Carrrefour is joining forces with venture capital firm Daphni

Italy: Esselunga reports 2021 results above market average
Italian supermarket chain Esselunga achieved consolidated sales of €8.56bln in 2021, up 2.2% on a like-for-like basis, compared to a -0.1% decline across the broader market. The company reported that shelf prices decreased by 1.4%, which was offset by inflation rising by 1.9% on average. EBITDA stood at €689.7mln for the year (8.1% of sales), which was down from €710.5mln (8.5%) in 2020.
Source: esmmagazine.com 

Grocery delivery platform Nana eyes 40% Saudi market share
Nana, a leading online grocery delivery platform in Saudi Arabia, aims to capture a 40% market share, equal to more than $900mln (SR3.375bln) by 2025, from its current 13% of the Saudi market, said its founder and CEO. Sami Alhelwah said that the company aims to become the daily companion of every household in the Kingdom and is spearheading market growth of the online shopping and delivery sector.
Source: tradearabia.com 

Carrefour launches fund to invest in digital retail startups
Carrrefour, Europe’s largest food retailer, is joining forces with venture capital firm Daphni to invest in digital retail startups as part of a global plan to step up e-commerce expansion over the next 4 years, it said. Their new venture capital fund Dastore will initially invest 80mln euros ($88mln) by taking minority stakes in high-potential emerging startups in France and globally to allow Carrefour “to stay close to innovations and emerging technologies,” the statement said.
Source: reuters.com 

Albert Heijn and bol.com are recognized among the most sustainable brands in the Netherlands by the 2022 Sustainable Brand Index™
Ahold Delhaize is proud to share that 2 of its great Benelux brands’ sustainability efforts have been highly recognized by the 2022 Sustainable Brand Index™ (SBI). The SBI is Europe’s largest independent survey in which consumers assess brands on sustainability. In the Netherlands, 11,000 consumers rated 202 companies from 18 different sectors. You can find the full 2022 Sustainable Brand Index™ report here.
Source: aholddelhaize.com 

Finland: Helsinki-based Upsy Company bags €1.2mln to help small businesses compete with ecommerce giants
Upsy Company, the Finnish ecommerce product helping smaller businesses compete has just picked up €1.2mln. The seed funding was led by Gorilla Capital, followed by Korpun Siemen, Sijoittaja Pro’s Investor group, a number of private investors and Business Finland.
Source: eu-startups.com 

UK: Sainsbury’s axing Arndale office jobs as supermarket giant outsources to India
Supermarket giant Sainsbury’s is axing jobs at its city centre Arndale office as it looks to cut its costs, it has been confirmed. Jobs will be instead outsourced to locations such as India. Roles across food commercial, finance operations and people services and HR are being outsourced to the firm Accenture threatening at least 300 jobs across the UK. The company could not confirm how many of these 300 jobs were at their office in Arndale House while a consultation process takes place.
Source: manchestereveningnews.co.uk 

China: JD deploys omni-channel efforts in Shanghai COVID lockdown
JD.com is mobilizing both online and offline resources to ensure stable supplies of fresh produce and life necessities amid the COVID lockdown in Shanghai. JD’s omni-channel supermarket SEVEN FRESH formed rapid collaboration with major vegetable and breeding bases and factories across the country to transport supplies, such as fruits, vegetables, rice, flours, cooking oil, milk, frozen food and other life necessities to stores in Shanghai. So far the supply to affected areas has doubled or even tripled the normal amount to meet the local demand surge.
Source: jdcorporateblog.com 

Following the “Lundi c’est veggie mais aussi le mardi, mercredi…” (we go vegetarian on Mondays, as well as Tuesdays, Wednesdays, etc.) campaign, Carrefour is trying to get us all to eat a more vegetable-based diet
As well as running the “Lundi c’est veggie mais aussi le mardi, mercredi… ” campaign that it co-developed with Danone, Carrefour will be leveraging its digital channels to step up its efforts to bring high-quality products with a lower environmental impact to within everyone’s reach. The WWF is joining forces with this campaign to promote the consumption of plant-based protein and to get us all onto a more vegetable-based diet.
Source: carrefour.com 

Canada: Metro, Unifor avert looming strike at Toronto distribution centre
Unifor says it has reached a tentative agreement with Metro Inc. covering more than 900 full-time workers at a Toronto-area distribution centre. The union says a vote on the deal will take place in the coming days and details of the collective agreement will not be released before ratification.
Source: canadiangrocer.com 

US: MobiDev explains challenges and steps to approach AI self checkout
Online retail has one key advantage – customer experience. The idea of checkout-free shopping in venues crystalized as Amazon Go, Tesco, Walmart, and many more. But how can any brick and mortar store be actually automated with computer vision systems? “At its core, computer vision aims at mimicking human sight. So analogically to an eye, CV relies on camera sensors that capture the environment,” mentions Liubov Zatolokina, AI Engineer at MobiDev.
Source: prnewswire.com 

New York warehouse workers vote to form first U.S. union at Amazon
Workers at an Amazon.com Inc warehouse in New York City voted to form the 1st union at the 2nd-largest U.S. private employer, a victory that adds to recent grassroots successes by labor activists pushing into new industries.
Source: reuters.com