Europe

Extended ranges and new store formats

Lidl expands its range in Finland. Following feedback from shoppers for a more comprehensive standard selection, the discounter announced it has increased its range by 20% with up to 500 new products. Its full range now exceeds 3000 products. Lidl has focused on increasing fresh products, particularly in fruit and vegetables and bakery, as well as local products sourced from Finland. Most products added are private label, which covers 75% of the total range.

Rachel Sibson, Senior Insight Analyst’s view: Lidl continues to invest in its assortment, tailoring to meet changing shopper needs to compete with the markets leading retailers S Group and Kesko. It is improving its assortment in categories where its offer is particularly strong, including bakery and domestic products which it has become well-known for.

Colruyt tests extended bakery range. The Belgian retailer is trialling an expanded bakery concept where shoppers can watch the Colruyt bakery team at work. 30 new products, including bread, baguettes, small rolls, pastries and savoury snacks, have been added to the range.

Dan Butler, Senior Insight Analyst’s view: the bakery category has become key for European retailers, increasing value and freshness perception of ranges and generating impulse purchases. Suppliers must look for innovation in the category to help keep retailers’ assortments exciting and enable them to differentiate from the competition. For further category insights, including bakery, see our latest Category evolution in Germany report.

Selgros launches new store format in Poland. The wholesale banner, owned by Transgourmet Polska, has introduced its new 2.0 concept in Poznan. The modernised store design, which combines solutions for B2B and B2C customers, features improved navigation, larger fresh category with dual temperature fruit and vegetable section, and in-house bakery.

Dan Butler, Senior Insight Analyst’s view: B2B sales are declining due to a reduction in traditional retailers in the Polish market, so wholesalers are having to appeal to a larger customer base. This will present opportunities for suppliers, as wholesalers will need a broader range of products to meet the quality standards of B2B clients and cater to the individual needs of B2C shoppers.

DIA launches its first two stores with BP in Madrid. The two new forecourt stores are branded Dia&Go and opened at BP service stations in early October, with eight more to follow in Madrid and Andalusia. These stores will have extended opening hours and a strong focus on convenience missions. Additionally, a joint loyalty programme has been launched, which shoppers can earn credit for fuelling at BP and shopping at DIA.

Sabrina Wong, Insight Analyst’s view: DIA is showing an increased focus on building its convenience operations, as it has been expanding its Dia&Go banner in Spain while consolidating its supermarket network; with BP’s extensive fuel station network in the market, this partnership will be a stepping stone for DIA to strengthen its competitiveness in the convenience channel.

Asia-Pacific

Uniting retail network and senior shopper accessibility

Metcash unites its retail network under one campaign for the first time. Metcash is the wholesaler behind independent retailer operating banners like IGA Local Grocer, Mitre 10, Home Hardware, Cellarbrations, The Bottle-O, Porters Liquor and Foodland. It has launched a new marketing campaign called “Family Founded” celebrating local families that built independent stores with Metcash. Over 3,200 stores are participating in the promotion, making it one of the largest store collaborations Australia has ever seen. By spending AUD25 (US$16) or more in participating stores in a single transaction, shoppers will have the chance to win a daily instant-win gift card and an entry into a major prize draw.

Tan Soo Eng, Senior Insight Analyst’s view: this is a great way to create efficiencies around media spend, as pooling together spend across different banners drives bigger and more impactful campaigns. We expect to see more retailers driving efficiencies through consolidation strategies in Australia. Coles is consolidating its retail brands under the Liquorland banner and has seen its brand awareness improve by 16%. Apart from providing more consistent and competitive pricing, the retailer will also be able to move towards a unified promotional strategy.

HKTVmall enhances lite app with Wet Market Express access for seniors. The retailer has recently added direct access to its unique Wet Market Express service within the HKTVmall Lite app. This allows senior users to easily purchase fresh produce from 10 selected traditional wet markets and the fruit wholesale market in Yau Ma Tei. New users can also enjoy a HKD$100 (US$13) discount, encouraging more seniors to try online grocery shopping.

Stephanie Leung, Insight Analyst’s view: HKTVmall’s approach is a socially responsible move that promotes digital inclusion among Hong Kong’s ageing population. By making online shopping simpler and more accessible, it helps senior shoppers gain confidence and learn how to shop online independently. Other ageing societies, such as Japan, South Korea, and parts of Europe, should adopt models that support seniors in developing digital shopping skills.

North America

Loblaw digital screen networks, Amazon developments and ChatGPT app integration

Loblaw is scaling up its in-store digital screen network. This scale-up is driven through an expanded partnership with Stratacache. The initiative will extend the network beyond the current 2,000 screens across more than 700 stores. Positioned in high-traffic areas, the screens form part of Loblaw’s broader omnichannel ecosystem. According to Loblaw Advance, its retail media division, integrating in-store screens into omnichannel campaigns drives a 3.6x increase in customer growth, supported by a daily in-store reach of 4.1m shoppers.

Stewart Samuel, Director of Retail Futures’ view: this expansion builds on the strong foundations established by Loblaw Advance, moving digital retail media further into the store environment. While Canada has been slower than Europe in scaling in-store digital media, momentum is starting to build. Several of Loblaw’s competitors have installed screens, but content typically reinforces the retailer brand and private label ranges. For suppliers, this evolution opens new opportunities to engage shoppers at the point of purchase and drive conversion, but capturing those gains will require targeted brand investment and strong evidence of ROI to justify participation.

Amazon Fresh to close four stores in Southern California. These four stores are in La Habra, La Verne, Mission Viejo and Whittier. Other recent Amazon Fresh closures in the US include stores across Washington, Virginia, California and New York. Despite these closures, there has also been a couple of new stores opened this year in Philadelphia and Maryland.

Michaela Jay, Insight Manager’s view: after multiple new openings in 2024, this is yet another reminder of the ongoing battle in Amazon’s grocery strategy. It’s recent ‘launch’ of a new private label brand Amazon Grocery is effectively just a streamlining of its Happy Belly and Amazon Fresh ranges and in September it announced the closure of all UK Fresh stores. There have been many new positive developments across its online operations, and it continues to heavily invest here to build credibility as a competitive grocery retailer.

Target, Instacart, DoorDash and Uber set to offer food deliveries through ChatGPT. These are among 11 new partners that will integrate their apps within the ChatGPT platform by the end of the year. AI chatbots represent a new and rapidly evolving way for retailers to reach tech savvy consumers. 

Oliver Butterworth, Senior Insight Analyst’s view: Gen-AI has the power to redefine how people shop in the future. While at the early stages of adoption, things are evolving at speed and we’re likely to see more retailers join the chatbot. By integrating within ChatGPT, retailers aim to unlock greater convenience for customers, simplifying ordering and purchasing. In the not-too-distant future, we could see shoppers placing grocery orders through conversation. Read more on how agentic AI could reshape the online shopping journey and how and where AI is impacting the industry.

Amazon’s first eco-experimental warehouse. is their first eco-experimental warehouse. It’s new eco-fulfilment centre in Northern Indiana is trialling over 40 different initiatives for sustainable buildings. Learnings from this site will determine how it proceeds with its global strategy of new fulfilment sites. The timber construction of the building requires less carbon to produce and comes from renewable sources unlike steel and concrete constructions. Other green construction methods include the use of low-carbon concrete for floorings and the use of heat pumps for the building. These technologies are not common in warehousing and Amazon will be trialling their efficacy versus traditional higher-carbon alternatives. Reusing natural resources is also considered in this ecological design with an underground water reclamation system reducing the site’s impact on local supplies.

James Rothwell, Head of Supply Chain Insights’ view: the fulfilment centre still holds all the automation and high-density preparation and sorting technology of the rest of Amazon’s fulfilment estate. However, it holds a secondary purpose, which is to become a laboratory for sustainable learning. This is a great knowledge building incubator with the capability to fuel their distribution growth sustainably in the years ahead. IGD’s Supply Chain Trends report is launching in November 2025 and will share this and more upcoming innovations across the end-to-end supply chain.