Deloitte recently released its holiday retail outlook for 2014. It indicates that Canadian shoppers are looking forward to this holiday season and will spend at leas the same amount as last year. According to the survey, 51 per cent of Canadian shoppers started their holiday spending after Black Friday, which took place on Nov. 28. Meanwhile, 9.4 per cent of shoppers plan to wait until the last minute to start their search for gifts. Home delivery is a good offering for 69.8 per cent of shoppers, while 67.8 per cent plan to use click and collect in-store pickup of online orders this holiday season. 39.3 per cent will take advantage of secure locker order pickup, such as Walmart’s Grab & Go option.

(Tramadol)

According to a report by Packaged Facts which was distributed by MarketResearch.com, online grocery shopping accounts for less than four per cent of total sales, both online and offline, in the food and beverage retail segment. However, online grocery sales are rapidly growing and are forecast to reach nearly $100 billion in 2019.

Among other retailers, Amazon, Walmart and Google are all testing out online grocery orders in the U.S., however that comes with its own challenges. Retailers will need to consider how to assemble orders, delivery methods, delivering quickly and at a low cost and converting brick-and-mortar grocery shoppers to online grocery shoppers.

Steve Churchill, managing director of Nielsen Canada, has announced his retirement from the company, effective January 1, 2015, after over 30 years at the company. He will be succeeded by Jeanne Danubio, managing director of consumer insights.

In his three decade-long career at Nielsen, Churchill has worked in retail services, client services and operations. Most recently, he held the post of senior vice president of systems and operations and industry development at the company.

“It has been a privilege for me to have led the Nielsen Canada organization for the past few years,” said Churchill. “I will sincerely miss the great people that I have had the pleasure of working with at our company, as well as the many business colleagues I have come to know through interactions with our retailer and manufacturer clients and industry associations.”

In his role, which he ascended to in July 2007, Churchill was responsible for growth strategies and client-focused business solutions. He was a key member of the team in negotiating the first retailer scanning agreements across Canada and helped sign Walmart to its first Canadian cooperative agreement.

Churchill’s successor Danubio has been with Nielsen since 1987 and has worked at the company in product leadership and professional services. “Jeanne Danubio’s tenure of exemplary leadership at Nielsen makes her perfectly suited to move into this role,” said Churchill. “I am heartened by the fact that I am leaving Nielsen Canada in her capable hands.”

According to studies, products cost as much as 25 per cent more in Canada, in part due to taxes. In a new legislation presented on Dec. 9 by Industry Minister James Moore, Canada’s Competition Bureau will be given more power in order to investigate why U.S. consumers pay so much less than Canadians.

The purpose of the Price Transparency Act is to even the price playing field between the two countries, and would allow the Bureau’s commissioner of competition to look into price discrimination based on geographic location. The commissioner would also carry the power to force companies to show how they reached a particular price.

“Our government believes that hardworking Canadians and their families shouldn’t be charged higher prices than Americans simply because of where they live. The intentional manipulation of prices on identical goods for sale in Canada and the U.S. places an unfair burden on Canadians and is simply wrong. The Harper Government is standing up for Canadian consumers with legislation to help address price discrimination,” said Minister Moore in a news release.

According to the University of Guelph’s Food Institute, Canadian consumers will be paying as much as 2.4 per cent more for their groceries in 2015.

According to the Food Price Report 2015, meat, seafood and vegetables will all see a price increase of between three and five per cent. The price of fruit and nuts will increase by between one and three per cent, while the cost of grains will either stay the same, or increase by up to two per cent. Dairy and eggs are the only category that may experience a price decline of up to one per cent.

According to the report, factors that may lead to the increase in food prices include weather, input costs, energy costs and the food retail and distribution landscape, among others.  According to the study, the Canadian dollar may also be to blame.

“The depreciating dollar makes purchase of inputs more expensive, so goods with imported inputs will be less competitive. Dollar depreciation on the Canadian food industry will require working with governments to sustain favourable environments for not only affordable food production, but also supporting Canadian consumers to eat local,” stated the study.

Michael Kennedy will be assuming the position of Director of Sales and will be joining CK Nutritional officially on January 5th, 2015.

In his new role, Michael will be responsible for leading the company’s sales efforts in the Canadian natural health products industry. In the past, he has held senior sales and account management positions at Platinum Naturals, Afexa (ColdFX), and Basic Research, and he also has some food and pharmaceutical company experience.

CK Nutritional is a leading provider of innovative science-based raw materials to the Canadian NHP sector, delivering innovation with first-to-market ingredients like NEM® Natural Eggshell Membrane for joint pain relief.

Life Choice has hired several new sales representatives, who will be holding positions across the country.

Theo Pypker is the new agent for the GTA region. He has been in the industry since 1989, working as a representative, health food storeowner, and the owner of Maxion Nutrition. He is currently an independent broker representing several lines.

Greg Young is now the sales representative for the Vancouver/Lower Mainland region. Greg has about 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry after receiving his business degree from the University of Regina, before deciding to move into supplements. In his new role, Greg will be calling on retail health food stores, as well as naturopaths, chiropractors and dentists.

Benoit Lapointe is the company’s new sales representative for the Quebec and Maritimes regions. Benoit has been in the industry for over 20 years as a sales representative, in-store health advisor, retailer, manager and a customer service representative. He uses his creativity in merchandising and marketing in his new role, and will be working with health food stores, naturopaths, homeopaths, osteopaths and other health care practitioners.

Also joining the Life Choice team are Karen Beck in the Thompson to Okanagan region in B.C.; Michael Dancer in Vancouver Island, B.C.; Mark Harwood in Alberta; and Alice Dixon in Southwest Ontario. Congratulations to the whole team!

Ground beef produced by Winnipeg-based meat manufacturer Cargill Meat Solutions have been pulled from the shelves following E.coli concerns. The extra lean ground beef, lean ground beef, and medium ground beef products under the Your Fresh Market brand were available at Walmart stores in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

Federal health officials from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency requested these products, which had an expiry date of November 28 or 29, be thrown out or returned to original store where they were purchased.

The products believed to have a risk of containing E.coli were recalled after E.coli 0157 was found in a sample taken from the ground beef ready to be packaged by Cargill Meat Solutions. E.coli can cause diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal cramps and nausea.

Loblaw has sold three more Shoppers Drug Mart locations in an effort to meet the Competition Bureau’s requirements to make its $12.4 billion takeover of the pharmacy corporation official. One of the pharmacies was sold to McKesson, while two now belong to Pharmx Rexall Drug Stores. The stores that were sold are located in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia.

Loblaw had already sold nine pharmacies to Remedy’s Rx, seven to McKesson and three to Pharmasave Drugs, while selling off four grocery locations to Metro. Loblaw is required to sell one more Shoppers Drug Mart location in order to gain full approval for the acquisition from the Bureau.

After its US$775 million purchase of Kiva Systems in 2012, Amazon worked with the company to develop robots to work in some of its U.S. fulfillment centres in order to help speed up shipments during its busy holiday shopping season. The 15,000 robots will be used in warehouses in California, Texas, Washington, Florida and New Jersey.

This is not the only high-tech helper that Amazon uses. It also employs Robo-Stow, a large robotic arm to move orders, and is using a new inventory system to reduce unloading and processing time for orders.

Amazon has so far not eliminated any human jobs in order to make use of the Kiva robots.