Action at least once every six months. Half of the customers are 50+, the younger two age groups are equally divided. Six out of ten are women. More highly educated (36%) than less educated (23%). Half of the customers have a high or middle income, the other half have a low income. Consumer research from 2019 by retail consultancy firm Q&A shows that the only thing Action really excels at, according to customers, is price. Not in reliability, expertise or range, but Action customers don't ask for that either. Gradually, Action has become a real popular shop. But the Dutch people could already go to HEMA, which is almost a century old, right? It is known for solid products for unit prices. An insider says that HEMA feels considerable competition from Action. And in that struggle HEMA lost something of its individuality. We simply find proof of this on the shelves, when visiting HEMA in Almere. The reading glasses at the entrance are immediately wrong, sees the insider, who has an extensive CV in the retail sector. Too much choice. That variety makes the glasses unnecessarily expensive, because HEMA then buys less per type of glasses. We see the same problem with the towels and T-shirts. Via the office supplies shelf (writing pad: €2.50) to the men's socks (seven pairs for €7). No money, but also not the best quality: we pull a sock slightly apart and can see through it. Then the Action. The same shopping center in Almere, the same Wednesday morning in December. More customers walk in two aisles than at HEMA on two floors. We see a writing pad that is the same in everything as that of HEMA, but priced seventy cents cheaper. Candles, towels, T-shirts; Action sells it all for a quarter to a third less than HEMA, according to our sample. At first glance, the quality is not always less. Actions socks remain opaque black. "Unlike HEMA, Action has kept the range and company structure simple," analyzes the insider. “And simple means: cheap.” He is referring to this: in all Action stores, at home and abroad, the range is ninety percent the same. This way, Action can buy large and therefore cheap. They can also do this by offering the customer little choice. No towels in three different qualities; just towels. He takes a shiny teapot from a shelf. "Look, I have nothing to do with it. I also don't discover any line in Actions products, it's a mishmash. HEMA has its own style, its own product design. That is worth something to customers, but not thirty percent.” But shopping here is a bit less pleasant than in HEMA, isn't it? "Yes, but believe me: everyone has forgotten that when they walk home with a full bag of stuff for which they have paid twelve euros." Neuromarketer Zuidgeest endorses this. Good or just cheap? So we are tempted in all kinds of ways to buy from Action. And we are pleasantly surprised how little we have to pay for it. (Action's former motto: “More than you expect for less than you can imagine.”) But are we still happy with our purchases when we put them to use? Are Actions products good, and not just cheap? Van der Laan is also aware that Action has a reputation among some customers for selling items of moderate quality. That touches him: “If you buy a sleeping bag or a tent from us, then you should be able to use it again the next camping trip. I don't want to be in charge of a company that sells bad products." Action has said it has invested in the quality of its products over the past five years. Among other things, by hiring more product technologists, who provide buyers with advice on the specifications that products should meet. Customers returned fewer defective purchases last year than the year before. The question is whether the customer really cares if Action's handsaw (€2.99) does not last longer than one carpentry loop. Probably not. At that price, you could possibly repurchase the same saw three times before hitting the cost of a quality saw. Post-purchase rationalization also takes place in our brains, notes neuromarketer Zuidgeest. “If a purchase is disappointing, you can deal with it in two ways: you admit that you made a bad purchase, or you make the bad qualities of the product less important. Because the first will make you feel much worse, your brain will choose the second mindset more often.” Chinese supply line So we don't think about it in the store, nor if a purchase is disappointing. Still, it's good to ask yourself: is there something or someone who pays the price for the low prices I pay? To do this, we must first look at the origin of Actions products. Action does not buy up so much leftovers anymore, only a maximum of ten percent of the range comes through such a sales channel. Action (also) buys directly from A-brands such as Unilever. Action also has private labels, the production of which often takes place in Chinese factories. Where, for example, Blokker also purchases a lot. Six out of ten products on the Action shelf come from Asia. Actions thirteen importers visit Chinese fairs to discover new interesting products. 85 people from a Hong Kong purchasing company join in the search. They also pay attention to what the competitor is selling. Van der Laan, with a vase in his hand as an example: “Perhaps we first saw this vase at a competitor, with a price tag of € 6.95. Then we take that vase to our supplier and ask: can you make this? This thickness, this shape, but for €2?” Action hires independent third parties to audit factories announced and unannounced for compliance with Action's "ethical purchasing policy". It states that no children work in the factory and that workers receive a living wage, can do their work safely and do not work excessively long hours. This is not always self-evident in factories in the Far East. According to the latest government figures, a Chinese factory worker earns an average of around four euros per hour. In 2019, 377 inspections took place. Child labor was discovered during an unannounced inspection in two different factories: fifteen-year-olds who did packaging work during the summer holidays. Problems were also encountered in 24 other factories, ranging from factory workers who had too few rest days to blocked emergency exits, which can be life-threatening. With 21 of these, Action has made improvement plans and is still doing business. A spokesperson says that improvement plans have also been drawn up with the two factories where children worked, but that there was no improvement and the cooperation was eventually broken. With webinars and reminders for suppliers, Action tries to prevent child labour. More checks were carried out in 2020, the number of problems identified was halved. No cases of child labor were discovered last year. Hidden costs To find out how and to what extent the planet suffers from our bargain hunting, we first do some shopping ourselves at Action. We buy toys and paper chip cone bags made of FSC-certified wood (€4.99 and €0.59), refillable 'eco' kitchen cleaner (€1.49) and biodegradable household wipes (€0.79). We will also bring along a plastic fake Barbie doll ($3.99), a simple cotton T-Shirt ($1.99), a polyester stuffed animal ($3.99) and a 'party stick with LED light', a kind of lightsaber ($0, 99). We ignore the plastic Easter bunnies and eggs aisle. Since 2019, we have found Action's concrete sustainability ambitions in annual reports. With this Action, so to speak, arrives a little late at the party of sustainable retailers. But the prize fighter has more than achieved his self-imposed intermediate goals. By the end of 2020, half of all Action's wood products had to be made from wood from sustainably managed forests. Result: 60 percent. Forty percent of all cotton that Action purchases had to come from more sustainable sources by 2020. Result: 76 percent. By 2025, all Actions wood and cotton must be more sustainably sourced. Action director Sander van der Laan says he is 'well on his way', but also wants to do 'more every year' in this area. When it comes to the amount of plastic products that Action sells, it sets no targets for itself. Action did stop selling plastic products that you can only use once, such as plastic disposable tableware last spring. (European legislation had already been announced to ban this as of this year.) And Action wants to reduce plastic packaging. That is complex, a packaging manager will soon be hired who will have to make smart choices in that direction. We display our purchases at the desk of Roel Drost from Ecochain. Drost makes environmental impact analyzes for companies. Each phase in the life cycle of a product is examined and its impact calculated in euros. From material extraction and production to transport, use and waste processing. We hold the same products in front of the camera in a video call with Michel Scholte, co-founder and director of True Price, which has developed a calculation method to calculate 'external costs' of products (also: hidden costs). These are costs that customers, sellers and producers do not pay, but sooner or later will be borne by society. Drost picks up our bluetooth speaker (€4.99) bought at Action. “Because of my previous work experience at Philips, I know that you would have to charge twenty to thirty percent on top of the sales price to cover those hidden costs.” He likes the wooden toy: “It feels robust, I think it will last much longer than all those plastic parts I see in the other toys you brought with you. And the wood is obtained in a sustainably managed forest.” The same goes for the wooden birdhouse, which fortunately is not wrapped in plastic. Drost abhors the lightsaber: “A junk product. No one needs it, but petroleum has been extracted for it that you will never get back. You may use it twice, then you throw it away. The majority of plastic waste is incinerated.” The doll set is also all plastic. Probably the consumer will use it a little longer than the lightsaber, but not long enough to outweigh all the drawbacks, all the hidden costs. "Little Joy" Action takes several steps to reduce its ecological footprint. There are solar panels on the roofs of distribution centers. There are double-decker trucks that can transport more containers at once. Plastic and cardboard from packaging material left over in the stores is collected by Action itself. The most sustainability gains can be made in the range: which products Action sells, how they are manufactured and which raw materials are extracted for them. This is apparent from research that Action had carried out last year. That is now being given priority, says Van der Laan. Action has therefore started to purchase more sustainable products, such as the FSC-certified wooden toys from the house brand Mini Matters. Some cleaning products are refillable. Van der Laan: “What we do in this area has a direct impact. Our low price makes sustainable toys accessible to the masses.” The same masses can also buy environmentally unfriendly items from Action, items that are hardly used, perhaps not even really needed. Other stores also sell these kinds of products, but isn't it the case that Action with its low prices tempts customers - quite successfully - to make these kinds of purchases? “A lot of what we sell are everyday products that people need. We also sell photo frames, garden items… Thanks to our low prices, our customers also easily buy the less necessary items. We give a little joy to people who otherwise could not afford it. A single mother living on €950 a month is happy to have a shop where she can buy Christmas items for a few euros.” “The entire shopping street is doing far too little to limit the environmental impact and to eradicate poverty in the production chain,” says Scholte of True Price. “Action is exemplary, but I can tell the same story about HEMA and Blokker. We as consumers also pay far too little for their products.” Listen now to our four-part podcast series in which we unravel the secret of Action and also reflect on the situation of Polish migrant workers See here for more: https://www.noordhollandsdagblad.nl/cnt/dmf20220207_46633860?utm_source=www.linkedin.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=/

Private label retail chain Trader Joe's (German Albrecht - Aldi - family owned) makes its shopping experience feel like you're browsing the aisles of a toy store rather than gathering groceries for your weekly meal plan, with a smorgasbord of new arrivals, fun seasonal items, and steadfast staples for your kitchen, in this cult-favorite food retailer. Those without the privilege of a nearby Trader Joe's (TJ's) can rest assured that the company has been consistently expanding its reach across the U.S. in the past year, and they will continue to set up shop in new cities into 2022. We have all the latest information on the upcoming store openings for the beloved grocer, Trader Joe's fans, take note. 1 Just Opened: Cumberland County, Pennsylvania It's been in the works since July, and now it's finally arrived: the first Trader Joe's in the Harrisburg region, according to Penn Live Patriot-News. "We have an awesome crew that is ready to welcome our customers and we've been fortunate to receive a warm welcome from the neighborhood," company spokesperson Nakia Rohde told the local news outlet, This 569th location opened its doors on March 31, armed with a 90-person employee team and decorated with artwork of local landmarks, such as the Market Street bridge, the Capitol building, the Pride of the Susquehanna Riverboat, and Broad Street Market. 2 Coming Soon: Yorktown, New York It's official, Yorktown will be getting their own Trader Joe's. The company recently confirmed what Yorktown News suspected in May 2021, to the eager anticipation of consumers. "I think we're so excited that, once again, we're attracting a national brand to the town of Yorktown," the Town Supervisor Matt Slater told Yorktown News. "It's a big boost to our local community. It's a big boost to our economy. And it's something we've heard time and time again from residents that this was something they wanted here." While the store listing on the website says the opening date is to be determined, the building developer Breslin Realty told the news source they're targeting to cut the ribbon in "early summer." 3 Coming Soon: Parker, Colorado The residents of Parker heard the news about this one back in February 2021… and so far, they're still waiting to see it. A February 2022 opening was speculated, but the Parker Chronicle reported on Feb. 8 that the construction of the building's interior and exterior is currently underway. The next step would be to receive a certificate of occupancy, according to town spokesperson Andy Anderson. The store hasn't announced a date yet. While this location will sell beer, the news source reported that it will not contain a wine selection, as there are other liquor stores nearby. Colorado already houses seven Trader Joe's Groceries and two Trader Joe's Wine Shops. 4 Coming Soon: Miami, Florida Miami has been enjoying TJ's private-label goods from surrounding locations, such as Pinecrest and Miami Beach, but this would be the first in midtown Miami. According to Miami New Times, the store interior had shelving materials and built-out checkout desks in view, as of late January 2022. There's still not a confirmed date for when store number 794 is set to open to customers, but it will be carrying a full beer and wine display. 5 Coming Soon: Santa Monica, California There's been talk of a third Santa Monica TJ's opening up at 500 Broadway in 2022. It would be one store in a seven-story development called The Park, containing residential living space, retailers, and a four-level parking garage. See here for more: Trader Joe's Is Opening Up New Stores In These Areas — Eat This Not That

Discount Retail Chain MD SpA (Italian family Podini owned) is the third player on the market in the discount convenience format but is distinguished by congenital characteristics that still today allow it significant revenues and excellent profits. In 2020 its turnover (sum of revenues from direct stores and sales to affiliates) was Euro 2.845 billion (US$3.1Bn) and, in fact, today it is the fifth company in terms of revenues in the national mass market retail after Esselunga, Lidl, Coop Alleanza 3.0 and GS Spa; In just five years, the Campania-based company has increased its turnover by around 1 billion euros (US$1.1Bn), a success that Mediobanca, in a recent publication, has also noted with interest. This article, and a subsequent one, will tell in detail who the MD group is, who operates on the market, what are its characteristics, its numbers, 2020 turnover ranking for large-scale retail companies in Italy. Source: Web App GDONEWS Benchmark On Line on AIDA data MD operates on the market both directly with about 600 direct stores, with which it develops over 80% of turnover and over 200 affiliated stores, and the overall turnover of the group in 2020 was 3.1 billion euros (US$3.4Bn), according to estimates by the GeoRetail platform. Like its main competitors, expansion continued into 2021 with the opening of 22 new direct stores, as well as seven new stores owned by affiliated entrepreneurs. There are over 800 total MD stores throughout Italy, with a very strong presence in the south where it is the main follower after Eurospin. See here for more: https://www.gdonews.it/2022/04/03/il-percorso-che-ha-portato-md-ad-incrementare-di-1-miliardo-il-suo-fatturato-in-cinque-anni-dati-e-confronti-con-i-concorrenti/

Discount Retail Chain Lidl Germany (owned by the German Schwarz Group), the certifier GLOBALG.AP and other partners have developed an industry-wide standard for protecting biodiversity in conventional fruit and vegetable cultivation in Europe. The partners include the FiBL spin-off Sustainable Food Systems GmbH (SFS) in the role of project manager and the Global Nature Fund, Bioland, the Lake Constance Foundation and the Nürtingen-Geislingen University of Applied Sciences as scientific partners. Agencies and representatives of agricultural producers were involved in the elaboration and piloting in Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain in order to take into account practical requirements. The GLOBALG.AP Add-On BioDiversity is now available to all market participants from the producer to the distributor as an add-on module to the established GLOBALG.AP standard for good agricultural practices. Lidl will be the first European food retailer to work with the standard and, as a first step, apply the standard to over 250 producers from various European countries. In the next step, the company aims to expand to all European fruit and vegetable producers. "The introduction of the first biodiversity standard in conventional European fruit and vegetable cultivation shows how important personal initiative and cooperation are. The standard now makes it possible to establish minimum requirements for biodiversity across the board. It thus symbolizes our claim to drive industry-wide changes in order to promote the preservation of biodiversity," says Christoph Graf, Purchasing Manager at Lidl in Germany. Marion Hammerl, President of the "Global Nature Fund", adds: "It has been scientifically proven that the loss of biodiversity represents the greatest challenge for our planet - and for agriculture - next to climate change. The add-on helps to protect biodiversity by setting a deadline for the conversion of natural ecosystems into agricultural land, mandating a biodiversity management plan, establishing more effective criteria for soil protection and integrated pest management, etc. The reference to the interaction of farms with neighboring landscapes is a first Step towards a landscape-based approach, urgently needed to halt biodiversity loss." GLOBALG.AP add-on as part of Lidl's sustainability strategy "Respecting biodiversity" is one of six strategic focus areas of Lidl's sustainability strategy. With this, Lidl underscores the importance of diverse and intact nature for its own business and its food range. The development of the GLOBALG.AP add-on fits into Lidl's biodiversity strategy. This includes a clear approach to promoting the protection and sustainable use of biological diversity. First of all, this includes identifying raw materials whose cultivation is associated with particularly high risks for biodiversity. Among other things, a separate biodiversity risk tool was developed for this purpose. See here for more: https://www.fruchtportal.de/artikel/mehr-biodiversitt-im-konventionellen-obst-und-gemseanbau/054369?i=b634863e

Discount Retail Chain Lidl Austria (owned by Schwarz Group) has reported net sales growth of 2% to around €1.5 billion (US$ 1.65Bn) in its financial year 2021. The discounter also reported slight growth in market share in this period, which saw it invest €100 million (US$ 110Mn) in modernisation, new buildings and expansion projects. It has already upgraded more than 180 of the current 255 locations to a new store design, and hopes to complete the modernisation of all branches by mid-2023. Alessandro Wolf, CEO of Lidl Austria said, “The pandemic has further intensified the competitive situation in Austria. We had to make a real effort. In the end, we slightly increased sales and also slightly expanded our market share and that with an almost constant number of our locations and longer closing times due to renovation work.” Collaboration With Local Producers Local companies also benefited by collaborating with Lidl Austria, as sales of local goods climbed to €870 million (US$957Mn), of which around €370 million (US$407Mn)was generated from exports to Lidl in other countries. Wolf added, “Our focus remains on regionality and organic quality. Here we have set ourselves the goal of offering every basic item of organic quality. We currently have over 280 organic products, and by the end of 2023 there will be 350.” The retailer aims to expand its offering in the meatless segment to more than 400 products by 2025. “We have developed into a smart discounter. This means that we don't have the largest range, but the right range and attractive branches, all of this at the best price-performance ratio," said Karsten Kremer, head of purchasing and marketing at Lidl Austria. Product Assortment The company added approximately 150 new products in its range in 2021. Kremer added, "With more than 2,100 products in the permanent range, we are now even more regional, even more diverse, and thus a main shopping centre for daily and weekly family shopping. Our fresh range is significantly broader, as is the organic range.” Sales of organic products were up 20% last year, it said. The company increased the minimum gross salary on a full-time basis for all store employees to €2,090 (US$2,300), which it says is 16% above the collective agreement. This year the retailer plans to test a four-day week for select office jobs. Lidl Austria employs more than 5,800 people across its 250 stores, three logistics centres and central offices. See here for more: https://www.esmmagazine.com/retail/lidl-austria-sees-growth-in-net-sales-and-market-share-in-fy-2021-169373

Discount Variety Retail Chain Poundland has announced the rollout of its new look stores, with new openings and revamps that bring wider ranges including chilled and frozen food and its own clothing. The latest phase of the rollout got underway in January with a string of new stores and relocations, from the north east to the south of England. In April and May, the programme will include new openings and resites, as well as investment in refreshing and refurbishing existing stores. Most of the new stores will have dedicated PEP&CO sections offering clothing for the whole family and homeware and the revamps will allow those stores that already have PEP&CO to offer wider ranges. The rollout will bring chilled and frozen to more customers in England and north Wales and, for the first time, in Northern Ireland. It will mean chilled and frozen food will be available in another 30 stores by summer, taking the total to around 300 and putting Poundland on track to reach 350 by autumn and as many as 500 in 2023, enabling customers to buy more of what they need in a single shopping trip. Frozen food sales at Poundland are increasing as customers realise the importance of frozen food in managing tight budgets that need to stretch to pay increasing energy and fuel costs. Poundland has seen strong growth in frozen food sales this year as customers look to cut back on food waste and make every pound count. Among those to get the new ranges already this year are the new Nottingham Riverside Retail Park and Teesside Park stores which opened in February and set new records as the largest Poundland stores in the country. Other new stores and relocations to get chilled and frozen ranges since January were Deal, Willerby, Sheffield Heeley and Tonbridge. Over the next three months, chilled and frozen will be introduced at stores stretching from Prestatyn to Lewisham. And as the programme is stepped up later in the year, it will extend much further north and south than before as Poundland extends its chilled and frozen distribution capability. Austin Cooke, Poundland retail and transformation director, said: “The focus so far this year has been on our new stores, including our fantastic Nottingham Riverside and Teesside Park stores, and now we’re ready to resume the roll out of our Diamond programme across dozens more stores. That means fresh-looking shops, with exciting new product ranges including chilled and frozen, more PEP&CO clothing departments, and some surprises too! “We know how important chilled and frozen food is to our customers as they seek to manage their spending and make sure everything they buy, gets eaten with as little wastage as possible. Our roll out brings even more of the ranges our customers love at amazing prices, to new locations across the country. We know better than anyone, that good value is more important to them than ever.” See here for more: https://www.nottinghampost.com/whats-on/shopping/poundland-brings-frozen-food-more-6918963

Discount Retail Chain Aldi France (German family owned) inaugurates its largest Parisian store and opens a new point of sale in the 13th arrondissement. With more than 1,300 stores across the country, Aldi is continuing its development in France through the extension, transfer or creation of around a hundred stores in 2022. The brand is supplementing its store network with the opening of 142 rue Saint-Maur (Paris 11), which will be its largest Parisian point of sale and a second located at 63 rue de Choisy (Paris 13). With these openings, in addition to the purchase of Leader Price stores from Groupe Casino at the end of 2020, the brand now has 19 stores in inner Paris. The store on rue Saint-Maur will cover 1,330m² of sales area and will implement the latest innovative ALDI concept deployed nationally for a sustainable environmental approach. This project meets internal environmental specifications that are more demanding than the legal framework, in particular with 100% LED interior lighting and refrigerated cabinets powered by a water loop. In the 13th arrondissement, Aldi France will inaugurate a sales area of ​​939 m² also around a sustainable environmental approach. 1,600 items Parisians will be able to discover all of the 1,600 references in the Aldi offer: 78% products of French origin, fresh fruit and vegetables delivered daily, 100% pork, poultry or beef of French origin, bread and pastries baked on site, dozens of organic references or the local Pays Gourmand range. Aldi rue Saint-Maur will also offer the entire range of non-food products with, every week, new deals and good surprises to discover, always with a 3-year guarantee. From the opening, Parisians will be able, for example, to have access to a paint gun at €29.99 (US$33), a night light for children at €24.99 (US$27.5), a set of 3 small saucepans at €29.99 (US$33) or even to a rotating styling brush at €19.99 (US$22). Something to delight these "new consumers" who will be able to take advantage of an offer made up of 90% of own-brand products, thus guaranteeing control of the products on the shelves through responsible specifications, always favoring the origin and the quality of the products. See here for more: https://pointsdevente.fr/fil-info/2022-04-06-aldi-vient-douvrir-son-plus-grand-magasin-parisien/

Inflation is quickly taking a toll on lower-income American consumers, while higher-income shoppers will continue to spend on premium items RBC analysts forecast that low-income shoppers will buy more value for money products this year. RBC Capital Markets analysts say they are already seeing a growing split between how lower-income and higher-income American shoppers spend on consumer goods in 2022 as inflation and gas prices take a toll. “We are seeing early evidence of lower-income consumer weakness with trade-down in the cigarette category (which skews to lower-income households) and some early signs of trade-down in beer from mainstream domestic beer to value brands,” analysts wrote in a report that examines the personal care, beverage, tobacco and packaged goods categories. Analysts expect lower-income consumers, those making US$40,000 or less, to start trading down to private labels and value brands across other products as well, and steer increasingly to at-home consumption in areas like dining, entertainment and travel. Those making US$125,000 with higher savings will continue to purchase premium items. (Meanwhile, some observers argue that generic supermarket products won’t protect cash-strapped Americans from inflation.) RBC upgraded wine makers Duckhorn Portfolio Inc. NAPA to outperform from sector perform due to the company’s exposure to high-income consumers. Duckhorn went public last year. On the other hand, RBC downgraded Campbell Soup Co. CPB to sector perform from outperform because analysts “prefer names with more exposure to away-from-home with the expected recovery [and] increased mobility, and as we are worried cost inflation will linger into FY’23 with favorable hedges rolling off.” Altria Inc. MO, which sells tobacco products, was also downgraded to sector perform from outperform based on its exposure to low-income customers. The report looks broadly at how volatility across globe, from the war in Ukraine and beyond, is impacting spending habits. For example, RBC took Estee Lauder Cos. off of its focus list because of the near-term risks in China related to COVID and the country’s policies to combat the illness. “We believe names that will outperform in the balance of the year will be companies with limited exposure to Europe/China and manageable cost inflation and FX risks, and with greater exposure to higher-income consumers and to the economic reopening, mainly in Western countries,” wrote RBC in its report. To be sure, there are companies on the luxury end of the spectrum that are also seeing spending shifts. RH said this week that its business was hurt by the Russia-Ukraine war. However, some analysts say that change could also be a result of consumers moving their dollars to other things like travel. JPMorgan also took a look at the beverage and personal care categories this week, forecasting persistent inflation pressure through the year. And McCormick & Co. Inc., which is also watching for shoppers who are trading down, said its spices and sauces provide a culinary solution to customers who are dining at home and are purchasing lesser cuts of meat to save money. See here for more: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/lower-income-consumers-will-start-tightening-their-belts-by-trading-down-to-private-label-goods-in-2022-analysts-say-11648739465

Discount Retail Chain Aldi's (German family owned) frenetic expansion pace last year came on top of the rapid growth it recorded in 2020 and 2019, when the company's efforts to enlarge its U.S. footprint also placed it ahead of its rivals. Overall, grocery chains generated a 200% increase in new leases in 2021 compared with 2019, a reflection of the investments the industry has been making as a result of the sales surge brought on by the pandemic in 2020, JLL noted. Grocers have been putting money into store renovations as well as new locations as they devote resources to their brick-and-mortar retail facilities in a quest to keep growing, the firm pointed out. JLL's analysis involved grocery chains with more than US$3 billion in revenue and at least 100 stores under one or more banners. Discount chain Grocery Outlet added nearly 900,000 square feet of new space in 2021, enough for third place behind Aldi and Publix, JLL said. Giant Eagle, Sprouts Farmers Market and Amazon Fresh were next on the list, in that order, followed by Schnuck Markets, ShopRite, Hy-Vee and Whole Foods Market, according to the real estate company. JLL noted that Lidl, which has far fewer U.S. stores than Aldi but is engaged in a robust expansion effort of its own, also made progress in opening new stores in this country in 2021. Aldi's growth last year was a bit behind the pace it had projected at the start of 2021, when the company said it would open 100 new stores during the year. Still, the company isn't showing any signs of slowing down. In February, Aldi announced it intends to open about 150 stores in the U.S. in 2022. See here for more: https://www.grocerydive.com/news/aldi-is-the-fastest-growing-us-grocery-chain-report-says/621501/

Discount Retail Chain Lidl Asia Pte. (owned by the German Schwarz Group) now wants to protect itself against the upheavals on the freight markets by buying its own ships. As the port city of Shanghai is still in lockdown, freight rates continue to rise, supply chains are disrupted. Freight rates in international maritime traffic will not fall anytime soon. On the contrary: In view of the recently announced lockdown in the port city of Shanghai, experts even expect prices to continue to rise. Anyone who still has to ship freight, if they can get containers at all, has to dig deep into their pockets. The German discount giant Lidl is reacting to the upheavals on the international freight markets by buying its own ships. The Schwarz discounter wants to secure its supply chains in this way. "We can confirm that Lidl will use some of its own sea freight capacities in the future. This is another building block for securing our supply chains and the availability of goods in our branches," said a spokesman on Friday when asked by manager magazin. The “Lebensmittel-Zeitung” had previously reported exclusively on this. As a result of the upheavals on the freight markets, Lidl initially tried last year to get a stake in a shipping company, the newspaper reported. Apparently in vain - instead you buy ships. The newly founded area already has a name. "Tailwind Shipping Lines" should be the name of the youngest child of the Schwarz group. According to the report, the application to the European Trademark Office shows that Lidl intends to use this name to transport cargo by ship or plane. The aim is "to be able to manage the increased volume of different production facilities more flexibly in the long term," quoted the newspaper Lidl logistics board member Wolf Tiedemann. The discounter did not say how many ships Lidl intends to buy. The company has already negotiated directly with shipowners. Only a small part of the volume is handled by freight forwarders. Measured by the availability of goods in the branches, this strategy worked relatively well. According to the newspaper's research, Lidl's weekly freight volume is 400 to 500 TEU, i.e. 20-foot containers. Lidl told manager magazin: "We would like to emphasize that we continue to rely on the valuable and well-established cooperation with our partners to a large extent." However, Lidl is not the first company to try to protect itself against supply chain problems and high freight rates with its own freight capacities. Retailers such as Walmart and Ikea have already chartered ships. With the development of its own capacities, Lidl is now apparently going a step further. See here for more: https://www.manager-magazin.de/unternehmen/handel/lidl-kauft-wegen-der-hohen-frachtraten-eigene-containerschiffe-a-9f4830e6-4746-475f-b337-1e826ec9c5f4