Aldi has announced that it expects to sell over 3,000 Irish Christmas trees this season. Aldi’s home-grown Irish Wreaths and Christmas trees will be available in 145 Aldi stores nationwide from Thursday, 26 November (wreaths) and Sunday, 29 November (trees). Co.Kerry based Irish Green Guys, who supplies have been supplying Aldi with premium Christmas wreaths for over 10 years. James Costello, director of Irish Green Guys said: “All foliage for the wreaths is grown on our farm in Kerry and is hand harvested in a sustainable manner, only harvesting the current year’s growth."
Chicago soybean futures rose more than 1% on Monday, gaining for a seventh consecutive session as dry weather in key suppliers Brazil and Argentina stoked supply concerns. Corn rose to its highest since July 2019, while wheat gained for a second straight session. "Chinese buying has been really strong and we have dry weather issues in South America," said Phin Ziebell, an agribusiness economist at National Australia Bank. The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board Of Trade (CBOT) rose 1.1% to $11.94-1/4 a bushel as of 0449 GMT, not far from the session high of $12.00 a bushel, the highest since June 2016. Corn gained 1.5% at $4.34-1/2 a bushel, after climbing to its highest since July last year at $4.35 a bushel. Wheat rose 1% to $6.05-1/2 a bushel.
Amazon has bowed to government pressure to postpone its 'Black Friday' discount shopping sales in France to help local shopkeepers struggling with a nationwide lockdown. The US retail giant has seen sales soar globally as restrictions to prevent the spread of the coronavirus sent consumers online, making it difficult for some bricks-and-mortar shops to compete. To level the playing field, finance minister Bruno Le Maire this week called on supermarkets and online retailers to postpone Black Friday, which runs from 27 November to 29 November, as shops selling non-essential goods would have to remain closed during lockdown.
Meal-kit firm HelloFresh has announced that it has agreed to acquire ready-to-eat meal company Factor75, Inc. The company described the acquisition as ‘the next step’ in HelloFresh’s growth plan in the US. The move brings together HelloFresh’s global market expertise in delivering fresh ingredients to customers’ doorsteps across 14 countries with Factor’s proven success in ready-to-eat meals. Both companies share a strong vision for operational excellence and a data-driven approach to delight customers, HelloFresh added.
Retail Excellence has set out three key demands for Government in advance of next week’s reopening of non-essential retail following a six-week nationwide Level 5 lockdown. Speaking today, Duncan Graham, managing director of Retail Excellence, said: “This is the most critical week of the year for retailers, and we simply cannot afford to get the big decisions wrong around reopening non-essential retail. In the first instance, we are demanding that the reopening date be brought forward to Monday, November 30th at the latest. Every day counts for the retail industry. Two days would not make a big difference to the pattern of the virus, but those two days could be a matter of survival for retailers who need every trading hour they can get in the run-up to Christmas.”
© 2020 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Donna Ahern. Click sign-up to subscribe to Checkout.
