Retail Intel Weekly: COVID-19 News & More from Ahold Delhaize, Amazon

COVID-19Meijer will run back-to-back fall and holiday campaigns of its seasonal hunger relief program Simply Give to provide extra support to food pantries trying to keep up with increased demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Each Meijer Simply Give campaign replenishes the shelves of more than 250 food pantries in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and Wisconsin. The program encourages shoppers to purchase $10 Simply Give donation cards, which are then converted into Meijer food-only gift cards and given to a local food pantry in the store's community. The fall Simply Give campaign will run from Aug. 23 through Oct. 24 (a four-week extension over previous fall campaigns). The holiday campaign will start immediately following the end of the fall campaign and run for the remainder of the year.Ahold Delhaize’s Food Lion began expanding its Food Lion to Go pickup service to 43 new stores in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia as of Aug. 24, just ahead of September’s Labor Day holiday. In July, Food Lion added the service to 38 new stores with curbside availability, bringing the total to 249 locations. With the new expansion, the total is 292. Ahold Delhaize remains focused on accelerating its digital transformation.While Best Buy saw its total comparable sales jump and digital sales soar in the second quarter, ended Aug. 1, CEO Corrie Barry pointed to three concepts the retailer believes to be “permanent and structural implications of the pandemic" during its Aug. 25 earnings call. One way Best Buy is implementing change is in its fulfillment methods. The retailer will be piloting a ship-from-store hub model in around 250 stores beginning next month, to help handle pre-holiday and year-round digital demand. While all stores will still ship out online orders, these locations will be positioned to ship out much higher volume.AMAZONAfter months of anticipation, Amazon has unveiled its first stand-alone supermarket banner: a 35,000-square-foot, high-tech store in Woodland Hills, CA, dubbed Fresh.Amazon is moving forward with plans for a luxury platform, with the first international brands set to launch in September, according to WWD sources.Amazon's Audible is introducing a new service providing unlimited listening to a curated library of audio entertainment spanning 68,000 hours of content from more than 11,000 original productions, audiobooks and podcasts. Legacy Audible members can now access the new Plus library, and Audible Plus will be available to new subscribers for $7.95 per month beginning Aug. 27. Audible will continue to offer its traditional Audible subscription, providing credits for audiobook purchases, for $14.95 per month. Amazon has rolled out a new health and wellness wearable band and membership dubbed Halo that measures body fat percentage, tracks sleep and fitness habits, and even analyses a user's tone of voice. It also offers tips from experts, such as health healthy breakfast ideas from the American Heart Association. It is currently available by invitation and consumers can request early access. The introductory cost is $64.99 for a six-month membership, after which membership will cost $3.99 per month.WALMARTWalmart is partnering with Microsoft on a bid for popular short-form-video mobile application TikTok. The app's Beijing-based parent company, ByteDance, is nearing an agreement to sell its U.S., Canadian, Australian and New Zealand operations after being pushed to look for a buyer when U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he was considering banning it and other Chinese applications for security reasons. TikTok says it has nearly 100 million monthly active U.S. users. “The way TikTok has integrated e-commerce and advertising capabilities in other markets is a clear benefit to creators and users in those markets,” Walmart said in a statement to CNBC. “We believe a potential relationship with TikTok US in partnership with Microsoft could add this key functionality and provide Walmart with an important way for us to reach and serve omnichannel customers as well as grow our third-party marketplace and advertising businesses."Walmart is selling footwear website Shoes.com and online lingerie brand Bare Necessities.CONVENIENCE7-Eleven is rolling out a new and improved apple fritter this fall. A new proprietary recipe is being introduced this fall that uses yeast donut mix as a base, a flavorful, cinnamon-forward filling, sweet glaze and apples in every bite. The fritters will be priced at $1 and available from Sept. 2 through Nov. 3.7-Eleven stores will also start serving up "pumpkin spice" lattes and pumpkin-flavored coffee as soon as Sept. 2. The 7‑Eleven pumpkin spice latte blends warm, autumn spices including cinnamon, ginger, anise and clove with creamy pumpkin flavor. Shoppers are encouraged to personalize their lattes at no charge at the retailer's hot beverage bar, which is stocked with items such as chocolate sauce, flavored syrups and creamers. SUPERMARKETAhold Delhaize’s Giant Co. (i.e. Giant/Martin’s, Giant Heirloom Market and Giant Direct and Martin’s Direct) has debuted a new brand platform dubbed “For Today’s Table” to build upon the new company name, logo and purpose introduced earlier this year. The launch additionally encompasses a slew of other new elements to roll out in the coming months, including:Expanded Meal Deals and meal kit programs, offering more protein choices, new flavor profiles and meal ideas.New in-store pilots including smoothie bars and kombucha taps.More shelf space for key categories like plant-based, global flavors, specialty foods like artisanal cheeses and meats, and health and beauty.Updated store decor as well as redesigned associate uniforms, delivery and transport vehicles.Publix has added e-receipts accessible to loyalty members through their Club Publix accounts. The e-receipt item lists allow shoppers to save items as favorites and add them to a shopping list. E-receipts are saved online automatically, though Club Publix members can adjust that setting plus select if they want their receipts printed, emailed or both.Aldi has opened its eighth location on New York’s Long Island. The store is the second new Aldi on Long Island this year and a part of the retailer’s national growth strategy. The discount grocer recently surpassed more than 2,000 stores across the country and plans to open about 70 new stores by the end of the year.DRUGCVS Pharmacy has officially launched a new digital media advertising platform, CVS Media Exchange (cMx). In an email to the Path to Purchase Institute, vice president of front store and omnichannel marketing, CVS Health, Erin Condon said “Our plans to launch cMx were already in motion prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, as we know our investments in digital technology have allowed us to personalize engagements with customers and provide tremendous value to our CPG partners on the opportunities we have collaborated on, such as our email programs ... Now that the pandemic has forced both big and small brands to be nimble and deal with a challenging economy, many advertisers face even more pressure to maximize efficiencies and prove ROI.”CLUBBJ’s Wholesale Club has added fresh and frozen grocery items to its buy online, pick up in-club service. The expansion of the service is currently available in select clubs and will be available at all locations by the end of October 2020.

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