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Realco crisis, rescue proposal from Consorzio Europa and Dit


Realco crisis: we may be at a turning point, with the proposal made official on 16 March by Consorzio Europa and Dit averting the 'break-up' of the distribution group based in Reggio Emilia, with about 200 supermarkets under the Sigma, Ecu and Economy brand names, and now in composition with creditors, with several shops 'temporarily' closed. Included in the proposal is a third party in the large-scale distribution sector, whose name has not yet been communicated - there is talk of Migross - which would take over part of the network with a consequent change of sign... Read the previous

 

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Carrefour: European growth and Brazil’s slowdown


The 2025 results show a clear dichotomy between the European and Latin American shores. In France, the operating margin reached 3.0%, confirming the effectiveness of the business model based on competitive pricing and the expansion of proximity formats. Spain also recorded a positive performance, with a jump in current operating profit of 13.5%, consolidating its role as a European pillar. In contrast, Brazil faced a challenging macroeconomic environment with interest rates at 15% that weighed on purchasing power, leading to a stable operating result at constant exchange rates but a 7.2% drop at current exchange rates. In Argentina, despite hyperinflation, the group managed to gain significant market share in both value and volume...

Carrefour
 

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Amazon: suspected tax evasion


Amazon in Italy charges in Luxembourg for the products I buy. And it is not only me, an Amazon customer, who receives notifications from Amazon - the repetition is intentional - , which I enclose, a study carried out with theBicocca University says so. Note that not only the goods but also the Prime subscription is paid, to an ad hoc company, in Luxembourg (all this also applies to Amazon's marketplace = third-party suppliers). If you are not convinced that Amazon does not pay what it should to the Italian state, you can also read this article. Repubblica 13 March 2026

AmazonE-Commerce
 

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Whole Foods Market to open six new Daily Shop shops in the UK in the coming months


The point-of-sale assortment will include : A range of certified organic and conventional products. Prepared food options, including lunchtime salads, sandwiches and seasonal favourites. An assortment of meat and seafood with a variety of convenient grab-and-go offerings. All meat items are certified for animal welfare and include organic options and all seafood offerings are sustainably caught in the wild or responsibly farmed. A bakery department offers fresh bread daily and everyday favourites such as Whole Foods' Viennoiserie and brown butter biscuits. The department also provides a wide variety of special diet items, including gluten- and dairy-free brownies, doughnuts and biscuits. A Wellness & Beauty department with a wide assortment of supplements, skin care, hair care and more. A speciality department highlighting artisan cheeses and producers, as well as local and premium beers, wines and spirits. The first Daily Shop experiment was made in 2024 in the United States. The pdv area will range from 300 to a maximum of 1,000 square metres.

Fruit and vegetablesMeatOrganicWhole Foods
 

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Amazon: e-commerce malfunctions due to AI?


The red alert is said to have been raised immediately after a malfunction of the ecommerce site that occurred in early March and lasted for about six hours, during which customers were unable to complete transactions or use certain specific functions such as checking the price of products or accessing their profile on the site. According to the Financial Times , this is just the latest episode in a long series of malfunctions caused precisely by errors introduced by Q, the artificial intelligence assistant for computer code development that was chosen by the tech giant. A tool that, together with Kira - the assistant employed instead by Amazon Web Services, the subsidiary that deals with cloud services -, seems to have been adopted by all Amazon developers.

AIAmazonE-Commerce
 

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E-commerce in Italy is worth 13% of purchases


In 2025, the total value of product purchases reached EUR 40 billion ( 5%). Among the most dynamic sectors are Beauty&Pharma ( 10%) and Food&Grocery ( 7%). Clothing and Furniture (both 5%) grew in line with the market average, while Computers & Consumer Electronics and Publishing grew by 4%. Services eCommerce is worth EUR 22.3 billion ( 9%)... We are talking about a total of €62.3 billion. In 2012 it was €9.5 billion. In 13 years, the turnover of the sector has been multiplied x more than 6 times. It is worth noting that in Italy, e-commerce will grow by 13.1% in 2026 , while sales in physical shops will be 1 .6%(second chart below, Nielsen data). Thanks to Mario Gasbarrino Edited 24 February, updated 12 March 2026

E-Commerce
 

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Instacart (US e-commerce) democratises ‘consumer intelligence’ with an AI-powered portal


Customer intelligence, often referred to as customer intelligence CI, is the collection, analysis and use of data to understand your customers' behaviour, preferences and needs. The Instacart Consumer Insights Portal (CIP) is a software platform that gives brands direct access to purchasing behaviour across the Instacart marketplace. Based on daily activity from nearly 100,000 locations, CIP offers marketing, sales, revenue growth management and insights to self-service teams access to SKU-level performance, search behaviour, substitution patterns and promotion impact, all based on actual transactions, not modelled data or survey panels. Instacart is a service that does 'last mile' e-commerce for many US retailers. Instacart works with more than 1,400 different brands (national, regional and local), covering more than 80,000 shops across North America. Walmart is among its partners:although the Bentonville, Arkansas-based giant has its own strong delivery infrastructure, it works with Instacart in selected markets to expand its coverage. Below: the Instacart service at Whole Foods in 2016.

E-CommerceWalmartWhole Foods
 

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Ramadan has become, in fact, a micro-season of consumption.


In the weeks preceding and accompanying the holy month, promotions on rice, pulses, flours, oils, dates and certified meats increase. Communication often remains discreet, but the commercial organisation is now evident on the shelves. ... In recent weeks, for example, Carrefour has activated dedicated discounts on a selection of halal products, with offers valid on certified meats, basic ingredients and packaged references linked toIftar meals, the evening time when the daily fast is broken. According to the Ismu Foundation, as of 10 July 2025, Muslims in Italy number more than 1.7 million, representing over 30% of the resident foreign population. And it is no coincidence that the latest surveyby GS1 Italy's Osservatorio Immagino - the eighteenth, relating to Italian large-scale retail trade between July 2024 and June 2025 - photographs a growth in the market of the 635 halal-certified products, i.e. food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical goods that comply with the ethical and hygiene standards of Islamic doctrine. The advancement of this segment was 3 .5% in value and 3 .1% in volume, supported also by the expansion of the offer on the shelves (3%).

CarrefourMeat
 

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Double appointment at Ferrero: Alessandro Nervegna new ceo core and Lapo Civiletti…


The CEO will take over the top products. He succeeds Lapo Civiletti, who will continue as Vice President of Ferrero International and will take over the role of President of Ferrero Ice Cream and the new project Wk Kellogg Co. The change, which has just been announced, was decided at the board meeting on 11 February 2026 and will take effect on 1 September 2026. Both managers will work closely with the chairman of the holding company Giovanni Ferrero. Lapo was my schoolmate at Leone XIII: you can see him below, in the fourth row, third from the left. Our lives crossed paths again when I was commercial director at Esselunga and he was a senior manager at Dolma (Mars group). You can read about Ferrero here. Edited 5 March, updated 8 March 2026

EsselungaFerrero