Amazon disrupting small and big grocers - Amazon interrumpiendo pequeñas y grandes tiendas de alimentos frescos

16 million Americans buy their groceries at either Costco or Sam's Club. Now Amazon is using Prime to disrupt groceries as well, businessinsider.in reports. The cost and complexity of delivering groceries is what ultimately led to the downfall of Webvan and other startups that have tried to disrupt the $600B-a-year grocery industry.

Membership grocery services help secure consumers as repeat customers and allow companies to lower individual shipping fees on every order. Shipping fees are typically a big barrier for grocery delivery because orders must be delivered fast to guarantee freshness. The grocery delivery model is attractive because it guarantees that customers are getting fresh food straight from their local supermarket.

UK: buying vegetables cheaper at UK's supermarkets The cost of a weekly grocery shop fell by 1% in the last month and 7% in the last year, an analysis has found, mirror.co.uk reports. The cost of a basket of 35 items now costs £87.70, down from £88.59 in March, the mySupermarket Groceries Tracker shows. The average weekly shop from the main UK supermarkets has fallen 7% since March last year, when the same basket cost £93.95. Products that dropped in price the most were carrots, down 7.49% since March last year.

US: "Walmart should be a pleasant place"
Wal-Mart U.S. President Greg Foran added a new strategic push to the retailer’s revitalization efforts: Its stores, Foran said, simply have to be more pleasant places to shop, The Washington Post reports. “We want this year to be the year of improving our stores, so by the time we hit holiday season, our stores are clean, tidy, well-merchandised and run by engaged associates,” Foran said. “Today, for the most part, they’re not.”

German REWE poised for acquisitions after strong 2014
The strong finances of Germany's second-biggest supermarket group REWE mean it is well positioned to pounce on potential acquisitions, its CEO said on Tuesday after profit grew faster than it expected in 2014. It reported a 3% rise in sales to €42.5B and a 29% jump in earnings before interest, taxation and amortisation (EBITA) to €468M, Reuters reports. He said that REWE was continuing to grow faster than the stagnant German supermarket sector in 2015, with sales at its stores up 4.6% in January and February.

Emart to open first store in Vietnam
The Korean retailer has announced that its first mall and hypermarket in Vietnam will open in Ho Chi Minh City by October this year, retailanalysis.igd.com reports. Emart’s general director in Vietnam, Choi Kwang Ho, said that the retailer is investing up to US$ 60M in the new development at Go Vap, whilst it is also planning another four shopping malls over the next three years.

Study: multi-channel grocery shopping on the rise worldwide
Multi-channel grocery shopping is surging across the globe, according to a major new study by customer-science company Dunnhumby, nationmultimedia.com reports. The survey analysed the shopping habits of 7 million people in 14 countries in Europe, Asia and the Americas. The report revealed that huge growth was taking place across the full spectrum of multi-channel market development, with nascent markets such as Thailand growing by more than four times year on year. Even the most established online grocery categories were still enjoying significant growth globally.

AU groceries boost online sales
Online sales are estimated to have grown by 8.7% year on year after strong growth in February, especially in homewares and groceries, according to the NAB online retail sales index, canberratimes.com.au reports. The bank estimates Australians spent $16.7B on online retail in the 12 months up to February 2015.

AU: Woolworths' on your wrist
Woolworths is set to be one of the first apps available for Apple Watch when it launches in Australia later this month, smh.com.au reports. The supermarket giant's "Woolies Shop" Apple Watch app is designed to help customers with their supermarket shopping and provides quick access to information to find the nearest Woolies store and to shop quickly and easily.

Amazon India to be fast at grocery delivery
Amazon's new 'Kirana Now' programme, which promises to deliver orders from small neighbourhood stores in two to four hours, was launched as India's budding online grocery retailers increase focus on timely delivery instead of building warehouses, indiatimes.com reports. The service offers convenience to customers and increases business for local stores.

Tesco's on April Fools' day
In the UK, Tesco announced that it would be introducing "bouncy aisles" so that customers could jump to hard-to-reach upper shelves and have fun while grocery shopping, supermarketnews.com reporst.

Tesco UK changing the ways it charges suppliers
Tesco is changing the way it charges its suppliers by cutting the number of ways it can seek payment from 24 to three, Dave Lewis the CEO of the company has said, agriland.ie reports. In an interview with the Grocer recently, Lewis said that Tesco plans to make the cut from 24 to three by 2017.

Ireland: Dunnes staff strike
Thousands of staff at Dunnes Stores are staging a one-day strike in a dispute over low-hour contracts, job and income security and the right to trade union representation, bizjournals.com reports. More than 6,000 of the union's members at Dunnes Stores are taking part in the strike. While Dunnes management has not issued any formal comment, in a recent letter to staff they warned that the strike could harm the company and lead to redundancies.

US: Kroger buys former Nash Finch facility
The Kroger Co. has bought the former Nash Finch Co. distribution facility and land in Blue Ash, cincinnati.com reports. Cincinnati-based Kroger closed on a deal Friday to buy the property spanning more than 25 acres for $9.3M, according to the Hamilton County auditor's office.

PNC funds Haggen's supermarket conversion
PNC Financial Services Group Inc. on Wednesday said it led a $210M financing round for a Pacific Northwest grocery retailer to fund conversions of 146 acquired stores, bizjournals.com reports.

German competition watchdog blocks Edeka's bid for Kaiser's
Germany's competition watchdog has decided to prohibit a plan by the country's biggest supermarket group Edeka to buy grocery chain Kaiser's, despite concessions it made, it said on Wednesday, Reuters reports. Andreas Mundt, who heads the competition watchdog, said the takeover would further limit competition in big cities like Berlin and Munich, giving Edeka a market share of more than 10% in some places, potentially leading to price rises.

7-Eleven and FamilyMart developing e-payment
In Taiwan, leading convenience players 7-Eleven and FamilyMart are developing new mobile solutions including e-payment and iBeacon technology in order to create a seamless shopping experience, retailanalysis.igd.com reports.
Top developments in UK grocery
What are the key developments in UK food and grocery retailing that businesses need to know about? Steve Jones, head of retail insight at IGD Retail Analysis, explores four highlights that should be on your radar during April and beyond:



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Source: Jan Willem de Jongste, www.hortidaily.com

Nueva plataforma de e-commerce sacude el negocio de la fruta importada - New e-commerce platform shakes the business of imported fruit

Y es que la fruta importada se ha vuelto cada vez más popular entre los consumidores chinos, quienes en los últimos años han buscado productos más seguros y con mayor calidad en el extranjero. Pero debido a los aranceles a menudo prohibitivos, los productos importados han sido hasta ahora limitados a un relativamente pequeño nicho del inmenso mercado asiático.

Foto de: http://image.slidesharecdn.com

  

Una nueva plataforma de e-commerce [comercio electrónico] en China es capaz de ofrecer a los clientes precios mucho más bajos de lo normal en productos importados, ya que ha sido autorizada por el gobierno para operar dentro de la Zona de Libre Comercio de Shanghai (SFTZ), informó portalfruticola.com.

Pese a lo anterior, una plataforma de comercio electrónico transfronterizo llamado “Kuajingtong” -el único de su tipo autorizado por la Administración General de Aduanas de China para operar dentro del SFTZ- ha tratado de abordar este problema. Kuajingtong es una empresa conjunta entre Shanghai Kuajingtong International Commerce y Shanghai Esen International Commerce. Esta última es una filial de Shanghai Esen Agro Products & Technology Development con sede en SFTZ, que adquirió Shanghai Longwu el principal mercado mayorista importador en 2013.

La plataforma fue lanzada oficialmente el 09 de febrero con un envío de prueba de cerezas de Tasmania, que fueron importadas por el sitio de comercio electrónico Fruitday.com y enviadas para ser repartidas el día en que llegaron. El director de comercio internacional de Esen, Zhongyong Yu, dijo en entrevista con Portalfruticola.com que Kuajingtong había sido capaz de ofrecer precios mucho más bajos que la feroz competencia del comercio electrónico en China debido a su modelo de negocio único, basado en las políticas de “impuestos de artículos postales personales” introducidas por el gobierno chino.

“Kuajingtong es la única plataforma de comercio electrónico transfronterizo designada por la Administración General de Aduanas de Shanghai para operar dentro del SFTZ”, dijo Yu. “Así que cualquiera que haga compras a través de nuestra página web es capaz de disfrutar de las políticas preferenciales de impuestos en forma de impuestos de artículos postales personales”, comentó.

Artículos Postales Personales refiere a equipaje interno/externo de los pasajeros, regalos intercambiados y otros artículos personales, limitados a cantidades razonables para uso personal, de acuerdo con las aduanas chinas, y ya incluye el índice de valor agregado (IVA) y el impuesto al consumo (CT).

Según las autoridades chinas, el impuesto se divide en cuatro categorías diferentes que van desde 10% a 50%. Durante el período de prueba para los servicios de productos frescos de Kuajingtong, los productos importados disfrutan la baja tasa de 10% de los impuestos de artículos postales personales, y el 10% incluso puede evitarse si el valor de la orden de cualquier individuo determinado es menor a CNY500 (US$80).

“Tomemos las cerezas de Tasmania, por ejemplo. Si ellas fueron importadas a través de los canales regulares, estaría primero el arancel de importación del 10%, luego se agrega a la misma el 13% de impuesto de valor añadido, dando como promedioun impuesto que ronda el 24,3%”, dijo Yu. “Pero, si los consumidores compran estas cerezas utilizando Kuajingtong, digamos que es menos que el valor de CNY500, entonces ahorran el 24,3% de impuestos”. Incluso mayores ahorros se pueden hacer con frutas como el aguacate mexicano, que tiene una tasa de impuesto de hasta un 40%.

“La tarifa normal de importación de aguacate mexicano es de un 25%, luego está el 13% de impuesto al valor agregado. En total está cerca del 40% de impuestos, mientras que los productos de este tipo en Kuajingtong podrían ahorrarle todos estos impuestos mencionados anteriormente”, dijo Yu. “Así que en general el precio que ofrecemos es mucho más barato. Si no fuera así entonces no tendría sentido para nosotros construir esta nueva plataforma. Pero aún así, el margen de precio está dentro de un rango aceptable, es decir, nuestro servicio no impactará fundamentalmente los productos regularmente importados”, dijo.

Fuente: http://infocampo.com.ar

FRESH FRUITS and VEGETABLES among the most profitable segments of online shopping - FRUTAS FRESCAS y HORTALIZAS entre los segmentos más rentables de las compras en línea

The new report by Rabobank's Food & Agribusiness Research and Advisory group (FAR) titled "Online Produce-Potential Winners Act Early" goes on to examine what opportunities the fresh produce supply chain has to impact the e-grocery channel.

Photo source: http://www.vallartavisitors.com

Fresh fruits and vegetables are quickly joining the ranks of the most profitable and rapidly growing segments of online shopping. While still a relatively new entry in the United States, the report indicates that the segment is growing and could reach as much as $25 billion dollars by the year 2023.

Roland Fumasi, Senior Analyst with FAR says that these opportunities are really surrounding the changes caused by e-grocery. "Members of the fresh produce supply chain are going to have an opportunity to become early solutions providers for many e-grocers," said Fumasi. "Those that help e-grocers achieve their goals will reap the benefits of this quickly growing channel." The report goes on to outline the four key areas of change caused by e-grocery; Greater Retail Control Online, New Core Competencies at Retail, Virtually Unlimited Space, Lower Consumer Search Costs.

One of the main reasons fresh produce is expected to gain significant attention is due to the fact that in brick and mortar stores, produce is typically one of the highest gross margin items and a large contributor to net profit. "It is early yet in e-grocery adoption in the US," says Fumasi. "That said, current retail players are increasing investing in e-commerce models and are driving the grocery sector toward a supply side tipping point. Progressive produce suppliers can take advantage of this and gain market share not only online, but in traditional channels as well."

Source: www.rabobankamerica.com (Found in www.freshplaza.com)