Dutch non food Discount Retail Chain Action reorganised its complete supply chain to facilitate growth in Europe and improve operational excellence to remaining 'lean & mean'. Click on image.

Non-food Discount Retail Chain Action is testing a new store concept, which is twice as large as usual: in France, a 1,600 m² store has opened its doors, the largest of the discounter to date. Self-checkout counters and space In Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, France, under Paris, the world's largest Action store has opened its doors. The new location has an area of ​​1,600 m², about twice the usual area. Yet the range is not more extensive: the range contains 6,000 articles in the typical categories of the non-food discounter. This is a pilot for a new store concept, which is more spacious and thus also enjoys a more open product layout. In addition, in addition to the eight traditional cash registers, eight self-scan registers have been added to shorten the waiting time and make the checkout process smoother. Greener image Another novelty in the concept is more attention to sustainability: Action wants to develop a greener image. It does this, among other things, with electric charging points in the parking lot and recycling stations in the shop, where customers can hand in old textiles, household electrical and other products. But the range is also becoming more sustainable: products of sustainable origin can be found in the store, which are also put in the spotlight in the districts. “Today it is quite possible to find sustainably labelled products at low prices,” Wouter De Backer, General Manager of Action France. It is not yet clear whether the new concept will be rolled out elsewhere and when. Click here for more: https://www.retaildetail.be/nl/news/algemeen/grootste-action-ter-wereld-opent-de-deuren

Discount Retail Listed Chain Tokmanni takes climate change seriously, and reducing climate emissions is one of our most important areas of corporate responsibility. Discounter Tokmanni has over a million customer visits a week, and customers are interested in what they do. Expectations regarding climate action come not only from customers but also from personnel, investors and organizations. It is clear that discount retail must also operate responsible. At the same time, when we are focussed on costs, our operating model supports sustainable climate goals. Bold goals seem to point the way for the whole industry In August, Tokmanni announced its bold climate goals and was the third retail company in the Nordic countries to set and approve 1.5-degree science-based targets. The company is committed to reducing the absolute emissions of its own operations by 70% compared to 2015 levels by 2025. For products and supply chains, the target is that 80% of suppliers of products and services (according to procurement) will have their own science-based climate targets within five years. The Science Based Targets initiative will ensure that emission reduction targets are firmly in line with climate research and contribute to limiting global warming to one and a half degrees Celsius. Responsibility is a common thing Tokmanni has the experience and the courage to set tough goals. Setting ambitious goals challenges them to look for new solutions and operating models. Thanks to common goals and commitment, new measures will become part of everyday work and decision-making. Close co-operation with various partners and 191 stores throughout Finland contribute to enabling a wide range of actions. We focus in particular on what we can best influence, namely the direct climate impact of our own actions. In practice, this means reducing CO2 emissions from stores. We have also made smart solutions for our climate in our properties and transports. At Tokmanni, for example, electricity already comes from renewable sources. In the future, Tokmanni will focus on, among other things, mapping renewable heat suppliers. Energy efficiency actions also have a significant impact. With LED lighting and other energy efficiency measures, their energy consumption in individual store properties has been reduced by up to about 30%. In addition, investments in building automation has improved energy efficiency. Store lighting, heating and cooling can be optimized remotely. At the end of the year, 20% of the roofs of our stores have solar panels. The importance of cooperation is emphasized here as well, as as tenants Tokmanni works closely with property owners. To reduce emissions in the supply chain, it works systematically with its suppliers to ensure that they also commit to the climate goals. Finnish companies play a particularly important role, as about 70 percent of all Tokmanni's purchases are acquired from them. Tokmanni works with suppliers in high-risk countries through the amphori BEPI environmental program. The share of responsibly labeled products is growing Last year, Tokmanni identified the products that are particularly important from a sustainability perspective and to increase their supply. The goal is to offer customers a wider range of commercially significant, responsibility-promoting own Private Label brands. In Tokmanni's own Private Label products, more certified risk raw materials are used, for example, the most significant are cotton, wood and palm oil. They are all directly linked to climate change, and their certification supports more sustainable farming practices. Despite good work and ambitious goals, Tokmanni still have a long way to go. It will continue to learn together and find new solutions to achieve its goals. In line with the principles of the Global Compact and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), protecting the environment and promoting responsible consumption are key issues for today’s business. The importance of climate action and environmental responsibility as part of corporate responsibility is reflected in the three environmental principles of the UN Global Compact. Principle 7:  Businesses should uphold the precautionary principle in environmental matters. Principle 8:  Businesses should take initiatives to promote environmental responsibility. Principle 9:  Businesses should encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally sound technologies. See here for more: https://www.globalcompact.fi/blogikirjoitukset/emilia-koski-tokmanni-tieteeseen-perustuvat-ilmastotavoitteet-kirittavat-yrityksia-ilmastotyossa

Discount non-food Retail Chain Action (owned by PE 3i Group) has significantly increased its profitability in the past 12 months. The company posted gross profit of € 608m (US$814m) in the 12 months to the end of October. A year earlier, Action still recorded a gross profit of € 519m (US$695m) her restrictive measures around corona. Action, the Netherlands-based cut-price discount merchant, is the 3i's largest private equity holding. At the half-year results it said its 50% in Action was now worth about €4.3bn (US$5.8bn), up from €3.5bn (US$4.7bn) in March, based on a valuation of about 18 times earnings. Decreases in footfall in the past six months have been more than offset by increased basket sizes of sub-€5 items. The pandemic had done little to dent 3i’s conviction that Action could quadruple its store estate in time, said Simon Borrows, former banker turned 3i chief executive and Action’s chair, who at times sounds more like the boss of a European discount retailer than a buyout group. His confidence was underpinned by first-half numbers from B&M, a rival. UK discounter B&M posted a 25% increase in revenues, a 95% rise in adjusted ebitda and announced a 25p (US$0,33) special dividend to investors. 3i is sticking to paying ordinary dividends of 17.5p (US$0,23) a share, worth £169m (US$226m) in total. Private equity detractors will carp about the £588m (US$787m) in carried interest paid out to partners in the past six months after a fund crystallised its Action stake. They will applaud any move by the Treasury to raise cash by taxing carried interest more punitively. Mr Borrows counters that a change to the UK tax regime would probably affect about five of its people. More to the point, perhaps, during Mr Borrows’ eight years at the top, 3i’s shares have risen from a discount to a hefty premium to assets and the company has paid out considerably more in dividends than it has in carried interest. And in contrast to the stereotype buyout businesses that load up investee companies with debt to flog within five years, 3i bought Action in 2011 for about €130m (US$155m). It is worth more than €11bn (US$13.1bn) today and Mr Borrows has no plans to sell. That’s not a bad template for a 21st-century version of the Industrial and Commercial Finance Corporation. See here for more: https://www.ft.com/content/bebef9da-3ab5-4880-9e32-d9302461e430

Almost 300 stores in Germany are open during the lockdown with a limited range of important everyday products with Click & Collect, Action also gives its customers access to other products in its range at affordable prices in 380 stores nationwide. Consumers can now shop at the non-food discount store Action using Click & Collect. To do this, reserve items from home on the action.com website and specify a date and time when you want to pick up the goods from which branch. Payment is made upon collection in the branch under appropriate security precautions. "Click & Collect offers a safe shopping experience in times of the pandemic: Possible contacts are reduced to a necessary minimum, queues and long waiting times are avoided," explains Bart Raeymaekers, Managing Director of Action Germany, "with Click & Collect not only the need can be addressed everyday goods; selected items from other product groups, such as handicraft and painting supplies, children's toys, decoration, multimedia, housewares or home improvement supplies can also be procured in this way. Action would like to make its contribution to overcoming the pandemic - also for those who live in Working from home and relying on work materials or for the employment of the students while the schools remain closed" continues Raeymaekers. The offer has been running in most branches since mid-December and will be further expanded in the course of January. "Our customers are very satisfied with this variant of online shopping. In a short time, the number of those who shop using Click & Collect has already doubled." This is due to the location of many Action stores, which are located in residential areas and enable quick shopping - especially for goods that are in demand in times of distance and home office, such as. B. Toner, candy and batteries. More than 250 items can currently be ordered using Click & Collect. See here for more: https://www.presseportal.de/pm/151734/4807092?utm_source=digest&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=push

A rendering of a combination Dollar Tree-Family Dollar store, which Dollar Tree began rolling out in rural communities in 2020. Another one of the select few retailers to see positive momentum during the coronavirus pandemic is doubling down on its growth. Dollar Tree announced on its year-end earnings call that it plans to open 3,000 locations of a new hybrid concept store specifically designed for rural communities of 4,000 people or fewer, Retail Dive reports. The stores combine Dollar Tree with Family Dollar, the competitor that Dollar Tree acquired in 2015, under the same roof. The first 50 Dollar Tree-Family Dollar locations opened between 2019 and 2020, and in the fourth quarter, comparable sales at those stores rose 20%, according to Dollar Tree's earnings call. Stand-alone Dollar Tree same-store sales grew by 2.4% in Q4, and Family Dollar same-store sales rose 8.1% over the same period, continuing a tendency for the overall dollar store category to outperform retail on the whole during economic downturns. As pandemic conditions have made rural shoppers more likely to stay closer to home when venturing out for essential goods, rural retail has shown more resilience than its urban and even suburban counterparts. Still, the relative lack of national brands that can sustain locations in communities of fewer than 4,000 people presents an opportunity for Dollar Tree, CEO Mike Witynski said on the earnings call. Of the 3,000 new stores, a number Witynski pegged as a "minimum", Dollar Tree aims to open 600 in 2021 alone, Chain Store Age reports. More integration between the daily and essential-goods Family Dollar products and the seasonal, "treasure hunt" inventory strategy of Dollar Tree will also come to previously existing stores, of which the company plans to renovate 1,250 in 2021. As of the end of January, Dollar Tree operated 15,685 stores across 48 states and Canada. See here for more: https://www.bisnow.com/national/news/retail/dollar-tree-family-dollar-hybrid-store-concept-3000-new-stores-108040

Discount Retail non-food Chain B&M cashes in on lockdown as spike in demand for #DIY and #gardening products lifts its #sales by a quarter: #Sales up 23% in the first eight weeks of new financial year to 23 May Customers took fewer trips to its shops but spent more when there Benefited from the closure of B&Q, which closed its stores after lockdown Click on image for more:

Britisch listed discount retailer B&M European Value Retail published: Group revenues increased by 16.5% to $4,8m  B&M UK LFL revenues were +3.3% with a strong finish, Q4 LFL +6.6%  51 gross new B&M store openings in the UK, net 36 (totalling 600 stores) 18 gross new store openings at its UK Heron food discount brand, net 12 (totalling 275 stores, especially in North England) 5 new store openings and 13 conversions to the ‘B&M’ format at its French Babou brand (totalling 90 stores in France) B&M UK adjusted EBITDA growth of +8.7% Group adjusted EBITDA increased by +7.1% to $429m Net cashflow from operations $667m, (FY19: $530m) and a reduction in net debt to adjusted EBITDA 1.02x (FY19: 1.91x) Full year ordinary dividend $0.101 (+6.6%) Shares valued at publication $4.8B Click on image for more:

Discount Non-food Retail Chain B&M France opened in Puilboreau La Rochelle. B&M operates also under the brand #Babou in France. Expanding further in #France opening its 103rd store next week! Click on image for more:

Discount Retail Chain Aldi UK (privately owned) has ditched plastic straws from all own private label drinks cartons in a move it says will save 100 tonnes of the material annually. A new recyclable paper version made from FSC-certified cardboard would see 70 million plastic straws a year removed from circulation, Aldi said. It follows a similar step announced by Sainsbury’s last week, removing a claimed 18.5 million plastic straws from circulation annually by swapping them for recyclable paper ones on own-label drinks cartons. Aldi’s move is part of its work towards halving the amount of plastic packaging it uses and making all product packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable by the end of 2025. “Removing plastic straws from own-brand drinks cartons is another step in our journey to reducing plastic packaging across our products,” said Aldo plastics and packaging director Richard Gorman. “Our customers want environmentally-friendly products, and plastic straws are one thing in particular that people want to move away from to help make a difference.” Other recent steps by the discounter include switching plastic shrink-wrap on multipack soft drinks cans to cardboard. See here for more: https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/aldi/aldi-swaps-plastic-straws-for-cardboard-on-all-own-label-drinks-cartons/654750.article?utm_source=Daily%20News%20(The%20Grocer)&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2021-03-31&c=

Discount Retail Chain Netto Poland (owned by Danish Salling Group) received approval from the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection to take over 301 stores owned by Tesco Polska. According to the information provided by the portal Komunikoscihandlowe.pl, the consent of the office is unconditional. The Netto discount chain belonging to the Danish Salling Group will pay PLN 900 million (US$ 226 million) for the acquisition of Tesco stores, HQ and 3 distribution centers in Poland. The application for the takeover of Tesco Polska by the Salling Group was initially submitted to the European Commission. However, the European Commission decided that due to the scope of the transaction and experience in similar cases, UOKiK would be more competent to consider the case, therefore it transferred the case to Poland. About 1,100 discount stores operate under the Netto brand in Denmark, Germany and Poland, of which 386 in our country. Tesco Polska is the owner of a chain of hypermarkets and supermarkets. It currently has 320 stores, two distribution centers and 23 petrol stations. Of these, the subject of concentration is 301 stores, 14 petrol stations, headquarters and distribution centers. The transaction results from the Tesco Group's decision to withdraw from the Polish market. In the course of the proceedings, the competition in several dozen local markets was examined. After analyzing the concentration and in line with the previous jurisprudence, the President of UOKiK assumed that supermarkets, hypermarkets and discounters compete directly with each other on local markets within 10-15 kilometers from the store being taken over. This is the most common maximum distance consumers will be willing to travel to a larger store. The conducted investigation showed that in each of the examined cities, Netto will have to compete with other discounters, supermarkets and hypermarkets after the acquisition of Tesco stores. This means that, after the transaction, the structure of these markets will not change to the detriment of consumers, suppliers or entrepreneurs running smaller stores, says the President of UOKiK, Tomasz Chróstny. Apart from the decision regarding the purchase of Tesco Polska, the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection issued in February 2021 a decision on the temporary takeover of eight Tesco stores by the Salling Group. These are the stores in Gliwice, Szczecin, Kraków, Gdynia, Kielce, Katowice, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski and Warsaw. Salling Group plans to permanently acquire only the store in the latter location. The remaining ones will be taken over temporarily in connection with the end of the Tesco group's activity in Poland and are to be sold to other entities in the future. The acquiring company undertook to run these stores under the Tesco brand by August 31, 2021. See here for more: https://www.wiadomoscihandlowe.pl/artykul/netto-moze-przejac-300-sklepow-tesco-w-polsce-zgoda-uokik-jest-bezwarunkowa?utm_source=pilnadepeszawh&utm_medium=newsletter

Discount Retail Chain Lidl Luxembourg (owned by the German Schwarz gruppe) takes stock of its activities following a year marked by the Covid-19 pandemic, and presents some data specific to the Luxembourg market in terms of purchasing and consumption. A year ago, customers flocked to the shelves of supermarkets due to growing concerns and uncertainties, resulting from the health situation and a lockdown that was looming. The restrictions imposed by the government have shaken the mass distribution sector. Against this backdrop, Lidl saw an increase in sales of certain product categories, such as fruits and vegetables, cosmetics, and cleaning and household products. On the other hand, the brand has faced a decrease in the number of Luxembourg customers in its stores. Fewer customers authorized in stores, but increased sales throughout the confinement Faced with the sanitary measures imposed on the retail sector, Lidl still achieved a +12% increase in turnover compared to the same period last year. In 2020, Luxembourg customers bought almost 30% more fruit and vegetables. The flagship product is bananas, of which the brand sold more than 790,000 kg in 2020. Broccoli (+40%), avocado (+35%) and cucumber (+25%) are the products that have known the strongest growth, in number of parts sold, compared to the previous year. Julien Wathieu, Lidl spokesperson for Belgium and Luxembourg, specifies that this increase is very reassuring. “We are aware that these figures were strongly influenced by the purchasing behavior of Luxembourgers following the Covid-19 pandemic. We see that customers necessarily spend more time at home during this lockdown period and this automatically influences their purchasing behavior and the products they consume. Thus, we have more time to cook up small dishes and this is reflected in the increase in sales of certain products. We are obviously very satisfied with these results and hope that we will be able to maintain this trend in 2021." For several weeks, Lidl had to limit the number of customer visits to the strict minimum as well as the time spent in its stores. As a result, Lidl observed a sharp decrease of - 15% in the number of customer visits per store. This trend continued on a lesser scale in the following months. In addition to the number of people in Lidl stores, the brand has seen a decrease in sales of certain product categories, including meat. The sale of wine and beer also fell by -1% and -6% respectively, while spirits saw an increase of + 5%. Prepared meals have had less success. Pre-containment: cleaning, hygiene and basic necessities were the most in demand In February, the month before the official announcement of last year's lockdown, consumers also stocked up on basic necessities: pasta, rice, wheat flour and yeast saw a sharp increase of + 18%, while toilet paper and kitchen cleaning paper increased by + 6%, far from the “panic buying” that we have seen in other countries. Lidl data also shows a + 9% increase in laundry products and + 20% in cleaning products. During the pre-containment period, enhanced hygiene has become a priority for many customers. Other product categories saw a clear increase in sales, including frozen food products made from potatoes (+7%), ice cream (+13%), pizzas, baguettes, pastries and confectionery (+20%), fruits and vegetables (+29%), poultry (+30%) and fish with the largest increase (+32%). This group of articles experienced a +24% increase in turnover. An increase in the average basket despite the decrease in attendance Lidl saw an increase in the average basket in 2020. The largest increases occurred in April and May, following the first lockdown announced in March. After this increase, turnover stabilized during the following months, despite the drop in attendance during this year 2020. “At Lidl, we are doing everything we can - with all of our employees - so that our customers can continue to have an optimal shopping experience in 2021, ” confirms Julien Wathieu. See here for more: https://lidl-luxembourg.prezly.com/lidl-devoile-les-effets-de-la-pandemie-de-covid-19-sur-le-comportement-dachat-de-ses-clients-luxembourgeois