Variety discount retail chains, such as Poundland, Wilko, Home Bargains and B&M, have long been associated with providing cheap prices on well-known brands. The ability to save money on everyday products is the main reason that 70% of British shoppers claimed to visit a discount store in the last four weeks (Dec’20). What products are shoppers going specifically to discount stores to buy? As part of IGD's research it tracks the shopping missions by channel on a monthly basis. Therefore it knows that shoppers going to a variety discounter are most likely to be conducting a non-food or health and beauty mission. What was not known is the specific products that shoppers are going into discounters to buy. Main shopping mission on last trip to a variety discounter Source: IGD ShopperVista, Oct-Dec'20. Base: 611 variety discount shoppers At the end of 2020 IGD conducted four online focus groups, followed by a survey with 1,128 variety discount shoppers. The purpose of the research was to identify which categories shoppers are visiting different discount stores to buy. Interestingly IGD found that the main categories that shoppers plan to buy on most of their trips differ by discounter. Discounter Poundland and B&M shoppers are most likely to be going to the store to buy snacking categories such as chocolate and sweets. The main destination category in Home Bargains is toothpaste, whilst in Wilko shoppers are most likely to be visiting to buy shampoo, deodorant and shower gel. Top 5 categories that discount shoppers plan to buy on all or most of their trips - % agree Source: IGD ShopperVista 2nd and 3rd Nov'20. Base: 1,128 British variety discount shoppers. The main reason shoppers plan to buy certain categories from certain discounters is because they believe they are cheaper than elsewhere. However, there are other reasons such as choice, special offers and a good range of well-known brands. These drivers differ by category and by discounter. Developing your discount strategy? Understanding the reasons why shoppers choose to buy certain categories from certain discount stores is important when developing your channel and category (discount) strategies. See here for more how DRC Discount Retail Consulting GmbH can support you: https://www.discountretailconsulting.com/

Economically, the corona crisis hit emerging countries much harder than most industrialized countries. For this reason, some of them have the best conditions for high growth rates in 2021. Many emerging countries are only slowly recovering from the Corona crisis. Economically, the pandemic has often damaged them more, despite the often lower numbers. The main reason for this is that they lost the export and sales markets abroad, their raw materials were less in demand, tourists stayed away and investors withdrew capital in order to invest it in supposedly safer countries and currencies during the crisis. But all of that is set to change in 2021. If the pandemic eases, tourists, markets and investors will gradually return, but not at the same speed in every country. The Bloomberg news agency has therefore examined which emerging markets have the best conditions for a quick recovery. Criteria are the infection situation in one's own country, the expected economic growth, the planned budget deficit, the planned investments in infrastructure and currency reserves, for example. Thailand's tourism is set to revive in 2021 At the top of the ranking is Thailand. The Southeast Asian country is among those who have so far best managed the pandemic. Of the 66.5 million inhabitants, only 7,379 fell ill so far, plus only 64 official deaths. These are top international values. That is why Thailand has the best value after Taiwan in the lockdown index of the major bank (ELI) Goldman Sachs. It tries to estimate the decline in a country's gross domestic product with data on official economic restrictions and actual mobility of the population and was thus often obvious this year the truth. The low number of infections should make itself felt in investments in 2021. The rating agency Fitch suspects, for example, that Thailand could become an attractive production location, since industry can be resumed here more quickly than elsewhere. In addition, during the crisis, the government both expanded the medical industry and supported the tourism industry. The latter could slowly start up again this year and would therefore be an important driver for the economy. Southeast Asia dominates the ranking, Russia in second place Southeast Asia achieved even more top positions in the Bloomberg ranking. Taiwan, a role model for its corona strategy and front runner in the lockdown index, lands in third place. This year, the island has the highest trade surplus in the world, ahead of China. One place behind is Malaysia, which scores especially with its expected GDP growth of 6.8% this year. With South Korea in shared third place, yet another Asian country lands in the top 5. The equally relaxed pandemic situation - third-best value in the lockdown index -, the second-best current account this year and a comparatively low budget deficit, which for 3.9% is expected in 2021. Russia is the only non-Asian country to come in second. The central bank still has huge currency reserves here in order to be able to ward off external shocks such as a new corona wave. In addition, thanks to its raw material deposits, Russia is likely to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of an upturn in the entire global economy. The best EU country is Hungary in 6th place. With a forecast of 4.5%, economic growth is likely to be one of the highest in the EU in 2021, and the central bank also has high reserves to intervene on the currency market. At the bottom of the ranking are Brazil and China. While the Brazilian government is heading for a debt crisis, experts see the good economic prospects for China already being priced into higher exchange rates. The Shanghai Composite Index grew by 10.8% in 2020, more than twice as fast as the Dax, for example - and was thus one of the best in the world. That is the complete ranking: 1. Thailand 2. Russia 3. South Korea and Taiwan 5. Malaysia 6. Hungary 7. Chile, South Africa and Turkey 10. Philippines 11. India 12. Colombia, Indonesia, Mexico and Poland 16. Brazil 17. China See here for more: https://m.focus.de/finanzen/boerse/geldanlage/beste-voraussetzungen-fuer-hohes-wachstum-thailand-russland-ungarn-welche-schwellenlaender-anleger-2021-auf-dem-radar-haben-sollten_id_12833576.html

The online business is booming, it increased by 31.8% in 2020, and supermarkets also benefited from the pandemic. The retail sector has thus drawn a surprisingly positive balance for the past year. Record increase in sales for German retailers: Despite the corona crisis, last year they probably earned 5.3% more than in 2019, as the Federal Statistical Office estimated on Tuesday. This is the strongest increase since these statistics began in 1994 and is the eleventh year of growth in a row. Adjusted for price, there was also an increase of 4.1%. These estimates take into account the lockdown in the second half of December and retail sales for the months of January through November 2020. "The bitter losses of many inner-city retailers are offset by good business in the areas of online, food and furniture," said the chief executive of the HDE retail association, Stefan Genth. While sales by mail order and internet retailers rose by 31.8% in real terms over the year, textile suppliers had to cope with a drop in sales of 20%. They obviously benefited less than hoped from the store openings that were still allowed in November. The retail trade with goods of various kinds, including supermarkets and department stores, also managed to jump in sales of 8.5%. November business was brilliant The retail sector performed even better than the annual average in November: with an average price-adjusted increase in sales of 5.6% compared to the same month last year, business went brilliantly. Including the price increases, the dealers even had 6.5% more money in their coffers, as the Federal Statistical Office reported. Furnishings, household appliances and building supplies were particularly in demand with customers, with an increase of 15.4%. Sales of food and beverages increased by just 0.8% in November, but grew by 5.1% in the period from January to November. "Disaster year for the fashion trade" Many other retailers, on the other hand, were caught off guard by the corona crisis: The trade in textiles, clothing, shoes and leather goods collapsed from January to November by 21.1% compared to the same period last year. Textile goods and department stores recorded losses of 8.9%. "2020 was a real disaster year for many fashion retailers," said Genth. "If the federal government does not quickly improve state support here, we will experience a bankruptcy wave never seen before." Little stimulus to consumer spending came from the temporary VAT cut. A study by the Ifo Institute showed that this brought 6.3 billion euros in additional consumption. Surveys suggested, however, that the stated goal of the state had not been achieved to induce citizens to make larger purchases. The federal government temporarily lowered the rate from 19 to 16% from July to the end of 2020 in order to boost consumption and the economy in the corona crisis. Christmas business got off to a good start thanks to Black Friday The important Christmas business got off to a surprisingly good start for the industry. In November, which is characterized by campaign days such as Black Friday, sales rose in real terms by 1.9% compared to the previous month. Economists polled by Reuters had expected a minus of 2.0%. The unexpectedly good performance suggests that private consumption stabilized the economy in the fourth quarter as well and prevented a major slump due to the lockdown. See here for more: https://www-spiegel-de.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/unternehmen/einzelhandel-verzeichnet-groesstes-umsatzplus-seit-1994-a-d09ff5ac-0f01-4af0-8fae-82170d0dcf9d-amp

The fruit and vegetable supply is of great importance in these times in order to provide healthy products to people. The Netherlands and Belgium are mainly producers of vegetables. Around 1.7 million tons of vegetables are grown annually in Belgium and around 5 million tons in the Netherlands, of which 1.5 million are onions. This is reported by Fruit and Vegetable Facts, which goes on to say that both countries are on average more than self-sufficient in vegetables, but not in fruit. 150 kilos of vegetables are grown per inhabitant in Belgium and 300 kilos in the Netherlands, with the exception of onions weighing more than 200 kilos. In the case of fruit, in both Belgium and the Netherlands, it mainly affects apples and pears. In total, Belgium produces 0.62 million tonnes of fruit and the Netherlands 0.76 million tonnes annually. That is 55 and 45 kilos per inhabitant. International trade very important In the case of vegetables, it is mainly exports that drive the Dutch sector. It is estimated that three quarters of all vegetables grown in the Netherlands are shipped across the border as fresh products. In Belgium this is an estimated half. In the Netherlands, re-exports also play an important role in vegetables. Last year, an estimated 1.2 million tons of fresh vegetables traveled on to Europe via the Netherlands. In Belgium that is almost 100,000 tons of fresh vegetables. Most of the fruit is imported Belgium imported 2.2 million tons of fruit last year, of which 1.2 million were bananas. Last year the Netherlands imported 5.2 million tons of fruit, of which 1.3 million were bananas. Belgium exported 1.8 million tons of fresh fruit last year, around 70% of which is re-exported. Of the 4.2 million tonnes of fish fruit the Netherlands exported last year, less than 10% were Dutch products. The question of where the fresh products come from is becoming increasingly important. Both Belgian and Dutch imports of fruit and vegetables come mostly from overseas, Belgium 45% and the Netherlands 60%. Belgium imports a fair amount from neighboring countries, 45% to be precise. In the Netherlands it is only 15%. In terms of exports, 70% of Belgian fruit and vegetable exports go to neighboring countries, with the Netherlands getting half. The Netherlands also exported quite a bit to Scandinavia and overseas countries. The latter is particularly true of onions. See here for more: https://www.fruchtportal.de/artikel/drei-viertel-des-niederlndischen-gemses-werden-exportiert/047415?i=5819b0cf

Discount Retail Chain Dixy (owned by Dixy Group) has been piloting its own loyalty program Dixie Friends' Club in the Russian Volga Region. During 2020, the retailer facelifted 700 stores across the country. The economic situation spurred the development of private label brands, and the gamified loyalty campaign cracked showed record results. Vadim Makarenko, Marketing Director of Dixy, explains more on it. How many Dixy discount retail stores are there now, what divisions do consist of, where and in what formats do your stores operate? Our geography is quite wide: 2,800 Dixy Group stores are represented in 25 regions. The main business is concentrated in the Central Federal District, as well as in northwest Russia and the Urals. We are a multi-format chain, we have discounters, supermarkets, hypermarkets and even one cash & carry store. This year, we have about a hundred new stores, mainly in the discounter format. But in general, the company is now focusing on the reconstruction of existing stores, we are not planning any large-scale expansion yet. What is the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. I would not divide the problems of buyers by geography. The pandemic has impacted various consumer and economic sectors. It cannot be said that, for example, pensioners suffered the most. On the contrary, their income has been preserved, and the economically active population has suffered. Historically, our stores are located close to where people live, so the pandemic did not negatively affect us. But we must change and adapt to the interests of our buyer both during the crisis period and after it. So, for example, now a 4% drop in income is predicted, and people are switching to private label products. Last year you presented an updated store format. How many stores have already been updated? Just a few days ago we celebrated the remodeling of the 700th store. This is a large figure, considering that we did all the work in six months. We opened the very first Dixy store in a new format more than a year ago in Moscow, but it did not go into circulation. We were looking for a more suitable option. And again, we did not divide outlets by geography, we chose them according to their importance for the client. As a result, renovated stores appeared from Kaliningrad to Murmansk and the Urals. How do demand and average basket sales change? I cannot give an exact figure, but the average basket sales both with us and in the discounter market as a whole has increased significantly. What is the portrait of a network buyer? We have two audiences: main and strategic. The main one is people aged 45+ with average and below average income. They usually have grown-up children. They are looking for value-for-money and have a clear budget. This audience is loyal to us, many of the company's processes and our assortment range are focused on meeting these needs. Also, for the last 4-5 years, we have been growing our strategic shopper audience, which at the moment has already reached the level of the main one in terms of turnover. According to a recent study that Gfk conducted for us, these are young women between 25 and 40 years old, working, with families and children, with an average and upper middle income. They are not only interested in looking for the best price, they are also ready for good and clear communication and gamification. What are the key trends in buying behavior that can be identified? I believe in convenience and speed of service: people do not want to spend a lot of time in the store, they want to make a purchase quickly, which means you need to provide a clear shopping path. There is an e-commerce trend. We see that people order large-sized goods on the Internet, and they come to us for small ones. I believe in private label products: this year this trend has grown by more than 20% in the market, and we have launched more than 50 new SKUs. As for the healthy lifestyle trend, I believe in it as a global trend, but I have no faith in its applied use here and now in our stores. Yes, according to research, 55% of shoppers say they care about the topic. But, nevertheless, for the majority it remains just a statement. In reality, only 15% adhere to such a diet. At the same time, they put forward serious requirements for the product: only natural ingredients are not enough, many are also interested in their origin. Unfortunately, in the current macroeconomic environment, this is very expensive. The reality is that a quality product should be provided at the lowest price. You have already mentioned that this year you have 50 new SKUs in your private label. What is the overall situation with the development of the chain's private labels? Private label for us is a key direction. It has always been that way at Dixy. Now 40% of our shoppers that regularly visit Dixy buy private label goods. These are at least 2 products in the basket: private labels SKUs account for about 12% of our turnover. We have over 55 categories and over 500 private label SKUs. But this is not the limit, and our goal is to increase the share. There are no restrictions. We have a great example of Baby Boom diapers: they are in the top position, even though sales of this product usually depend on the brand. We also have private labels the best seller categories in beer and grocery. How do you emphasize that these products belong to your private label or do not stand out in any way on the shelf? Let's put it this way: we do not hide the fact that these are our brands, but we do not focus our attention on this either. We believe that the product should be of high quality and cost less than the brand. Our products go through all stages of tasting and quality control. We show the advantage of the product on the packaging and we spend money on its promotion. The story that private labels are simply laid out on the shelf and not advertised in any way is a thing of the past. How does Dixy work with customer loyalty now? Do you have your own program? On September 1, we launched a pilot project “Dixy Friends Club”. Now it already covers one of the regions of the Volga District with more than 200 stores. This is a loyalty program in a mobile application with quick registration, just a couple of clicks. Only an electronic card with statuses: "guest", "acquaintance", "friend" and "best friend", which are assigned depending on the number of visits to the store per month. We have introduced double pricing, we are releasing a special catalog for which card discounts are available. You can also choose your favorite SKU: depending on the level, up to three favorite products with a discount of up to 20%. The analytics system generates personalized offers that may be of interest to the buyer. We had a test in the Pastfor Victoria supermarkets, where the loyalty program was introduced in 2016 and switched from a direct small discount of 3-5% to double pricing and personalized offers. Then this case won five of the six Loyalty Awards Russia. We have adopted this system. At the start, it showed more than 50% penetration, the number of active users of the application has tripled. Next year we will launch it across the entire chain. In its loyalty promotions, the Dixy network pays a lot of attention to gamification. At first everyone played sticky, then jump-scokers, your next project is Cracked. Tell us more about this case. “We launched the Cracked project at Dixy in early November. To date, we have issued more than 17 million toys, of which 7.3 million are for sponsored goods. The mechanics of the action are as follows: for a purchase of 600 rubles (US$8) in Dixy stores, the buyer received a toy. If you buy a sponsored product, you receive another additional one. This is a plastic egg with a funny face, inside which is a useful device: a pencil, eraser or sharpener. The result is stunning: sales of sponsored goods increased by 200%! In the previous campaign, the result was 86%, so we have something to be proud of. I associate this with emotional tension: in difficult times, people are happy with a positive thing that can please children. Apparently, the company invested a lot in the promotion of the project? At least everyone has seen billboards and TV ads. Speaking in the language of marketing, we pumped up the promotions very strongly. During the campaign, we planned to receive 60,000 visits to our website. There were more than 168,000 of them! How did we achieve this? We have released the game in the Dixy mobile application. More than 6,000 users played the puzzle, where an additional move could be obtained by downloading a check from the store. We attracted the top YouTube blogger Vlad A4 Paper, who provided us with 23 million views of the video, 10,000 visits to the campaign website and 320,000 comments. In social networks, in a short time, we achieved a very large coverage with more than 9 million views. This indicates a high interest in the stock. Another two million views were given by integrations with children's bloggers on YouTube. 15,000 clicks were made by Yandex.Maps users: instead of the Dixy store logo, we placed an image of an egg there. Everyone was wondering what it was. An advertising campaign for WiFi in the metro provided 3 million more impressions and 45,000 transitions to the site. Integration with the ivi online cinema gave 2 million impressions of the announced formats, where we also released a special series, which has already received 150,000 views. More than 350 participants sent their works to the creative competition. We also advertised the action on screens installed in 686 stores of the chain. And we launched a challenge on TikTok. For retail, this is basically a new channel, where our profile has already gained 16,000 subscribers, and 7,300 works were sent to the challenge, which gained almost 19 million views. Our main prize, the golden egg, is still waiting for the winner. It can be obtained by anyone who collects the complete collection of Cracked. You've been in marketing for quite some time. If we talk about the profession as a whole, what skills do you need to improve in order to do projects that “take off”? We must remember that marketing is not just funny pictures. This is, first of all, an in-depth analysis of the market and a data-based understanding of how the shoppers behaviour. I realized for myself that this is a unique area. On the one hand, I try to make money for shareholders, partners, managers and employees. On the other hand, I can only do this if our products and services are in demand by the shoppers. If we talk about personal qualities, then, probably, you need to be curious, be interested in new technologies, read a lot. Follow market research, watch numbers, but pay attention to the world around you. Because research cannot always accurately describe the person we are working for. See here for more: https://www.retail.ru/interviews/vadim-makarenko-diksi-vo-vremya-geymifitsirovannoy-aktsii-prodazhi-tovarov-sponsorov-vyrosli-na-200-/

Discount grocery chain Save-A-Lot continues on its wholesale model transition to navigate today’s challenging landscape with the sale of its 51 Tampa, FL, market stores to Fresh Encounter. Fresh Encounter, a Save A Lot retail licensee with 61 stores, will continue to operate the locations under the Save A Lot banner. The independent retailer also operates stores under the Great Scot, Community Markets and Germantown Fresh Market banners, among others. With 1,000 stores in 33 states and 14 wholesale distribution centers, Save A Lot is a licensor and wholesale partner to over 200 independent owners and operators, with 1,000 stores in 33 states and 14 wholesale distribution centers. Last year, the company embarked on a recapitalization of its business to eliminate about $500 million in debt and receive $350 million in new capital. As part of this, it intends to sell its 300-plus corporate-owned stores and transition to a wholesale model. With the Fresh Encounter deal, the company has executed seven sale transactions that comprise 82 stores, and it expects to complete its re-licensing program in 2021. It will continue to operate 21 corporate stores locally in St. Louis, leveraging them as an innovation testing ground. “Through the re-licensing transactions we are executing across our footprint, we believe that we will be even better positioned to continue to serve the communities in which we operate,” said Kenneth McGrath, Save A Lot CEO, in a statement. “We currently have a dedicated group of retail partners that we support and we look forward to helping other entrepreneurs own, operate and succeed in their own business.” See here for more: https://risnews.com/fresh-encounter-picks-51-save-lot-stores?utm_source=omeda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NL_RIS+Executive+Insight&utm_keyword=&oly_enc_id=8775F0135745H1C

Discount Retail Chain Aldi UK (privately owned) is boosting its support for British suppliers by announcing it aims to spend £3.5bn more on UK-produced food and drink annually within the next five years. In a move that will benefit more than 1,000 small businesses in its supply chain, the discount supermarket is also extending by a year to the end of 2021 an agreement to pay smaller suppliers without delay. The company has already announced it is investing £500m in new and upgraded stores, distribution centres and its supply chain in 2021, which will create more than 4,000 jobs. Aldi is Britain’s fifth largest supermarket with more than 900 stores and 36,000 employees. Giles Hurley, the chief executiveof Aldi UK, said: “We are expecting significant sales growth in 2021 as we open new stores and bring Aldi to more locations across the UK. With the vast majority of our grocery products now coming from British suppliers, our growth will lead to additional jobs and investment in our UK supply chain.” Aldi, which sources its core range of fresh meat, eggs, milk, butter and cream from British suppliers, said the new commitment would create opportunities for hundreds of UK-based food and drink producers. It singled out Manchester Drinks Company, whose partnership with Aldi began in 2015 to supply a range of gins and gin liqueurs. Its new site in Yorkshire employs 19 people. Richard Benjamin, a co-owner of Manchester Drinks Company, said: “Our new contract with Aldi is a fantastic opportunity to showcase our flavoured gins and liqueurs to shoppers across the country, and will help to provide stability for our business in an uncertain climate.” Aldi introduced the immediate payment terms for small suppliers at the start of the coronavirus crisis and will now continue until the end of next year. This means it will continue to process payments for suppliers with an annual turnover of less than £1m with Aldi as soon as they are submitted. Aldi announced in September that it planned to create another 4,000 jobs with the opening of 100 stores and the trial of a click and collect service as part of a big investment drive in the UK. The new jobs are in addition to 3,000 permanent roles it created this year after grocery sales surged during the pandemic. Its long-term target is to have 1,200 stores by 2025, including more than 100 upgrades. Aldi’s online sales of non-food and wine soared 70% this year, up from 40% growth in 2019, as more people switched to shopping from home. See here for more: https://amp-theguardian-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/amp.theguardian.com/business/2020/dec/30/aldi-spend-uk-produced-food-drink

In the retail sector, Discount Retail Chain Tiendas Neto is an example of action in the face of adversity. With just 11 years in the Mexican market, Tiendas Neto is a business that, based on a culture of high trust, has known how to weave a safe and prosperous destiny for itself and that of its collaborators. Unlike other retail organizations in Mexico, its employees claim to feel comfortable with their jobs and willing to do their best despite being a very demanding shift. According to the Confidence Index survey of Great Place to Work® in Mexico. So far, Tiendas Neto has 1,200 self-service discount stores and more than 8,000 employees who, in addition to having a stable job, have different experiences that strengthen their sense of belonging and team participation. Georgina Martínez, director of Human Resources at Tiendas Neto, graduated in business administration from UVM, with a master's degree in Human Factor and more than 15 years of experience in human resources, explained during her participation in the Master Webinar Series 9 of GPTW®, that Tiendas Neto is characterized by being congruent between what it says and does. Be tenacious, enthusiastic about your mission and be in constant search of how to do things. One of the values ​​of this organization is open communication, at any level and at any time. In this way they generate confidence, one of the fundamental elements of the Best Places to Work®, and that promotes the belief in oneself and others in being able to achieve certain goals or objectives. A command with closeness Of course, trust can be reduced or maximized depending on the events that are experienced around a work culture. Therefore, the importance of the different practices that organizations implement to develop it; It is on these that collaborators feel comfortable with what they do and are willing to give the best of themselves. Therefore, effective leadership plays the most important role in retail organizations and in any other business. A leader prepared to listen, inspire, develop his collaborators and show a genuine interest in their concerns, gains their trust and, with this, that they work as a team, as a unit because they know well the values, goals and objective of the organization they work for. Tiendas Neto, being an organization certified as a Great Place to Work®, has implemented different practices in favor of its collaborators. This has allowed it to remain a stable business with perspective even in challenging times like the current one. One of its main initiatives is the Talent School. Training to grow Talent School is an instruction that lasts one year (in six sessions), attended by collaborators selected by their own colleagues based on the good performance they observe in them. They are instructed on the values ​​of Tiendas Neto, for example, “Enthusiasm”, it addresses what behaviors they should have to achieve it and once established, these collaborators have the task of living it and reproducing it with their co-workers and even with their families. Talent School has four generations of graduates and, according to Georgina Martínez, by living testimony, people come out with the idea of ​​being better people. This specific fact is the way in which Tiendas Neto has approached its collaborators; The formula is simple: they design programs for staff based on their organizational values: Austerity, Tenacity, Practicality, Integrity, Adaptability, Enthusiasm and Open Communication. With actions like this, Georgina Martínez talks that people feel comfortable because knowing that the organization takes care of them generates a sense of belonging and family. In this way, for the director it makes sense to be certified as a great place to work because that way they have been able to identify the factors that motivate employees to participate more actively and want to stay. An organization without leaders? Since Covid-19 many organizations offered their employees to work from home, it was seen that leadership was changing. The current situation has confirmed: despotic, coercive and inflexible behaviors no longer work and even less, in the modality of remote work. Aware of this, in Tiendas Neto, adjectives such as the leader or nouns such as the director of… have been discontinued. It is assumed that employees have the ability to become team builders, regardless of their position, and this is the challenge of those who make up the organization. Each collaborator, once he assumes the values, questions more how he can help his team, if he is acting as a true facilitator or on his own without thinking about the results. According to Tiendas Neto, team building begins when a new element is integrated because they must ensure that they are the right person to adapt to the values. It is the responsibility of the employer to accompany this to make it happen and it is a responsibility of all, not only of human resources. A business partner Tiendas Neto has also understood that the objective of human resources (HR) is no longer that of a recruiter. The HR role is more like that of a business partner who is aware of everyone's needs and not just the administration. They have understood that the training programs are not generated from their initiative, but from the operation of each area. Human Resources acts as a guide on how things could be done while keeping close to business needs. People are the ones who give ideas and these, if they are feasible, are implemented as training programs. That is why the importance of closeness to people, with whom they live day to day at work. Tiendas Neto knows that the needs between regions, between business units and between teams are specific and by permanently accompanying the operation, it is possible to know and cover them. The objective of Human Resources is unequivocal: it must be a facilitator rather than another administrative area. Community and communication Another of the most outstanding initiatives of Tiendas Neto has been to promote the unity among its employees. For this, it has used an internal communication network where, for example, collaborators openly share their stories or experiences within the organization. They upload photos or testimonials and say they feel comfortable with the practice. This type of forum opens up trust because it is the collaborators themselves who set the limits to where they want to share their experiences. The achievement has been to discover that people express their pride and the feeling of being in one of the Best Places to Work, and they do it with confidence. In order for all of the above to be possible, Georgina Martínez suggests that organizations that want to transform their work cultures define their DNA values ​​well as a matter of principle, transform them into behaviors and with these the programs are created with a view to spreading them; programs that are for the organization and everyone can live, because they establish how you want to perceive a work culture that favors the organizational climate.

Discount Retail Chain Lidl Switzerland (owned by the German Schwarz Grupp) has arrived in Switzerland and opened around 8-10 stores every year. Due to this growth, Lidl Switzerland needs new storage space and is now building a new warehouse right next to the existing chilled and non-perishable goods distribution center in Weinfelden (Switzerland). The Corona situation in particular has shown how important good functioning logistics and sufficient capacities are for the food supply of the Swiss population. The new building is mainly used for the transshipment of fruits and vegetables as well as the storage of seasonal non-food items and is an extension of the existing goods distribution center, which is located directly next to the new building. On a gross floor area of ​​almost 23,000m2, around 10,000 pallet spaces will be created in the two-story, modular building. The new warehouse is expected to go into operation at the end of 2021. Sustainability When designing the building, careful attention was paid to sustainable construction. The building will be built according to the Minergie standard, modern and spacious ancillary / break rooms will be designed and only natural refrigerants will be used in later operation. Banana ripening The highlight of the project is its own banana ripening facility, which enables the ripening process to be vertically integrated into its own value chain. In this integrated ripening facility, the still green bananas are fully ripened and then brought to the stores.

The Corona crisis has radically changed the shopping behavior of consumers, this could now have far-reaching consequences. Retailers are testing new store concepts around the world. Customers should be able to do their purchases faster, more hygienically and without the classic checkout process. What that means for shopping for groceries at discount retailers as Aldi, Lidl, Penny (part of Rewe) and Netto (part of EDEKA). No one can really estimate how long the coronavirus will keep us busy. In addition to the many restrictions, the pandemic has also changed our shopping behavior. Customers go shopping at Aldi, Lidl, Rewe or Edeka less often, but when buying groceries there, they put significantly more goods on the checkout belt. But that's not all: In order to measure the success of the stores of Lidl, Aldi and Co., the supermarkets and discounters analyse the shopping lists of the customers. The higher the average basket value per customer, the more successful the store is. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, the per capita basket is said to have increased significantly, especially in the centrally located stores. On the so-called green field, however, the supermarkets are struggling with falling sales. This is also due to the fact that the neighboring construction and furniture stores remained closed due to the two severe shutdowns. Supermarkets, discounters, drugstores and food retailers want to gradually break away from this dependency. The aim is for customers to shop more often, for the shops to serve customers even at night and for the shops to be easily accessible by bus, train and bike. Corona crisis brings Aldi, Lidl and Co. to city centers For supermarkets, discounters and grocery stores, it has been the case all these years: customers drive to Aldi, Lidl, Rewe, Edeka, Kaufland or Real and shop there for the week. Commercial areas with large parking areas were therefore particularly lucrative. However, city stores are booming, as consumers can shop on the way home from work. The so-called green field has long since expanded. Shopping for groceries in the city center saves time and money. It is no secret that the big supermarket chains increasingly want to go to the city centers and that local politicians are hoping that this will revive the city centers. However, the retailers will also demand consideration for the billions in investments. For example, the German retail industry insists on longer opening times in order to supply customers with food until late at night. At the same time, discounters and supermarkets are using the central retail space to set up digital delivery hubs and to deliver groceries to surrounding neighborhoods by bike, scooter or public transport. Industry experts keep saying that smart city stores and digital urban stores are considered the future of shopping. Little groceries, no shopping carts and hardly any gaps in the shelves The urban stores of the future will be equipped with popular foods. With so-called fast movers, discounters, supermarkets and retailers focus exclusively on food that customers always buy. These include milk, butter, yogurt, vegetables, meat, drinks and bread. You won't find non-food in these branches, just like unusual products. "The aim is for customers to be able to transport their daily purchases by bus, train or bicycle," say the developers. This is another reason why there are no shopping carts in the urban stores, only baskets. The small range helps employees to quickly fill empty shelves with goods. "Empty sales areas cause a lot of damage because the gaps remain unused", reveal the experts from shopfitter Wanzl. There are no empty shelves in the urban stores. Because the shelves use sensors to evaluate customer needs at any time, algorithms can make targeted suggestions to employees as to which products are selling well or badly. Overall, sensors on ceilings, floors and shelves are the heart of the stores. "Please wait": Admission restrictions are likely to prevail In the middle of the Corona crisis, it is clear that higher sales do not mean happier customers. Long lines form in front of the stores, especially at peak times. Across the board, providers such as Aldi, Lidl, Edeka or Rewe have invested in traffic light systems, for example, in order to implement the applicable admission restrictions. But what is considered a special measure today indirectly introduces the future of shopping. Such admission restrictions have long since arrived in self-service markets. Online giant Amazon, for example, uses customer counting mechanisms in its prestige cash register "Amazon Go" stores. Sensors recognize where customers in the stores go first, which shelf they spend the longest on and how long the purchase takes in total. Amazon first introduced such stores in the USA. The focus is on hygiene, contactless payment, speed and a tight range. Smartphone, sensors and cash registers without employees While the sensors at the entrance, on the ceilings and on the floor accompany customers shopping, sensors on the shelf evaluate the weight of the individual products. For example, if a customer takes a pack of flour from the shelf, this product is assigned to the consumer. He then pays for the selected product at the checkout. The sensors recognize the customer, the product and the quantity. The smart supermarket shelves even remember when a consumer changes his mind and puts a product back. At the checkout, retailers are currently testing three payment systems: self-service terminal, self-scan via smartphone with "just-walk-out" function and checkout tunnel. The self-service terminal seems to be gaining ground in Germany. Customers have to scan the products themselves at a terminal equipped with a scanner and touch display. Up to six customers can be served at the same time on an area that takes up a classic treadmill checkout. Such terminals are already in use at Kaufland, McDonald's, Ikea, Real, Globus, Rewe, Edeka and Netto Marken-Discount. Even the discounter giant Lidl is gaining its first experiences abroad. Self-scan concepts go one step further. Customers scan the products with their own smartphone. Netto Marken-Discount, for example, is currently testing the concept in Munich. "We could roll out the self-scan process now and immediately across Germany", say the IT experts from Netto Marken-Discount proudly. "This is the future," it continues. With this process, customers scan the price tags or QR codes on the products using the app. The system records the purchase and customers can leave the store after paying via the app, at the cash register or at the self-service terminal (just-walk-out). Another concept consists of a treadmill and sensors. Customers have to place the goods on a treadmill as usual and let them drive through a kind of checkout tunnel. The products are scanned, recorded and the customer pays at the end using the terminal or the app. Wanzl developed such a concept together with the screw giant Würth. The stores are even open to customers 24 hours a day. Shopping for groceries at night: music against loneliness Should smart city stores prevail, they will for the most part get by with few staff and have significantly longer opening times. At night, customers buy groceries via app, sensors and digital check-out. Only a security staff in front of the branch ensures that theft is prevented. In the USA, initial tests on "Amazon Go" have already shown that shortly before midnight customers are sometimes completely alone in the stores. The studies showed that consumers felt more comfortable with music recordings and radio-like presentations. "Imagine you are the only customer in a store. That can lead to stress and anxiety at night," explain the Wanzl developers. That is why music plays a crucial role in urban stores, especially at night. "If customers feel safe in a store, they find shopping much more pleasant and then they come back again," says Wanzl. See here for more: https://www.wanzl.com/de_DE/wcw/Hard-Discount

Discount Retail Chain Lidl's owner the German Schwarz Gruppe has published a code of ethics for business partners. The Code describes the related basic principles of cooperation. They define the minimum standards required by the company in business relationships and are based on the following international guidelines and principles: - Universal Declaration of Human Rights, - United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), - UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, - UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, - UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, - OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, - Standards the work of the International Labor Organization (ILO), - the Paris Climate Agreement. One of the points of the code concerns the termination of the contract. It says: "In the event of a breach of the obligations contained in this Code, the business partner may be given a reasonable time to take remedial action, or if this is not possible due to the nature of the breach, he or she will receive a warning. If there are repeated breaches, the contractual relationship may be terminated with immediate effect without the notice period In the event of repeated or serious breaches, the contractual relationship may be terminated without notice, even without setting a time limit for remedial action or a reminder. This does not affect the rights to other claims, in particular damages. " The following points are regulated: - Work (prohibition of discrimination, fair treatment, remuneration and working time, freedom of association, OHS, order penalties and prohibition of employing children) - Environment (environmental protection regulations and environmental and climate protection) - Code validity and control of its compliance (audits, obligations and subcontractors) See here for the Code of conduct document: https://schwarz-produktion.com/app/uploads/Code-of-Conduct.pdf