The European Commission is stepping up efforts to increase domestic production of protein crops, aiming to reduce reliance on imports, strengthen supply resilience and support more sustainable farming systems.

Under its new Protein Action Plan, published in July 2026, the Commission aims to raise the share of protein from oilseeds and protein crops used as animal feed that is produced in the EU from 25.8% today to 35% by 2035. The focus is on crops such as pulses and soya that can be grown under European conditions.

The EU remains particularly dependent on imports for high-protein feed. In 2025, only 25% of protein from oilseeds and protein crops used as animal feed was sourced within the EU. Soya accounts for the largest share of these imports: in 2024–25, the EU imported 13.4 million tonnes of soya bean and soya meal protein, mainly from Brazil, Argentina and the United States.

Aldi Süd has acquired a minority stake in DALI Everyday Grocery, a fast-growing hard discounter in the Philippines. DALI operates more than 1,300 stores and will remain independently managed following the transaction.

Besides the name being an anagram of Aldi, founded in 2020, DALI follows a small format, limited assortment model focused on everyday essentials. Its stores typically offer a relatively narrow selection of food and non-food products, with private label products forming an important part of the range. The retailer operates mainly in densely populated residential areas and uses simple store formats and bulk displays to keep operating costs low.

Aldi Süd says the investment will support DALI’s continued expansion across the Philippines, while its local management team retains operational responsibility. The transaction gives Aldi Süd a presence in the Philippine grocery market alongside its existing operations in China and other international markets.

Consumers are becoming more confident in their ability to make good food choices, but remain sceptical about the information they use to make them. That is the central theme of the latest "Who do consumers believe?" report from the EIT Food Consumer Observatory.

The report looks at food literacy, perceived knowledge and trusted sources of information across 18 European countries. It finds that 72% of consumers consider their knowledge about the healthiness of food sufficient, while 62% say they can determine how healthy a particular food is. Knowledge around sustainability is less developed: 52% feel sufficiently knowledgeable, and 47% say they can judge how sustainable a food is.

At the same time, consumers appear increasingly confident in assessing information for themselves. The proportion who say they can distinguish reliable from unreliable food information rose from 43% to 49% between 2024 and 2025. Yet fewer than half consider food information generally reliable.

Colruyt Group is finding a new way to connect exercise with grocery shopping, through Move & Save, a family subscription linking its Jims fitness clubs with its supermarket business.

The concept is straightforward: families paying €14.99 a week for a Jims membership can earn €5 in Xtra shopping credit, through Colruyt’s loyalty programme, when they collectively complete at least three workouts in a week. The credit can be used for fruit, vegetables and potatoes, creating a direct link between exercise and fresh food.

The initiative is notable because Jims is not an external partner but part of Colruyt Group itself. The Belgian retailer acquired a majority stake in the fitness chain in 2018 and subsequently took full ownership. That gives the chain the opportunity to connect two businesses that traditionally operate in very different parts of the consumer journey.

For Colruyt, Move & Save is another expression of its ambition to develop from a food retailer into a broader “food & health retailer.” For Jims, it gives the fitness business another role within the group’s wider customer ecosystem.

With the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) in application since 12 August, the first weeks of real-world experience are revealing where the mandate is proving difficult to implement. Its objectives remain broadly supported: reducing packaging waste, improving recyclability and creating a more consistent framework across Europe. The frustration is increasingly about how those objectives translate into day-to-day business.

One immediate pressure point is Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). In simple terms, EPR makes the producer responsible for the packaging it places on the market, including its collection, sorting and recycling, with associated registration, reporting and financial obligations.

This is particularly significant for private label. The Commission's updated FAQs have clarified that a retailer's own brand packaging will generally make the retailer the relevant producer/manufacturer, even where standard packaging is selected and production is outsourced. The practical difficulty is that legal responsibility and access to information do not necessarily sit in the same place. Contract manufacturers and packaging suppliers may hold much of the detailed material and component data needed to demonstrate compliance.

E. Leclerc’s private label business continues to expand, with Scamark, its private label subsidiary, reporting €10.8 billion in revenue in 2025 and 4.9 billion consumer units sold. The business expects sales volume to pass five billion units this year.

Growth has accelerated in 2026. By the end of week 36, volumes were 3.7% higher year on year, while revenue had reached €7.7 billion, up 3%. Scamark currently manages around 7,500 product lines, with more than 350 new products launched in 2025.

Marque Repère remains by far the largest of its private label brands, accounting for 81% of units sold in 2025. Eco+ represented a further 15%, with the remaining volume spread across several smaller brands.

Price remains an important part of the retailer's proposition. Scamark estimates that its products are, on average, around 50% cheaper than national brands, although the difference varies significantly between categories. At the same time, it is putting greater emphasis on developing products rather than simply offering lower-priced versions of existing branded products.

The growth is also placing greater emphasis on sourcing and supply. Scamark works with around 900 suppliers, including 350 French SMEs, and says securing raw materials and production capacity is becoming increasingly important as demand grows.

The Summit brings together industry leaders to explore the future of store brands in one of Europe's most competitive grocery markets. Using the UK as a case study, the programme examines private label growth, changing consumer behaviour, supply chain resilience, retailer-supplier collaboration, sustainability, and the impact of AI. Attendees will gain insights from leading experts, including representatives from Morrisons, The Grocer, IGD, McBride, Europanel, ING, Strategy&, and TrendWatching. Highlights include exclusive retailer store visits, hands-on AI workshops, and networking at Old Trafford Stadium. The Summit offers a unique opportunity to understand the forces shaping private label, exchange ideas with peers, and experience the UK market firsthand.  For the full programme, click here.

Smart shopping carts could be becoming more than a convenience tool. New research from Bayes Business School, based on 12,418 shopping trips at a major German supermarket chain, found that customers actively using smart-cart features spent an average of €30.18 per visit, versus €22.89 for non-users, a difference of 32%. They also bought 25% more items and spent 23% longer in store.

The numbers are striking, but they do not prove that smart carts cause higher spending. Users may already differ from other shoppers. The study also found that more digital interaction is not necessarily better: among “superusers”, basket value and promotion conversion eventually declined.

One finding may be particularly relevant for grocery strategy. Shoppers who uploaded a shopping list bought fewer items, but those items were of higher value, and they completed their trips faster, while remaining receptive to relevant promotions. The opportunity, therefore, may lie less in maximising screen interactions than in making them useful.

Artificial intelligence is moving rapidly from retail experimentation to a source of competitive advantage across Europe. The 2026 report Rewiring Retail in Europe: The AI Imperative, from McKinsey & Company and EuroCommerce, estimates that end-to-end AI transformation could unlock €240–320 billion in economic value for European retail over the next five years, equivalent to a potential four to ten percentage points improvement in operating profit.

For retailers, the implications are particularly tangible. The report identifies pricing, promotions, assortment optimisation and supplier negotiations among the highest-value AI applications. Yet these commercial areas remain relatively underfunded: just 15% AI investment is concentrated in the commercial domain.

AI is also expected to reshape demand forecasting and supply chain management, enabling more accurate decisions around inventory, ranges and product availability. Combined with richer consumer data, this could accelerate the development of more targeted assortments and reduce waste and inefficiency.

Amazon’s latest European investment plans suggest that grocery remains firmly on the agenda, but its strategy is increasingly centred on online delivery rather than physical stores.

In June, Amazon announced more than €10 billion in additional investment in its European fulfilment network, on top of the more than €60 billion that it invested in the region in 2025, with robotics and automation at the centre. The next-generation Proteus robot, Vulcan picking technology and the new STARK system are designed to increase warehouse efficiency and reduce physically demanding work. Amazon also plans to add 25,000 fulfilment-centre jobs across Europe.

For grocery, the significance lies in what this infrastructure can enable. Amazon has been expanding rapid delivery while building a model that combines groceries with the rest of its vast product catalogue. In the UK, customers in parts of London can now add fresh produce, meat, dairy, bread and frozen food to conventional Amazon orders for same-day delivery. The company is also expanding partnerships with grocery retailers including Iceland, Morrisons and Co-op.