{"id":33842,"date":"2026-08-21T10:51:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T10:51:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/33842\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T10:51:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T10:51:14","slug":"esms-retail-wrap-continente-mercadona-sok-anora-carrefour-belgium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/33842\/","title":{"rendered":"ESM’s Retail Wrap \u2013 Continente, Mercadona, SOK, Anora, Carrefour Belgium"},"content":{"rendered":"

Portuguese retailer Continente<\/a> has relaunched its annual ‘Cadern\u00e3o’ recycling initiative, inviting shoppers to drop off used notebooks and paper to support national reforestation efforts during the back-to-school season.<\/p>\n

Partnering with stationery brand Oxford, Continente is accepting<\/a> paper products from any brand at store EcoSpots through 20 September.<\/p>\n

For every tonne of paper shoppers drop off, the campaign commits to planting 20 trees across Portugal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This year’s target aims to gather 100 tonnes of material \u2013 a volume that would fund the planting of 2,000 new trees.<\/p>\n

Shoppers can deposit notebooks and loose paper from any manufacturer, including items with plastic covers, metal spirals, and staples.<\/p>\n

They can drop off items at dedicated in-store EcoSpots or designated ‘Cadern\u00e3o’ collection carts across participating locations.<\/p>\n

Since launching in 2021, the programme has diverted 337 tonnes of paper from landfills, translating to a total pledge of 6,740 trees.<\/p>\n

Continente has planted over 5,100 trees to date and has scheduled another 1,620 for planting alongside the proceeds from the 2026 drive.<\/p>\n

Mercadona Invests In Network Expansion<\/p>\n

Spanish<\/a> supermarket chain Mercadona<\/a> is investing \u20ac150 million during 2026 to expand its store network.<\/p>\n

The plan<\/a> for this year foresees the opening of 12 stores, of which five have already opened since the beginning of 2026 – in Quinta do Lambert (Lisbon), Viseu, Covilh\u00e3, Abrunheira (Sintra), and Alhos Vedros (Moita).<\/p>\n

Mercadona plans to open its next store on 3 September (Beja), marking the chain’s entry into the southern Alentejo municipality, before opening its first supermarket in the district of Vila Real on 10 September.<\/p>\n

Mercadona\u2019s 2026 growth strategy focuses on expanding regional reach by entering three brand-new districts across Portugal, namely Vila Real, Faro and Beja.<\/p>\n

It is also building on its existing footprint in the \u00c9vora district to deepen coverage across the Alentejo region.<\/p>\n

SOK To Restructure Operations<\/p>\n

Finnish retail cooperative SOK<\/a> (Suomen Osuuskauppojen Keskuskunta) has announced<\/a> an organisational overhaul across its grocery, non-food, and speciality retail divisions to accelerate its digital strategy and increase competitiveness.<\/p>\n

The process, which SOK expects to conclude by 15 September, could result in the elimination of up to 130 positions.<\/p>\n

SOK added that it plans to create roughly 60 new roles focused on modernised operations, as management focuses on reassigning affected staff internally where possible.<\/p>\n

While S Group already holds a strong position in Finland\u2019s<\/a> e-commerce landscape, executives argue that the fast-moving shift toward omnichannel retail demands a more agile corporate structure.<\/p>\n

SOK CEO Hannu Krook explained, “Competition is global, and customers have entirely new expectations for Finnish retail […].<\/p>\n

\u201cOur main task as a cooperative retail group is to serve our customer-owners and to continue securing an affordable shopping basket and our cost competitiveness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anora Forms New Distribution Alliance<\/p>\n

Nordic wine and spirits brand Anora<\/a> has signed<\/a> a distribution agreement with Finnish syrup manufacturer Sweet \u2018n\u2019 Syrup Finland.<\/p>\n

Under the agreement, Anora will handle the distribution of Sweet \u2018n\u2019 Syrup\u2019s flagship brand, Modo syrups, across Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and the Baltics, effective 1 January 2027.<\/p>\n

The deal marks a strategic push for Anora into the rapidly growing non-alcoholic beverage sector, broadening its commercial footprint beyond traditional alcoholic lines.<\/p>\n

Modo syrups feature natural ingredients and have obtained the Finnish Key Flag certification, making them especially popular among professionals in the HoReCa sector.<\/p>\n

Kirsi Puntila, CEO of Anora, stated,\u00a0\u201cThis partnership aligns with our strategy to provide our customers and consumers with the most diverse beverage selection on the market.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carrefour Relaunches Discount Campaign<\/p>\n

Carrefour Belgium is relaunching<\/a> the Croc\u2019Prix discount campaign to boost household purchasing power all year long.<\/p>\n

Belgian household purchasing power is expected to decrease by 0.5% this year, according to the National Bank of Belgium.<\/p>\n

To help Belgian families, Carrefour<\/a> Belgium is reducing prices through the Croc\u2019Prix campaign on more than 500 private-label and branded products, such as nut mixes, cherry tomatoes, yoghurt and oat flakes.<\/p>\n

The retailer added that its focus is on products intended for children\u2019s school supplies and everyday household purchases. featuring an A or B Nutri-Score rating.<\/p>\n

The campaign is divided into two segments, with a long-term promotional programme, \u2018prix croqu\u00e9\u2019, and a temporary discount programme, \u2018promo \u00e0 croquer\u2019.<\/p>\n

With additional input from Julie Br\u00e9da.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Portuguese retailer Continente has relaunched its annual ‘Cadern\u00e3o’ recycling initiative, inviting shoppers to drop off used notebooks and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33843,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[7,9406],"class_list":["post-33842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-belgium","tag-belgium","tag-esm"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@be\/117133120850913124","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33842\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}