Caper Cart at Carrefour Belgium and Morrisons set to be scrapped. Spain: Eroski to improve supply chain efficiency across 1,000 stores with RELEX RELEX Solutions reported: "Eroski, a leading Spanish supermarket cooperative operating over 1,000 stores, has selected RELEX Solutions for forecasting and replenishment. Working in partnership with Deloitte, their aim is to improve efficiency across the entire Eroski supply chain, spanning 16 distribution centers (DCs) and approximately 1000 stores. Deloitte will support the project with implementation and change management services". Source: relexsolutions.com Poland: Żabka reports growth in profit and revenue in first nine months Retail group Żabka has delivered continued growth in the first nine months of its financial year as it expanded its network to more than 13,000 stores in the country. Average net profit for the nine month period increased 36.6% year-on-year to reach PLN 886mln (€201.42mln). Third quarter net profit grew 13.2% to PLN 572mln (€130.04mln). Source: esmmagazine.com Italy: Gmf strengthens its presence in Tuscany with a new Famila supermarket in Terranuova Bracciolini (Ar) Gmf - a company of the Unicomm Group - is strengthening its presence in Tuscany by opening a new Famila supermarket in Terranuova Bracciolini (Ar). The new Famila store also places great emphasis on the fresh and ultra-fresh departments. Source: distribuzionemoderna.info UK: Budget must stop rising costs feeding inflation Helen Dickinson, Chief Executive of the BRC, said: "Shop price inflation rose to its highest level in two and a half years. The dam is starting to break on the huge wave of costs retailers have absorbed over the last two years". Source: brc.org.uk South Africa, Botswana and Namibia: Community food gardens bring hope at Shoprite and Checkers' Market Day The Shoprite Group reported: "Organic spring produce grown by over 80 community food gardens across South Africa, Botswana and Namibia was snapped up by shoppers at selected Shoprite and Checkers stores during Market Day on Tuesday, 27 October". Source: shopriteholdings.co.za Spar Scotland to host special depot open day for non-Spar retailers Spar Scotland is inviting independent retailers and convenience store operators who are not currently part of the Spar brand to attend a special depot open day on 4 November. It offers an opportunity to discover more about the benefits of working with one of the UK's leading convenience retail brands. Source: talkingretail.com Australia: Woolworths Group first-quarter sales rise 4.7% Australian retailer Woolworths Group recorded a 4.7% year-on-year rise in group sales to A$19.35bln ($13.60bln) for the first quarter (Q1) ended 4 October 2026. Australian Food revenue climbed 6.9% to A$14.84bln, matching the 6.9% gain recorded by Woolworths Food Retail. Source: retail-insight-network.com Georgia: Supermarket chain consolidation could benefit consumers - Goodwill CEO Georgian supermarket chains consolidating could help lower prices for consumers, Retail Association head and Goodwill CEO Giorgi Khabashvili said, as the FMCG sector focuses on efficiency amid rising operating costs and a maturing market. Source: bm.ge UK: Poundland close to collapse as new directors head for exit Thousands of jobs are at risk with the trio of directors appointed to the Poundland board this month on the brink of resigning amid a dispute with the discounter's majority owner, Gordon Brothers, Sky News learns. Source: news.sky.com Instacart discontinues smart shopping cart: Carrefour and Morrisons to seek alternative Pilot projects featuring Instacart's smart shopping cart at Carrefour Belgium and Morrisons are set to be scrapped, now that the American tech company no longer sees a future for its Caper Cart. Source: retaildetail.eu Sugar-free drinks are giving Coca-Cola a boost Coca-Cola's revenue rose 7% to $13.4bln, while total volumes increased by 5%, driven primarily by growth in India, China, Mexico, and Brazil. In Europe, volumes rose by 5%, while in North America they remained stable. Net income increased by 8% to $4bln. Source: retaildetail.eu US: Key Food Stores Co-Op joins Uber Eats, expanding access to local grocery delivery Uber Technologies, Inc. and Key Food Stores Co-Operative, Inc. announced a partnership that brings grocery delivery from more than 300 Key Food member stores across the Northeast and Florida to Uber Eats. Customers can shop from participating stores in Key Food's Family of Supermarkets, including Key Food, Food Universe, SuperFresh, The Food Emporium, Food Dynasty, and more, directly through the Uber Eats app. Customers can access a wide selection of fresh produce. Source: businesswire.com Walmart's margins in Mexico tighten as costs outpace sales growth Net profit fell 6% to 11.03bln pesos ($610mln), below the 12.26bln pesos expected by analysts polled by LSEG, while revenue also came in shy of forecasts. Mexico's biggest retailer posted total revenue of 248.83bln pesos for the July-September period, up 3% from a year earlier but below the 250.44bln pesos expected by analysts. Source: reuters.com US: Organic supermarket chain to open 1st CT location in Stamford Mom's Organic Market, a mid-Atlantic region-based organic supermarket chain, has signed a 10-year lease to open in a 13,080-square-foot space. This will be the grocer's first Connecticut location. The store is expected to open in 2027. Source: patch.com US: Food Bazaar buys 14 Western Beef Supermarkets across New York Food Bazaar Supermarket is spreading its wings just a bit further in New York. Parent operator Bogopa Service Corp. has agreed to buy 14 of the 19 supermarkets run by fellow Queens grocer Western Beef, including four stores on Long Island. Source: progressivegrocer.com

St1 to unify fuel supply chain with Relex. Energy company St1 has chosen Relex Solutions to unify demand, inventory and distribution planning across its fuel supply chain. Relex partner NTT Data will support the joint-project team. St1 operates in Finland, Sweden, Norway and the U.K. Its energy portfolio encompasses oil products, biogas, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), renewable diesel (HVO) and solar power. St1 also advances several energy-transition projects. Additionally, the company operates a network of approximately 1,150 retail stations. As fuel demand has become increasingly volatile, St1 is strengthening its demand forecasting and supply-chain planning capabilities with Relex. The aim is to build on the expertise of St1's planning teams and bring product and logistics decisions into a single, integrated view. This is expected to increase supply-chain visibility, speed up and better coordinate decision-making, improve fleet utilization and give St1 greater flexibility in responding to market changes. Relex will bring demand planning and sensing, inventory planning, distribution planning, and vessel and berth scheduling into one shared platform. Demand forecasts will inform terminal-inventory projections and replenishment needs, which will feed into vessel-voyage and jetty-loading schedules and, ultimately, refinery production and supply requirements. This will create one connected planning signal from terminal demand back to refinery production, replacing several disconnected spreadsheet-based processes. St1 chose Relex for its ability to connect demand, inventory, distribution and scheduling decisions within one platform, rather than relying on multiple providers or investing in a custom in-house system. The configurable platform will also allow St1 to extend Relex to additional use cases as its needs develop. "Managing our fuel supply network in the best possible way requires us to balance demand, inventory, vessel movements and refinery requirements every day," said Olli Lahdenperä, St1's value-chain lead for HVO and SAF. "Bringing these decisions together will give our teams better visibility across the network and increase our ability to make better decisions without awaiting manual processes to be finished." Sami Salminen, the director of supply-chain consulting at NTT Data, added, "Fuel logistics comes with specific physical and operational constraints that need to be reflected in how the system is designed and implemented. Our role is to bring energy and fuel-logistics expertise to the project and work closely with St1 and Relex to translate the requirements of St1's fuel network into an effective planning process." Stefano Scandelli, the general manager of manufacturing at Relex Solutions, said, "St1 demonstrates how Relex can support complex supply networks beyond traditional retail and manufacturing. Fuel distribution brings very different physical constraints, from terminal inventory and vessel capacity to refinery requirements. Bringing those variables together gives St1 a clearer view across the network, helping its planners make faster decisions while improving the use of inventory and logistics capacity."

Valio and Aalto University launch Food 2.0 research into emotions and strategic decisions. Three-year collaboration with OP Pohjola, Accenture and RELEX Solutions will study how organisations pursue and implement ambitious choices amid disruption. The Food 2.0 research project explores how emotions influence strategic decisions and their implementation during periods of disruption. Valio, OP Pohjola, Accenture, RELEX Solutions and Aalto University are collaborating on a three-year Food 2.0 ecosystem research project into the role of emotions in strategic decision-making during disruption. Led by Professor Timo Vuori, the project will examine how leaders interpret uncertainty, evaluate alternatives and implement strategic decisions, and will develop and test research-based management practices. The initiative runs from June 2026 to May 2029 and aims to support sustainable growth, business renewal and international competitiveness. (PRESS RELEASE) HELSINKI, Finland, 8-Oct-2026 - /EuropaWire/ - Valio, OP Pohjola, Accenture, RELEX Solutions and Aalto University have joined forces in a new Food 2.0 ecosystem research project examining how companies make and implement strategic decisions during major disruptions. The Strategic Growth and Emotion Management in Disruption project focuses on the influence of emotions on the quality and ambition of decisions, including what leaders notice, how they assess opportunities and risks, and how effectively their strategic choices are implemented. The initiative aims to develop research-based practices that help companies improve strategic decision-making and pursue growth amid technological, geopolitical and sustainability-related disruption. While companies now have access to extensive data and increasingly sophisticated analytical tools, analysis alone does not determine strategic choices. Emotions can shape which signals decision-makers notice, how they interpret uncertainty, whether they pursue ambitious opportunities and the strength of organisational commitment to implementing decisions. These factors become especially important as artificial intelligence, geopolitical uncertainty and the sustainability transition reshape the business environment simultaneously. Studying strategic decisions as they happen. The project will study strategic decision-making and execution as these processes unfold within organisations. Researchers will investigate how boards, top management teams and other organisational actors interpret changes in their environment, assess strategic alternatives, make choices and turn those choices into action. Drawing on interviews, observations and organisational materials from several organisations, the research will place particular emphasis on the role of emotions in attention, communication, decision-making and action. It will also examine how leaders can manage these dynamics constructively. Beyond explaining these mechanisms, the researchers intend to translate their findings into practical tools. They will develop and test management practices to help organisations identify weak signals, consider alternative strategic options more openly, recognise emotional and cognitive biases, and secure commitment to strategic choices. "When companies face major disruption, the challenge is rarely a lack of data alone. Leaders also need to remain open to uncomfortable information, have the courage to consider sufficiently ambitious alternatives and create commitment to difficult choices. All of these processes are influenced by emotions. We want to understand these mechanisms and develop concrete practices that help companies make and execute better strategic choices," says Timo Vuori, Professor and leader of the research project. Supporting transformation across the Food 2.0 ecosystem. The research contributes to Food 2.0 by addressing a challenge shared by technological and sustainability transformations: enabling organisations to convert emerging possibilities into strategic choices, investments and effective execution. Transformation of the food system calls for new business models, improved use of data, circular economy solutions and collaboration across increasingly complex value networks. Companies therefore need to make long-term strategic decisions despite substantial uncertainty. Managing the emotions associated with uncertainty, ambition and commitment may become an important part of enabling this transformation. Valio, OP Pohjola, Accenture and RELEX Solutions are participating as company partners, while Aalto University is responsible for the research. This cross-industry structure will allow researchers and participating organisations to compare strategic and emotional dynamics in different settings and develop practices that may have broader applications. The organisations will meet regularly to discuss emerging findings and jointly develop practices. The wider objective is to improve companies' capacity to undertake ambitious yet well-founded strategic investments and implement them successfully, supporting renewal, sustainable growth and international competitiveness. The three-year project runs from June 2026 to May 2029. Food 2.0 builds the food system of the future. Food 2.0 is Valio's research, development and innovation programme aimed at building a future food system in which growth and added value are based on sustainable production. The programme brings together companies, research organizations and other partners to develop new solutions and capabilities across the food ecosystem.