Discount Retail Chain DEPPO (owned by the Kosovo company Baka Initiatives) opened recently, 50 discount stores at one point in time. DEPPO is the first hard discount chain in Kosovo now present in 11 cities in Kosovo. The head office including a 5,000m2 distribution center and 9 own trucks is based in the capital city of Prishtina. Offering a great mix of 850 branded and Private Label branded SKUs including a regular changing In & Out non-food assortment. After more than a year pre-opening preparations the hard discount start-up started promising and takes a significant market share in this immature market. DEPPO has big plans expanding in the Balkan region and is meanwhile seen as the price leading grocery retail chain in Kosovo. The discount concept DEPPO is based on operating with low OPEX costs in e.g. marketing, interior design & decoration, product packaging and advertising of products. The main focus is on product quality, private label assortment, pricing and presentation in the discount stores, offering an assortment at a much lower price than other grocery retailers. DEPPO aims to facilitate daily shopping for all customer categories. Meeting 80% of the family's basic daily needs. The product categories DEPPO offers are: Food groceries including shilled and frozen, fruits and vegetables, basic home appliances and products and textiles. At the opening, DEPPO announced that the opening day Prizren store turnover will be donated to the Association "Orphans of the Balkans" and the opening day Prishtina store turnover was donated to the "Autism" Association.

Discount Retail Chain Aldi U.S. has joined the U.S. Plastics Pact, a collaborative group driven by The Recycling Partnership, the World Wildlife Fund and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation that aims to get companies together to unify around the design, use and reuse of plastics. Aldi U.S. has already outlined several goals such as making all of its store brand packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025, and Aldi U.K. also recently committed to reducing plastic packaging by half by the same year. By becoming a founding “Activator” of the U.S. Plastics Pact, Aldi U.S. joins more than 60 other brands, NGOs, government agencies and retailers who are coordinating initiatives to rethink how plastics are being used throughout the supply chain. The group has put together four goals so far: Define a list of packaging to be designated as problematic or unnecessary by 2021 and take measures to eliminate them by 2025; By 2025, all plastic packaging is 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable; By 2025, undertake ambitious actions to effectively recycle or compost 50% of plastic packaging; and By 2025, the average recycled content or responsibly sourced bio-based content in plastic packaging will be 30%. “Together through the U.S. Plastics Pact, we will ignite system change to accelerate progress toward a circular economy,” says Sarah Dearman, vice president of circular ventures for The Recycling Partnership. “The U.S. Pact will accelerate system-wide change by inspiring and supporting upstream innovation through a coordinated national strategy, creating a unified framework and enabling members to accelerate progress toward our ambitious 2025 sustainability goals. Members’ full participation will be vital to reaching our shared goals.” In addition to Aldi’s efforts to make its store brand packaging more sustainable, the company has also not offered single-use plastic grocery bags for more than four decades, and encourages shoppers to bring their own reusable bags. By company estimates, this has helped keep approximately 15 billion single-use plastic bags out of landfills and oceans. The U.S. Plastics Pact emphasizes measurable change and as such, Aldi U.S. is committed to transparent, annual reporting, guided by WWF’s ReSource: Plastic Footprint Tracker, which will be used to document annual progress against the U.S. Plastics Pact’s four goals. The first task of the founding members of the U.S. Plastics Pact will be to establish a roadmap in Q1 2021 to identify key milestones and national solutions to achieving the U.S. targets and realize a circular economy in which plastic never becomes waste. Click here for more: https://storebrands.com/aldi-joins-us-plastics-pact?utm_source=omeda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NL_SB+Today&utm_keyword=&oly_enc_id=8775F0135745H1C

Discount Non-Food Retail Chain Five Below has seen positive signs from back-to-school shopping despite the coronavirus pandemic shifting many districts across the U.S. into remote learning arrangements this fall. According to Five Below CEO Anderson, consumers have been favoring items that can help make learning from home a more enjoyable experience for children who live in places where in-person instruction has been canceled or delayed. “Depending on the state, the municipality, they’re going back in their homes and they want to create an environment that makes school comfortable being at home, Zooming,” he said, referencing the videoconferencing provider Zoom. Back-to-school shopping is a critical period for many U.S. retailers, but the changing dynamics of the Covid-19 outbreak made for an uncertain fall season. Retail executives from companies such as Walmart and Kohl’s indicated last month the sale of school-related items was off to a slower start stemming from the pandemic. “We really shifted it more to being about ‘room,’” Anderson said of Five Below’s approach to back-to-school shopping. The former president and CEO of Walmart.com said Five Below is approaching the upcoming Halloween season in a similar way, with the prevalence of trick-or-treating likely to be impacted by the pandemic. Earlier Wednesday, new health guidelines from Los Angeles County were released that aimed to curtail Halloween-related activities, citing potential for coronavirus transmission. “It’s going to be less about trick-or-treating and more about decor and still creating a fun experience at home, and at Five Below you can do that without having to break the bank, so to speak,” said Anderson. Shares of Philadelphia-based Five Below are down about 2% so far in 2020, but the stock has seen a fierce rebound from coronavirus-driven lows. After bottoming at US $47.53 per share on March 19, the stock has rallied more than 160% to close Wednesday’s session at US$125.28. In the early stages of the U.S. Covid-19 outbreak, JPMorgan analyst Matthew Boss pointed to Five Below as one retailer that could emerge stronger as a result of the pandemic, which, in addition to its health consequences, has resulted in significant economic consequences for millions of Americans. Anderson said Wednesday that Five Below opened more than 60 new stores during the second quarter despite the coronavirus-induced disruption to its existing stores, which were temporarily shuttered. “We have a really good muscle on how to open stores quickly,” he said. “We never thought we’d have to use that muscle to reopen our existing stores. Basically, at the start of the quarter, we were at zero. We reopened all 900 and then we saw the opportunity to get back to playing offense.” Click here for more: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/09/five-below-ceo-joel-anderson-on-back-to-school-shopping-this-fall.html

Aldi has launched a click and collect service for the first time, meaning that customers will be able to choose their groceries online and collect them directly from the store as opposed to having to queue at the till. Currently, the service is only being trialled at one Aldi store in the Midlands, but the budget supermarket chain intends to roll it out across other stores soon if it proves popoular. Customers using the service will be able to select time slots to arrive at dedicated click and collect points in Aldi car parks to collect their shopping. Giles Hurley, Chief Executive Officer, Aldi UK and Ireland, said: “We know that more and more people want to access the high-quality, affordable food they know they can get at Aldi. “This is yet another way we are innovating to make sure we best serve our existing customers and make Aldi’s great products and unbeatable prices available to even more people.” Click and Collect is just one of the new services Aldi is launching to make it easier for people to get their groceries amid the coronavirus pandemic. In order to reduce the number of people in its stores, which will make it easier for people to maintain social distancing, Aldi has also launched a rapid delivery service with Deliveroo. The service is currently bering trialled  across stores in the East Midlands, London, Cambridge and Greater Manchester. It allows customers to order from a range of more than 300 Aldi products and have them delivered to their doorstep in 30 minutes. Earlier this year, Aldi also offered online food parcels to vulnerable and self-isolating customers to help them get their groceries while staying safe in lockdown. The parcels contained essential products including tinned soup, rice and pasta and were delivered by courier to customers throughout the UK. Click here for more: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/aldi-click-collect-service-pick-trial-b435544.html

Discount Retail Chains and full-range supermarket retailers were rated evenly in a representative online survey, the online rating portal “Excellent.org” asked shoppers about the most popular German supermarkets and asked 2,455 people from all over Germany in a representative online survey at the end of August. Every day, millions of Germans use what is available in their local supermarket and stock up on food, household goods and hygiene items. But where do you prefer to shop? The mix of supermarket, discounter, department store and toy store is evidently well received by consumers. 10.7 percent of those surveyed named the grocer as their favorite in the survey. This is the ranked result: 6th place: Discounter Penny The Cologne-based discounter received 5.5% of the votes in the survey. This puts Penny far behind its competitors. The chain is currently trying to shake off its discounter image and is offering a full range in test branches. 5th place: Kaufland The Schwarz Group company made it into the top five. Kaufland is not only represented in Germany, but also in seven other Eastern European countries. 4th place: REWE The full-range retailer REWE has expanded significantly in recent years and can rely on a large regular audience. According to the survey, 18.9% see REWE as their most popular supermarket. 3rd place: Discounter Aldi It was to be expected that the traditional discounter Aldi would play at the top. 20.1% of those surveyed prefer to go shopping here. Since the dispute between the founding Albrecht family, the business has been divided into north and south. Aldi Süd performed slightly better in the survey with 11% than Aldi Nord (9.1%). Both discounters are currently working on merging their purchasing departments and are even advertising together again. 2nd place: Discounter Lidl The world's largest discounter, Lidl, took second place on the podium. The discounter already has over 10,500 stores in 31 countries. Lidl is widespread and popular. Almost a quarter (21.7%) of those surveyed prefer to shop at founder Josef Schwarz's company. This puts Lidl just ahead of the competition for Aldi North and South. 1st place: Edeka The dealer based in Hamburg took first place. This makes it the most popular supermarket in Germany. In the online survey by "Excellent.org", 23.1% of those questioned voted for Edeka. With over 11,700 branches, the company is also one of the largest German grocery retailers. Click here for more: https://www.businessinsider.de/wirtschaft/handel/neues-ranking-das-sind-die-beliebtesten-supermaerkte-und-discounter-in-deutschland/?xing_share=news

Discount Retail Chain Aldi Nord have to leave one thing to the people in charge: Once they have decided on something, it stops - for decades if necessary. At least that has been true for a long, very long time for the store design of one half of the discount market leader. After a few fine adjustments, Essen (city in Germany where the HQ of Aldi Nord is located) does not seem to change much in the store design implemented in 2017. The “recipe of the week” grid tables had to give way to freezers for promotional goods in 2018; and the transverse shelving direction that was initially built between seasonal goods and fruit and vegetables converted back to the longitudinal shelving direction that regular discount customers were used to and copied from the Belgium Aldi stores. Otherwise, the re-modelling of the store network is rather noiseless. Old stores are being replaced by more modern ones - and in order to have more space inside but not have to take away too many parking spaces outside, underground car parks with escalators to the sales area above are now even affordable, as in Berlin. With one exception: the ovens for the bake-off are built directly behind the bun presentation so that the bread can be filled in from behind instead of having to jerk them across the shop. Lidl has also shown that. The Aldi Nord variant, however, is more space-saving and is hardly noticeable in the back ensemble at the entrance. Aldi Nord mainly uses the remaining space to display familiar elements from its “ANIKo” format (“Aldi Nord in-store concept”) - without adding any new flourishes. The mini presentation with the gondola head wooden boxes over the wine must be enough. The fact that there is more space between the shelves than anywhere else tends to encourage to be used for special or extra SKU presentations. And even if this strategic consequence is very discount-oriented and common practice: A bit more creativity to better emphasize individual product categories could certainly not hurt Aldi Nord. Aldi Süd The Mülheim (city in Germany where the HQ of Aldi Süd is located) sister company Aldi Süd approaches the matter a bit different: The “Store of the Future” instore design introduced in 2015 is already showing its age, and the company is trying to counteract this with another refreshment. Mini greenhouses for marketing Almost exactly a year ago, Aldi Süd presented its pimped up “freshness store” in Regensburg. Not only does the fruit and vegetables move to the shop entrance, the freshness there has also been given a significantly different appearance, which no longer looks like a classic discount store at all. With the announcement that in the future herbs will be grown directly in the store and that the Berlin start-up inFarm will build mini greenhouses on the Aldi premises, Aldi Süd is taking its commitment to freshness to extremes. But mainly for marketing reasons: In May, five stores were initially converted with the herb upgrade (Butzbach, Langenselbold, Mörfelden, Dormagen, Neuss-Norf); seven more are to follow by the end of the year. For reasons of space alone, the herb houses at Aldi Süd are unlikely to become the new standard. Baking machine, BackWelt, everything mixed up In many of the existing stores, there is not enough space to integrate the new baking concept “Meine Backwelt” presented 2.5 years ago. That is why the large, expensive and limited bread assortment these impractical, but efficient automated baking machines, from which bread and rolls can be ordered at the push of a button, offered are phasing out. More and more Aldi Sued stores are equipped with the 'Meine BackWelt' concept efficiently intregrated and space-saving in the store's warehouses. As nice as the idea of ​​the “freshness store” may be: In view of the very different store spaces, Aldi Süd customers are likely to retain several store design standards for the foreseeable future. It's like a little curse: One Aldi concept has almost too much space, the other too little for all imagined improvements - and the German discount continues to live up to its reputation as a permanent construction site. Click here for more: https://www.supermarktblog.com/2020/09/10/aldis-design-fluch-mehr-platz-als-ideen-und-mehr-ideen-als-platz-dauerbaustelle-discount-2/

Discount Non-food Retail Chain Dollar Tree has reached a distribution milestone. The retailer this week held a grand-opening ceremony for its 25th U.S. distribution center, this one in Rosenberg, Texas. The retailer also recently started shipping product from its 26th U.S. facility, in Ocala, Florida. “Our two newest state-of-the-art distribution centers will enhance our supply-chain efficiencies by providing stores in the southeastern and southwestern states with essential products, at great values, for our customers,” said Michael Lech, Dollar Tree’s chief logistics officer. “Yesterday, we celebrated the creation of more than 400 jobs in the Rosenberg region, and our team is appreciative of the partnerships and support provided by the city of Rosenberg, Rosenberg Development Corp., Fort Bend Economic Development Council and Texas Workforce Solutions.” The plans for the approximately US$130 million investment in the Texas distribution center were disclosed in February 2019. The 1.2 million-square-foot facility will initially service Dollar Tree stores across a three-state region. To continue supporting its stores, the Chesapeake, Virginia-based retailer recently began shipping product from its Ocala distribution center. The first phase of the 1.2 million-square-foot facility opened last month, with the second phase expected to be completed in 2022. “Dollar Tree continues to grow, and our Ocala facility will play an integral role in servicing the needs of stores in Florida and the surrounding states,” Lech said. Last year, Dollar Tree’s distribution network shipped and received more than 1.8 billion cases of merchandise through its facilities. In late August, Dollar Tree reported that its revenue increased 9.4% in the second quarter ended Aug. 1, reaching US$6.28 billion. The chain’s enterprise same-store sales increased 7.2%. Same-store sales for Family Dollar increased 11.6%, while Dollar Tree same-store sales increased 3.1%. Click here for more: https://storebrands.com/dollar-tree-readies-new-distribution-centers?oly_enc_id=8775F0135745H1C&utm_source=omeda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NL_SB+Today&utm_keyword=

Discount Textile Retail Chain Primark has shrugged off the gloom on the UK’s high streets after reporting better-than-expected sales since lockdown restrictions were eased in mid-June. The discount clothing retailer's owner, Associated British Foods (ABF), said the number of people visiting its stores had risen and shoppers were spending “significantly” more than last year. Revenues were “reassuring and encouraging”, ABF said on Monday. Primark's full-year profits are expected to come in at the top end of forecasts, between US$384m - US$450m (£300m - £350m), ABF said. While that is down on US$ 1.2bn (£913m) last year, Primark has outperformed many of its competitors, who have struggled to revive sales since the pandemic began. Primark’s like-for-like sales in the UK since reopening are expected to be 12 per cent lower than the same period last year, partly due to weaker performance at its four largest stores. The company cut its expected hit from unsold stock to US$192m (£150m) from the US$364m (£284m) it had forecast earlier in the year, after stores were allowed to open earlier than expected. Primark's revival has come despite the fact that it went into the pandemic with no online sales operation, indicating that shoppers can be tempted back to the high street for the right price. The company reported in May that sales had dropped from US$832m (£650m) a month to zero after closing all of its stores across Europe and the US. ABF, which owns a range of brands including Twinings tea and Kingsmill, said trading in its food divisions has also been better than predicted so far in the fourth quarter, as the company provided a pre-close trading update for the financial year to 12 September. The group may have been boosted by a trend that has seen more people baking since lockdown began. Increased demand for yeast and bakery ingredients helped ABF's ingredients arm, and profits from sugar sales are expected to increase this year. In a statement, ABF said: “Since reopening Primark stores, we have seen increasing numbers of transactions driven by footfall. “The average basket size was initially significantly higher than last year, reflecting some pent-up demand, and while this outperformance has reduced in recent weeks, it remains higher than a year ago. “We have continued our policy of offering the best prices, and markdowns for the period since reopening have been low.” Click here for more: https://www.independent.co.uk/business/primark-sales-after-lockdown-uk-high-streets-b404813.html

SPAR Poland announced that Tomasz Waligórski (DRC Business Development Associate) joined the management team who will take the position of CCO-Chief Commercial Officer. He will be responsible for the areas: purchasing and quality, SPAR's own private label brand, marketing, assortment and price management, and e-commerce. He will also be appointed as a board member. Tomasz Waligórski has 27 years of experience in trading in Poland and abroad. He has worked in many retail chains - incl. he was the operational and purchasing director at Jeronimo Martins (Biedronka), the purchasing director at Eurocash and the president of the management board at Polomarket. - Establishing cooperation with your SPAR store means new professional challenges for me. I am glad that I am joining the team of professionals and I hope that my experience in this industry will contribute to the development of the SPAR brand in Poland - says Tomasz Waligórski, Chief Commercial Officer at SPAR. - We are dynamically developing our chain of stores - great professionals are needed to achieve the goals we set, so we are pleased to announce that Tomasz Waligórski joins our team. Tomasz's experience and competence will be invaluable and will help us implement all business plans - said Rob Philipson, board member of The SPAR Group. Click here for more: https://www.discountretailconsulting.com/associates

Discount Retail Chain Lidl (owned by German Schwarz Group) is chasing 70 new stores in Denmark, despite the fierce competition with competitors, which will also grow with more stores - as well as an online store that is in full swing. The German discount chain Lidl with 130 Danish stores will continue to expand around Denmark. Although the online grocery trade is booming, the German discount chain Lidl has big plans in Denmark. The current 130 stores around the country should grow to over 200 within a few years. “We do not put years on when we should have the 200. But the goal is clear throughout the organization. So we're after that. Despite the current competition and development, in our opinion, the Danish market can at least accommodate that number, «says property and development director Mads T. Nielsen, Lidl Denmark. Click here for more: https://finans.dk/erhverv/ECE12362821/lidl-koerer-paa-med-butiksplaner-i-discountkrigen/

Discount Retail Chain Netto (owned by the Danish trading group Salling Group) continues to grow further in 2020. Managing director Ingo Panknin (ex Aldi manager) expects annual sales of more than US$ 1.3 Bn (€ 1.1 Bn). In addition, 50 new stores are being opened or in the pipeline. In the past few years, the company's annual turnover, with 342 stores in eight federal states and two large warehouses in Stavenhagen and Wustermark near Berlin, was just over a billion euros. The reasons for the growth are increased sales in the wake of the corona pandemic and the modernization of stores. Short-time work for the 6,000 employees was not necessary. "On the contrary, we have also employed staff," said Panknin. For their work under the more difficult pandemic conditions, the management paid all employees a "Corona bonus" of between 50 and 150 euros. In its 30th year of Netto existence, the focus is on converting the stores to the new Netto 3.0 concept, in which customers are presented with Scandinavian aesthetics and a new type of shopping experience. "We want to grow again and are looking for suitable space for around 50 new shops," emphasized Panknin. So far, the discounter is represented 112 stores in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, 143 stores in Berlin and Brandenburg as well as in Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Lower Saxony, Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. “Compared to others, Netto is a rather small discounter,” says the managing director of the North East Trade Association, Kay-Uwe Teetz. But Netto were one of the first chains to pay particular attention to regionalism and implemented it well. That is why Teetz sees “good opportunities” for the black and yellow discounter. In 1990 Netto was a joint establishment of the former Spar group with Danish partners. When the German grocery market leader Edeka Group took over Spar, it had to sell the yellow-black Netto. The Danes also expanded into north-east Germany, including Poland, where there are almost 390 stores. Recently they took over around 300 Tesco stores. Click here for more: https://lebensmittelpraxis.de/handel-aktuell/28383-netto-stavenhagen-weiter-auf-wachstumskurs-2020-09-07-09-49-34.html

Hard Discount Retail Chain Tiendas 3B started filling its distribution center in Ecatepec de Morelos (located in the North of Mexico City). This will be the regional headquarters and distribution/logistical center of 3B's 10th Mexican sales region.