Posts by theo@aacs.org.au

New Sunrise celebrated a significant milestone with Iceworks 2024, marking its first European conference. The conference took place on the 2nd -6th September provided a dynamic platform for industry leaders, innovators, and partners to share insights, network, and explore the convenience landscape of London. With over 350 delegates in attendance from across Australia, the event coined the “Royal Sunrise Family Gathering,” left all delegates meaningful connections, collaborations and magical experiences that will last a lifetime.Welcome to London: Opening Night New Sunrise Brand and Marketing Manager, Andrew Cardinale opened the 16th annual iceworks conference and welcomed all attendees, reinforcing the ever-present family connection growing year on year. The conference kicked off with a vibrant welcome function that set the tone for the week ahead. During the welcome night, delegates experienced the many gathered in a stunning venue, surrounded by famous London landmarks, themed food stations, engaging games like cricket, and even…

Within the convenience store model, convenience remains, naturally enough, the most important element that retailers in the channel provide their customers. However, the ever-evolving retail landscape that includes more shoppers focused on the value proposition of what they buy continues to open new opportunities for growth of store-brand products. In recent years, expanding own-brand selections within the grocery, mass merchant and dollar store channels has propelled growth across the private label industry. Now, convenience store retailers are ramping up their product development efforts to evolve their respective assortments and add more store-brand items across many product categories. “We’re definitely seeing continued momentum in the convenience channel this year,” affirms Chelsey Capps, director of thought leadership at Stamford, Conn.-based Daymon. “While the channel is not immune to the pressures of inflation, we continue to see dollar and units in convenience outpace the total market, most notably grocery and drug.” A growing number…

Whole Foods Market has unveiled its new retail concept, called Whole Foods Market Daily Shop, with a store in New York City. Located in the Lenox Hill neighborhood of Manhattan’s Upper East Side, the 9,101-sq.-ft. store is designed to bring the freshest, high-quality ingredients to customers with a convenience that fits their fast-paced urban lifestyles, the natural and organic foods retailer said. Two other locations are in the works, with one in Manhattan’s East Village’s StuyTown development and the other in its Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood. Whole Foods revealed in March that it planned to debut a “quick-shop,” smaller-store concept. The new format will range between 7,000 to 14,000 sq. ft., which is about a quarter to half the footprint of an average 40,000 sq. ft. store. It paves the way for Whole Foods to expand in dense, metropolitan areas. The new Upper East Side outpost features more than 400 local products from 100-plus Northeast-based…

Independent Payments Forum Australia today congratulated Australian Payments Plus (AP+) on taking three, long-awaited and necessary steps towards fairer debit card fees for small businesses and their customers – but warned there was still a very long way to go to have any meaningful impact. As debit cards are the “new cash” and Australia’s favourite retail payment method, today’s AP+ announcements are very welcome, but they also come with a lot of cryptic caveats and willmean little without regulatory and industry support. “While there is a lot more to be done, today’s announcement is a positive step which begins toaddress the massive disparity between debit card fees charged to small businesses and theircustomers compared to big business,” IPF co-founder Warwick Ponder said. “To succeed it will need commitment from both the industry and the regulator. Lower fees have been available for some time, what we really need to see is…

Lawson and its owners, major trading house Mitsubishi and telecommunications carrier KDDI, said Wednesday they will open convenience stores of the “future” that utilize digital technology in Tokyo next spring. The new stores, to be in the Takanawa Gateway City complex in Tokyo’s Minato Ward, will feature robots that can stock shelves and cook, as well as artificial intelligence signage that recommends products to customers. A booth will also be set up where customers can remotely consult on topics such as nursing care and asset management. The project aims to reduce the workload of store staff by 30% by fiscal 2030. Labor shortages are the number one issue that needs to be address, Lawson President Sadanobu Takemasu said at a news conference on Wednesday. “We aim for stores with the highest growth potential in the world,” he added. KDDI will provide technical support for the project while leveraging Lawson’s stores…