Discount Variety Retail Chain B&M European Value Retail S.A. said it was confident on its outlook for profit growth in the year ahead, after reporting a 9.7% rise in its 2023/24 year, which reflected a similar rise in revenue. The FTSE 100 retailer, which sells everything from garden furniture and electrical items to toys and food, has proved a resilient performer through the cost of living crisis. In the year to 30 March, it made adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), its preferred profit measure, of £629 million (€738.7 million), in line with guidance issued in April. Revenue was £5.5 billion (€6.46 billion), up 10.1%. 'A Good Year' “FY24 has been another good year for B&M," commented chief executive Alex Russo. "The three key components of our business, buying, logistics and retail, are working in balance and we continue to deliver excellent products at everyday low prices to our consumers. We are well set for the years ahead." In its 2024/25 year, B&M plans to open not less than 45 gross new B&M stores in the UK, plus a 'meaningful number' in France and at its Heron Foods business. During its most recent financial year, B&M opened 78 gross new stores across the group, including 47 in B&M UK, 20 in Heron Foods and 11 in B&M France. 'Volume-Led Momentum' "We have demonstrated strong volume-led momentum in our business throughout our trading history and that has continued, driving our profits ahead of both pandemic and pre-pandemic benchmarks," Russo added. Despite the more challenging comparatives, with continued new store openings, and a laser focus on low prices and best in class retail standards, we remain confident in our outlook for cash generation and profit growth.” Read more: Discount Chain B&M Confident About Profit Outlook | ESM Magazine #smartdiscount #uk #france #bm #heronfoods #profit #volume #ebit #expansion #drc #discount #retail #consulting #discountretail #discountretailconsulting #retailconsulting #google

Discount Variety Retail Chain Dollar General, NYSDE listed as DG, executives admitted during an earnings call last week that shrink during the first quarter of 2024 was a little higher than expected. Still, the discount retailer continues to make progress in this area, mostly via tweaks to self-checkout. Dollar General had already converted 9,000 stores away from self-checkout with the intention of  preventing theft, and in May an additional 3,000 locations were stripped of their self-checkout lanes. “While this represents a significant change in our stores, we believe this is the right course of action to drive increased customer engagement, while also better positioning us to begin reducing shrink in the back half of 2024 with a more material positive impact expected in 2025,” Dollar General CEO Todd Vasos said during the call on Thursday. “Moving forward, we plan to have self-checkout options available in a limited number of stores, most of which are higher volume and low-shrink locations.” Vasos added that it was customer feedback which prompted the company to pull the additional 3,000 self-checkout stations. Customer feedback indicated that shoppers prefer that checkout have a front of store worker present. Dollar General also reduced its inventory at an aggressive pace during the first quarter in light of rising sales. Vasos said there was a 9.5% reduction in per store inventory and a 22.5% reduction in non-consumables and discretionary business. Kelly Dilts, executive vice president and CFO at Dollar General, said the focus would continue to be on per-store inventory, which means there will be more inventory optimization using technology. “We are really looking at how to right-size the inventory over the next 12 to 18 months from just what we’re carrying in the stores and making sure that we are in a better position to serve our customers from an in-stock level,” Dilts said during the earnings call. Dollar General’s top priority within supply chain is to improve rates of on-time and in-full truck deliveries (OTIF). The company’s OTIF levels were higher in the first quarter of 2024 than a year ago, according to Vasos. The discount retailer said it also identified an opportunity to close12 temporary warehouse facilities which would help lower cost and improve inventory flow throughout the supply chain. To date, Dollar General has closed seven of the 12 facilities and will close the other five before the end of the year. In conjunction with the moves, Dollar General continues to make great progress with its permanent distribution centers in Arkansas and Colorado, and both are scheduled to open later this year. The discount retailer also has begun the first full-scale refresh of its sorting process within the distribution centers. Work has begun at all 18 of the dry facilities, and four have been completed. “Once we conclude the restore process, we believe our store teams will be able to restock shelves more quickly,” said Vasos. During the call, Dollar General said it has also committed to a net reduction of up to 1,000 SKUs by the end of 2024. Read more: Dollar General’s self-checkout exit is bigger than expected (supermarketnews.com) #smartdiscount #dg #dollargeneral #usa #selfscan #theft #sco #efficiency #productivity #profitability #shrink #losses #ebitda #inventory #drc #discount #retail #consulting #discountretail #discountretailconsulting #retailconsulting #google

Discount Retail Chain No Frills discount store, owned by Loblaw, opened a smaller version of its No Frills discount store in Toronto recently. The location has a footprint of under 15,000 square feet, which is less than half of the size of a traditional No Frills store, and will offer new products including hot food, rotisserie chicken, and fresh bakery. The No Frills in Toronto replaces a City Market, another Loblaw brand that closed about a month ago. Loblaw plans to open the smaller No Frills locations through Thanksgiving. Loblaw said the smaller format gives the company flexibility when determining new store locations. “We can now open stores where Canadians need them most,” said Melanie Singh, president of Hard Discount, Loblaw Companies, in the company’s press release. “We design each location with a full grocery shop in mind, according to the customers who shop there.” Indeed, the demographics of the neighbourhood will determine what the mini-markets offer. For example, the Toronto Star reports that the new location in Toronto on the corner of King and Shaw streets has grab-and-go offerings like pastries, which are not a staple at No Frills stores. The rotisserie chicken was also a popular item at the City Market location, which is why the new No Frills will offer it. Smaller stores will also carry less variety, and aisles will be shorter and narrower, with taller produce shelves. Read more: Loblaw goes mini with its No Frills store | Supermarket News #smartdiscount #loblaw #nofrills #toronto #canada #expansion #format #drc #discount #retail #consulting #discountretail #discountretailconsulting #retailconsulting #google

Discount Retail Chain NETTO, owned by the German EDEKA Group, generated revenues of around 17.1 billion euros (plus 1.3 billion euros, +8.2%) in 2023. EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) amounted to 355 million euros (2.1%) and showing an increase of about 2 percent. NETTO was also able to increase the number of stores and is well positioned with its current 4,349 stores (up 45 compared to the previous year including their beverage stores) and is the discounter with the largest store network in Germany. The online sales rose by more than 30% to 191 million euros. Its market share was also slightly increased to a total of 8.1%. The number of customers rose by 2% to 26 million, which is certainly also due to the new openings. NETTO is working on cost efficiency NETTO has certainly the large number of SKUs in its assortment of all discounters, with around 5,000 products per store. Neverheless in terms of space productivity, NETTO is still lagging behind its competitors Lidl and Aldi. Here, NETTO is in the process of improving this economic key figure with new and larger locations. Work is also further done on the warehouse infrastructure in order to create optimizations. In the stores themselves, the rollout for the electronic price tags (ESL) was successfully completed last month, which in turn also brings cost savings. These are now centrally controlled and the prices can be adjusted by radio. The modernization of the stores is also progressing well. Nevertheless, the focus in recent years has been on modernization. The current concept for the design of interior and exterior surfaces is called "Netto 21". The goal is a noticeable visual enhancement of the market with relatively little effort. Both the layout of the NETTO stores and the promotional areas are now more attractive for customers. In addition, NETTO would like to invest more in smaller retail spaces in city centres in the future. A new target group of the discounter are also people who want to (have to) shop on foot or by bike. 5,000 stores set as medium-term target Netto plans to expand further in the future in Germany only. In a few years, according to the managing director of the food discounter Ingo Elbs, there should already be 5,000 stores. For the Edeka Group, Netto is not only an important building block in the group because of its share of sales, but also a strong argument for better purchasing conditions in supplier discussions. Because at NETTO, new listing items or even order stops can be implemented faster than in the Edeka supermarkets. Another goal is also the development and implementation more sustainable products and processes. This also includes the more sustainable orientation of its own private label brands. Here, together with the WWF (World Wide Fund For Nature), they have entered into a partnership to bring customers closer to ecologically conscious shopping. In addition, Netto wants to significantly expand its expertise in the organic range. Almost 400 own-brand private label products already meet the recognised ecological standards of the WWF and therefore also carry the WWF panda on their packaging. Together with the WWF, NETTO now wants to continue to work closely together for the next few years. Read more: Edeka subsidiary Netto Marken-Discount with good results. - Supermarket Inside (supermarkt-inside.de) #smartdiscount #netto #germany #edeka #results #ebit #revenue #store #businessdevelopment #drc #discount #retail #consulting #discountretail #discountretailconsulting #retailconsulting #google

Discount Retail Chain Aldi has rolled out 100% recycled plastic (rPet) packaging for some of its own private label brand washing-up liquid bottles. The discounter giant‘s switch applies to its standard Magnum washing-up liquid, Antibacterial and one litre Magnum Classic variants, but excludes caps and labels. The new move is expected to save over 500 tonnes of virgin plastic annually, while the discount grocer’s decision to also reduce the weight of the bottles is aimed at saving a further 106 tonnes of plastic per year. The latest change builds on Aldi’s target to incorporate at least 50% recycled content into its plastic packaging by 2025, and follows a switch to 100% rPET on all own-brand soft drinks and bottled waters in England and Wales last month. Aldi UK plastics and packaging director Luke Emery said: “At Aldi, we know that our customers are becoming increasingly concerned about the environment, and cutting back on plastic usage is just as important to them as it is to us. “While the challenge of plastic packaging is significant across the industry, we are committed to minimising our impact wherever we can. Transitioning to recycled materials in our washing up liquid range and lowering the weight of our fabric conditioners are just two examples of our ongoing efforts to do so.” Other recent changes the discounter has made in a bid to achieve its sustainability target, include plastic-free packaging on its everyday own-label toothbrushes, and artificial intelligence (AI) to track the journey of flexible plastic packaging collected from its front-of-store collection points. Read more: Aldi switches to recycled plastic washing-up bottles (grocerygazette.co.uk) #smartdscount #aldi #sustainability #recycling #bottles #rpet #uk #ai #brightlyeco #drc #discount #retail #consulting #discountretail #discountretailconsulting #retailconsulting #google

Discount Textile Retail Chain 'Brands for Less' reaches new heights with growing presence in the Middle East, covering 7 cities across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The new store marks a significant milestone in Lebanese origin BFL Group’s growth strategy, reinforcing its presence in the Saudi market on which it is present since 2023. The Group's extensive network is designed to cater to the diverse needs of its customers, offering a wide range of high-quality products at competitive prices. In addition to the Al Medina store, Brands For Less is set to unveil the upcoming opening of its second store in Makkah. This new location will further enhance the group's ability to serve the local community and visitors, ffering convenient access to its extensive product range. "We are thrilled to expand our footprint in Saudi Arabia with the opening of our 34th store in Al Medina, and our upcoming store in Makkah," said Toufic Kreidieh, Executive Chairman of the Board and Group CEO of BFL Group. "Our goal is to bring high-quality products at competitive prices, as well as exceptional customer service to our customers across the Kingdom. This expansion is a testament to our commitment to growth and excellence in the retail sector." The new stores are part of BFL Group's broader strategy to strengthen its market presence and deliver an unparalleled shopping experience. With a focus on convenience, quality, and value, BFL Group continues to set the standard for retail excellence active in 7 countries with 100+ stores across the GCC and Europe. Read more: Brands For Less announces the opening of its 34th branch in Saudi Arabia, Al Medina (zawya.com) #smartdiscount #brandsforless #ksa #lebanon #growth #expansion #bflgroup

Discount Retail Chain LIDL had already invested 500 million euros when the "Elwis" project was stopped in 2018. In cooperation with SAP, the in-house ERP system "Wawi" was to be replaced. However, according to the company, the originally defined strategic goals have not been achieved with "Elwis". Instead, they wanted to develop "Wawi" further. Since the SAP system was not suitable for more individualization, Lidl canceled the further implementation and switched. Now LIDL, owned by the Schwarz Group, is setting up a new ERP system so that LIDL is moving into the new cloud. To ensure that this succeeds, developers of Schwarz IT are currently working together with the software specialist "Freiheit". Here, the company wants to design and further develop the new system on the basis of its own cloud Stackit. Founded in 1999 in the midst of the first Internet boom, "Freiheit.com Technologies" develops tailor-made software platforms and supports its customers in the software-based development of future business models. For LIDL, Microsoft Azure is now only used at the beginning, as Stackit is not yet ready to fully cover all necessary processes. Microsoft Azure is a cloud computing platform from Microsoft with services such as SQL Azure or AppFabric, which is primarily aimed at software developers. Currently, the Schwarz Group pays about a mid-double-digit million amount annually to the external cloud service providers. Initially, the company will therefore probably only store individual elements of the ERP system on Stackit and continue to use third-party providers. Schwarz's future plans go even further The new system should be ready in about two years. LIDL's IT departments are always working on new solutions to be even better equipped for the future. The best example of this is the current test phase with "Wire" to explore the limits of Stackit. "Wire on Stackit is an internal messenger service that deals with the topic of data protection and data sovereignty. Due to the current state of Cloud Stackit, there is still no exact date for the end of the project. Stackit has already been offered as cloud and colocation services to customers outside the Schwarz Group for about two years. The individual, modular solution is intended to better link the stores with the online business. With 575,000 employees and 13,700 locations, the Schwarz Group is one of the largest retail groups in the world. Schwarz IT, with 4,000 employees, is responsible for the digital infrastructure and applications. The Schwarz Group, headquartered in Neckarsulm, Germany, wants to be as independent as possible from non-European providers when it comes to IT and digitalization. Therefore, in the fall of last year, it bundled all its IT and digital activities in a separate division called "Schwarz Digits". Read more: Lidl is now getting a "cloud-based ERP system" - Supermarkt Inside (supermarkt-inside.de) #smartdiscount #erp #lidl #implementation #development #schwarzgroup #stackit #freiheit #cloud #flexibility #drc #discount #retail #consulting #discountretail #discountretailconsulting #retailconsulting #google

Discount Variety Retail Chain Dollar General Media Network, the retail media arm of discount retailer Dollar General, will partner with commerce company Criteo to support Dollar General’s onsite sponsored ad offerings, with plans to extend access to newer ad formats later this year. The new update will provide brand partners access to premium inventory and campaign execution through flexible integrations with Criteo’s self-service demand-side platform (DSP), Commerce Max. Through Commerce Max, Dollar General can onboard first-party data, in-store sales data, and shopper signals to access hard-to-reach rural shoppers across its owned and operated properties. Brands will also directly access DGMN’s inventory within their private market via Commerce Yield, Criteo’s retailer monetization platform. While the majority of Dollar General purchases are in-store, the company said it receives a significant amount of web traffic from customers who build their lists online before making their weekly purchases. Commerce Max will allow advertisers to reach this engaged audience during the crucial consideration phase of the shopping journey. Criteo will also provide an in-store sales integration within Commerce Max, which equips brands and agencies with omnichannel insights into whether sales take place in-store or online. Read more: Dollar General partners with Criteo on retail media (supermarketnews.com) #smartdiscount #dg #dollargeneral #usa #retailmedia #criteo #commercemax #advertisement #drc #discount #retail #consulting #discountretail #discountretailconsulting #retailconsulting #google

Discount Retail Chain Aldi has lowered the price of more than 200 own-brand essentials (food and non-food). Already in force, this price reduction focuses on the most important items for the Portuguese consumer, that is, those that are most in demand for their day-to-day purchases, covering the categories of meat and fish, frozen, groceries, dairy products, pastries, snacks, fresh and ready meals, household items, personal hygiene products, among others. Daniel da Silva, Managing Director Procurement at Aldi Portugal, points out that "based on our discount concept and the simplicity that characterizes us, we follow a strategy of optimization and reduction of operating costs, so that this is reflected in the low prices of our assortment all year round. As this is our DNA, this new action appears as a reinforcement of savings, responding to the most immediate needs of the Portuguese". Since the beginning of the year, Aldi has been increasing the savings options for its customers. In January, it launched the 'STOP VAT' campaign to strengthen support for Portuguese families in the face of the end of the zero VAT measure, announced by the Government, where it discounted the value equal to VAT on more than 300 private label items. Following this, it also launched the Always Filling campaign, lowering prices again and ensuring the possibility for consumers to make a complete purchase and take home, for 86.75 euros, an economic basket consisting of more than 50 products. Read more: Aldi lowers the prices of 200 products - Mass Consumption (grandeconsumo.com) #smartdiscount #aldi #prices #reduction #portugal #savings #privatelabel #ownbrands #drc #discount #retail #consulting #discountretail #discountretailconsulting #retailconsulting #google

Discount Retail Chain Aldi is changing its range, cheap meat is being replaced. Cheap turkey meat from low housing methods will no longer be available at Aldi Süd in the future. As can be seen from a press release, the discounter instead relies "exclusively on the higher husbandry form 3 and 100 percent on German origin for fresh turkey meat". The conversion of the entire fresh meat range as well as the chilled meat and sausage products to husbandry forms 3 and 4 was originally to be completed by 2030. However, Aldi has accelerated the process and has achieved "an important milestone in its animal welfare promise of a change of husbandry a good six years earlier than originally planned" with the change in fresh turkey meat. Forms of meat housing - What are they? As the consumer advice centre informs on its website, "only housing forms 3 and 4 stand for significantly improved animal housing". However, the offers in Germany would mainly come from housing forms 1 and 2, it was said in June 2023. "The consumer advice centre calls on retailers and the meat industry to significantly expand the range of meat products in husbandry classes 3 and 4." Product change for the sake of the animals, but there are exceptions at Aldi Süd Aldi Süd is now apparently complying with the demand of the consumer advice center, at least in partial steps. However, the discounter's announcement indicates that the changes do not apply to "(international) specialties and frozen items as well as promotional items". Since February 1, another change has also been in force in Germany. There is a labelling obligation for the country of origin of meat. Read more: Große Änderung: Aldi nimmt vollständige Produkt-Kategorie aus den Regalen (merkur.de) #smartdiscount #animalwelfare #sustainability #meat #improvement #housing #class #drc #discount #retail #consulting #discountretail #discountretailconsulting #retailconsulting #google

Discount Retail Stores, better known as hard discounters, grew 24% in points of sale in the country last year, according to data from the consulting firm NIQ Mexico. Although sales registered in this channel barely exceed 2%; Analysts point out that it is a channel with ample growth potential, especially because its strategy focuses on offering low prices, private labels and obtaining profits from sales in volume. Discounter format brands such as Tiendas 3B and Tiendas Neto compete in this sector. These are 400-square-meter shops where they mainly sell basic necessities with 20% lower prices, compared to a self-service store. To measure the growth of this channel, it is enough to review its expansion in other countries, for example, in Colombia they represent 17% of total sales in the retail channel; while in Norway, Denmark, Belgium and Germany, it is 40%. In Mexico, low- and middle-income people buy their essential products in these stores such as dairy products, toilet paper and cleaning products. Read more: Hard discount stores grew 24% in points of sale in Mexico - Goula #smartdiscount #mexico #expansion #marketshare #growth #expansion #drc #discount #retail #consulting #discountretail #discountretailconsulting #retailconsulting #google

Discount Retail Chain Şok Marketler received an award in the category of 'Companies with the Most Increased Employment' in the Capital500 Research conducted by the monthly economy magazine Capital According to the "Capital 500" survey conducted by Capital Magazine, which lists Turkey's largest 500 private companies, Şok Marketler won the third prize in the category of "Companies with the Highest Increase in Employment". The award ceremony, which was held on May 15 and attended by Şok Marketler senior executives, brought together the leaders of the business world. Şok Marketler continued its investments in 2023 and managed to increase its total employment from 45,000 to 47,000. In addition to the recruitment for the 674 new stores it opened last year, warehouse investments played an important role in Şok Marketler's employment success. Equal opportunity in employment In 2023, Şok Marketler also came to the fore with its projects aimed at equal opportunities in employment. Şok Marketler, which was launched in 2019 to increase women's participation in the economy and contribute to equal opportunities for a stronger future, expanded its "I Am Also in Shock" project last year and offered handcrafted products produced by women from women's cooperatives in different regions of Turkey, especially in the earthquake zone, in selected Şok stores. The company, which made a great contribution to the production of the women's cooperatives it cooperated with through this project, also increased the employment of women in the cooperatives. "We will strengthen our role in the growth of our country by continuing our contribution to employment" Expressing his pleasure to receive this award, which is one of the prestigious awards of the business world, Şok Marketler CEO Uğur Demirel continued: "As one of Turkey's largest food retailers, we continue our investments within the scope of our sustainable growth targets. In 2023, we continued to create employment for our country with our recruitment policy, which we gave priority to candidates from the earthquake zone. As one of the companies that provide the most employment in Turkey, we build our understanding of employment on the basis of equal opportunity. With our successful practices and efforts towards equal opportunities, we are proud that more than half of our employees are women today. At the same time, we contribute to increasing women's participation in the economy and employment with our 'I Am Also in Shock' project. With the Capital500 research, we have once again registered our significant contribution to employment. I would like to thank all my friends who contributed to this success, who work every day to do their job better and who contribute to our growth. As Şok Marketler, we will continue to contribute to employment by continuing our investments." Read more: Şok Marketler'e 'İstihdamını En Çok Artıran Şirketler' ödülü (ortakalan.org) #smartdiscount #sok #turkey #employment #capital500 #improvement #research #hr #drc #discount #retail #discountretail #discountretailconsulting #retailconsulting #google