The Austrian banner of German discounter Aldi, Hofer has launched three petrol stations on parking lots at three of its stores in Salzburg, Austria.

• The discounter will operate them in partnership with the Free Energy Trading GmbH.
• The petrol stations are unmanned and payment is only possible by credit or debit card.
• If the trial in Salzburg proves successful, Hofer plans to expand the concept to all of its Austrian stores with adequate parking spaces.
• Initial reactions to the recent opening were dramatic decreases in diesel prices at OMV, Shell, and Jet petrol stations. The latter decreased diesel price per liter to EUR 0.519, which is reported to be EUR 0.30 below purchasing price.

Carrefour Group will increase the shift of a third of its part-time till staff to 35 hours starting June 2008. This option was available to all interested employees.

Carrefour Spain announced it will progressively reduce distributing plastic bags in its stores, and it aims to completely stop by the end of the year 2009. Carrefour will distribute free reusable bags to encourage shoppers to no longer use plastic bags.

Monoprix has acquired all shares from Tunisian Shopping Spaces "Sahara Confort" to expand its presence in Tunisia. No further information about the investment was released.

German drugstore dm drogeriemarkt has launched a private label cosmetics line for men called "alverde MEN."

• The partly organic line will initially feature four products, including a washing gel, body lotion, intensive crème, and shower gel/shampoo.

German drugstore dm is in negotiations to acquire 10 to 20 of 311 Woolworth stores in Germany.

According to the Large Retail Companies Association (ANGED) in Spain, about 12% more traffic was registered on the first day of the promotional sales season, July 1^st.

• Discounts of up to 70% in apparel and 50% in the rest of the products are available.
• El Corte Inglés reported two million shoppers in their department store network on the first day of sales.

El Corte Inglés has inaugurated 20 Sfera points of sale in its department stores since February 2009. Sfera, El Corte Inglés’ apparel banner, has 120 stores globally and is an extremely competitive brand in its category.

El Corte Inglés will launch its summer promotional campaign on July 1. The campaign is led by Venezuelan singer Carlos Baute and the slogan reads, "Everything is in your hands" (Está todo en tus manos).

El Corte Inglés is currently restructuring and renewing its leadership. Following are the most relevant changes:

• Leopoldo del Nogal, previous Managing Director in Portugal, is now the head of the buying division.
• José María Folache, former Managing Director Commercial and Marketing in Carrefour, will join the buying team led by Leopoldo del Nogal in September.
• Borja de la Cierva, previous CFO for Inditex, and Luis Ignacio Caballero, head of Coca-Cola Spain, have also joined the buying team.
• Dimas Gimeno has been appointed head of the sales division.
• Pedro Gil, previous head of operations in Leroy Merlin, has been appointed to Bricor.
• The company explained how integrating younger executives would pave the way to a transition for the presidency in the future.

German consumer electronics buying group Expert increased its German retail revenue 9.1% in the year ended 31 March 2009.

• Largest sales increases were generated through brown goods and appliances, generating two thirds of revenues.
• According to Expert boss Volker Müller, Expert plans to increase its sales surface by 6%.

 

In line with requirements from the Grenelle de l’Environment law, Casino and Intermarché will install solar panels shortly.

• Casino plans to produce 70 megawatts of electricity from now to 2012 with solar panels in certain stores and distribution centres.
• Intermarché is also structuring a new entity in charge of renewable energy.
• Électricité de France could buy back the energy produced by retailers at a guaranteed price.

Greenpeace blocked the entrance to Jerónimo Martins headquarters in Portugal to demand for a sustainable fish policy in the retailers’ stores.

Marks and Spencer (M&S) released first quarter 2009 results for the 13 weeks ended 27 June 2009.

• Total group sales increased by 2.9%.
• UK sales were up 1.7%, with general merchandise sales increasing 1.2% (clothing was up 1.4%, and home was up 0.1%) and food sales increasing 2%.
• UK like-for-like sales fell by 1.4% (general merchandise declined 2.4%, and food declined 0.5%).
• Online sales at M&S Direct rose 28%.
• International sales rose 15.9%.

Consumer electronics chain Media Markt was fined for over EUR 15,000 in Barcelona, Spain as a result of offering two products in 2007 below their discounted purchasing price.

• The retailer had offered the products below price as part of one of its "VAT-free" marketing campaigns.
• Selling below cost is only allowed in the event of expiring goods or during liquidation and clearance sales in Spain.