Lidl Poland is equipping its stores with Electronic Shelf Labels. The labels are being tested in one store and will soon be rolled out to all 700 stores.

Lidl uses its loyalty app to provide women in Ireland with free menstrual items every month. In this way, the discounter wants to tackle the issue of "Period Poverty."

In Portugal, Lidl has launched its first exclusive certified vegan wine, Indelével Tinto, from the Alentejo region.

Lidl Germany launched a new umbrella brand: Vemondo. The new own brand will combine around 450 items in the vegetarian and vegan segment.

The French competition authorities had been investigating the alliance and the participating retailers had to limit the scope of their common private label negotiations by excluding many product categories.

Minutes after announcing the end of Horizon, Casino formed a five-year alliance with Intermarché. This alliance is to negotiate purchasing conditions on behalf of the two retailers of products of major branded supermarket products and it excludes own brands.

In food, the common structure will be managed by Intermarché, the non-food division by Casino. This distribution of power would be beneficial to both parties. The retailers will also cooperate on an international level and in the digital field.

New products include fresh meal packages such as Tom Kha Kai, Lebanese pita, red curry and mild green curry, a poké bowl, beef teryiaki, shakshuka and Mexican wraps. In addition, new fresh herbs and fresh meals are included in the range.

Albert Heijn is also working to make existing products healthier and more sustainable. In 2020, more than 146 million less sugar cubes, 65,000 kilograms less salt and 366,000 kilograms less saturated fat was used in products. The number of kilos of used packaging was reduced by 3.6%. The retailer is expanding its “Better for Cow, Nature & Farmer” own brand programme with approximately 150 dairy farmers by the end of this year.

Salling operates Føtex supermarkets, Bilka hypermarkets, the Netto discount chain and Salling department stores and is active in Denmark, Germany and Poland. Because of changed consumer behaviour, the company continues significant investments in food online. Early this year, Føtex home delivery went online. Banner Bilka expanded its digital presence with great growth on BilkaToGo, which in April 2021 launched its first click and collect solution.

The Group has entered into a strategic partnership with Danish Nordic Harvest to build one of the world’s largest vertical farms. On the farm in the city of Taastrup, crops are grown on 14 floors in water in a closed and controlled environment that gives the plants the optimal conditions for growth, taste and nutritional content. From seeds to supermarket, the salads and herbs have never been in contact with soil, human hands, bacteria, fungal spores or pests. And they therefore do not need to be rinsed, neither when packed nor before being used at home at the dining table.

New vertical farm products will be tested in the Salling Group’s Føtex and Bilka chains on an ongoing basis.

The recycling scheme was developed with the help of Sheffield University and aims to make a significant contribution to the war on plastics. There are three varieties of the label: “Return to refill”, “Refill in store” and “Refill at home.” The uniform labels are intended to make it easier for consumers to understand what to do with the packaging and make more conscious decisions on what they buy.

It is believed that refillables have a major role to play in the effort to reduce the impact of packaging.

The concept is no frills: simple wooden shelves in a stripped-down container. The customer does not need an app to get access. The Billa Box is open during regular store hours and customers scan barcodes of products at the self-service terminal. Payment can be made in cash, by card and by smart phone. The focus is on products from regional and local suppliers. Other retailers in the country, like Tegut, Edeka Südwest and Migros, have also launched unmanned stores.

Retailer Billa saw a sales growth of almost 7% last year with 1,110 stores. It has a market share in Austria of 33%.

While CEO Markus Mosa had expected a decline in sales for this current year, he has corrected the company’s forecast upwards and now aims at matching last year’s sales. At the same time, the investment budget will be increased from 1.9 to 2.3 billion euros in 2021.

Edeka recently presented its new vegan own brand "Vehappy" with which it wants to play into the flexitarian and vegan trend. The first handful of products have arrived on shelves and the range will soon be expanded. Attention was paid to the product’s origin, with most ingredients coming from Europe, and they were processed without chemicals or additives.