Tag: Walmart

Massmart disposes non-core food units to Shoprite’s Checkers for US$89m

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SOUTH AFRICA – Shoprite’s grocery unit Checkers has come to the rescue of South African retailer Massmart, by entering into a deal to acquire the rival’s non-core food assets for R1.36 billion (US$89m). The sale businesses consist of wholesale and retail chains that are all focused on high-volume and low-cost distribution and are each reliant on high volumes and operational excellence as the foundation of price leadership, in the distribution of mainly branded consumer goods for cash. Walmart-owned Massmart is currently in the middle of a turnaround that has now…

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Walmart-owned Flipkart to invest in grocery, last mile delivery after raising US$3.6B in latest funding round

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INDIA — Flipkart, a rapidly expanding e-commerce giant backed by Walmart, has raised US$3.6 billion in the latest funding round led by Canada Pension Plan Investment.   GIC, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, and Walmart also participated as lead investors in the funding round, doubling the Indian online retailer’s valuation to US$37.6 billion in less than three years.  Flipkart says that the new funding round will be used to expand operations and invest further in the company’s grocery, fashion, and last-mile delivery programs.  Like Amazon, Flipkart began by selling books but diversified rapidly into selling smartphones, clothing, and…

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Walmart debuts private label beef in US as avocado consumption hits record highs

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US – American multinational retail corporation Walmart has debuted a private label beef line called McClaren Farms in stores across the Southeast as it looks to offer customers with responsibly raised, “steakhouse quality” meats. The new beef line is produced in partnership with Bob McClaren of Prime Pursuits, and is currently available in almost 500 stores across Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and South Carolina. The line’s products include USDA Choice Angus filet mignon, T-Bone, porterhouse, ribeye, short ribs and chuck roast. McClaren Farms is an outgrowth of the end-to-end beef…

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Massmart shifts to bigger, upgraded Distribution Center enhancing service delivery

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SOUTH AFRICA – South African retailer Massmart, has built a new state-of-the-art Distribution Centre (DC) in Brackenfell, Cape Town, featuring an eye-catching curved and seamless roof, measuring over 60 000m2. Under the roof, the DC is customized to suit Massmart’s needs with innovative modular mezzanine racking, allowing for easy expansion of picking areas to accommodate varying stock demand. With a capacity of 53 000m2, this is the second largest DC in the Massmart group, and a significant upgrade from the previous Airport DC that had a capacity of 19,500 m2.…

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7 food companies featured in Times 100 most influential companies

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US – 7 food companies have been featured in TIME100 Most Influential Companies, a new list—and an expansion of Time Magazine’s iconic TIME100 franchise—that highlights businesses making an extraordinary impact around the world. In developing the list, TIME says it solicited nominations across sectors including health care, entertainment, transportation, technology and more from its global network of editors and correspondents, as well as from industry experts. The magazine then evaluated each one on key factors, including relevance, impact, innovation, leadership, ambition and success. Oatly, Beyon Meat, Tilray- food pioneers Oatly,…

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Walmart’s Massmart to review operations outside Southern African region, offloads non-core businesses

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SOUTH AFRICA – Massmart, Walmart owned South African retailer with presence in 13 countries in Africa has indicated that it will be reviewing its operations outside the Southern African region in the second quarter of 2021, as part of its turnaround plan. This is in addition to its plan of offloading its food retail outlets Cambridge Food, Rhino and Masscash comprising The Fruitspot and a meat processing facility to focus on high returning businesses. To this end the retailer has appointed Barclays to facilitate the disposal of the non-core businesses,…

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India targets Amazon, Walmart with new Ecommerce laws as Tata seeks CCI approval to acquire BigBasket

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INDIA – India is targeting Amazon and Walmart with new laws that seek to clip their influence on India’s US$1 trillion retail market in an effort to protect and promote the growth of local startups. According to a report by Bloomberg, the new policy seeks to prescribe a code of conduct for online retailers and define the cross-border flow of user data and may raise costs and stymie expansion plans of these multinational retail behemoths. The new laws are seen as a reaction to complaints from India’s small retailers- which…

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Retail giant Walmart to invest US$350bn in US manufacturing to revive economy, create jobs

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US – American multinational retail corporation Walmart has announced plans to invest upwards of US$350 billion in US manufacturing over the next 10 years. Through the initiative, Walmart hopes to create more than 750, 000 new jobs for Americans while at the same time contributing to the nation’s economic growth. This is not the first time the retail chain, which is one of the largest in the world, is making such grand commitments. In 2013, it made a commitment to invest US$250 billion in products made, grown, or assembled in…

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Walmart Canada partners delivery-only restaurant Ghost Kitchen Brands as US unit expands express delivery service

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CANADA –  Delivery-only restaurant Ghost Kitchen Brands has partnered with Walmart Canada to bring one-stop meal pickup and delivery service to more Canadians. As a result of the partnership, Ghost Kitchen at Walmart is now open in the St. Catharines Walmart with additional locations in Woodstock, Toronto, Lachenaie and Saint-Constant to open in the coming months. With the partnership customers can order freshly prepared meals in-store and online for contactless pickup or delivery (from a third-party app such as Uber Eats). They can also mix and match from more than…

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Tsuneo Okubo to take charge of Seiyu as Investment firm KKR becomes majority shareholder

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JAPAN – Seiyu’s shareholders confirmed the appointment of Mr. Tsuneo Okubo as CEO even as the Japanese retail chain confirms change of ownership structure. According to a statement from Seiyu, leading global investment firm KKR will now become the majority shareholder in Seiyu after completing the process of acquiring shares of the Japanese supermarket from American retail chain Walmart. With the completion of the transactions, KKR now owns a 65% stake in Seiyu while Japanese technology company Rakuten will control a 20% stake in the chain. The US retail giant…

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