Brits spent almost £1bn this Valentines Day March 5, 2025 Brits spent almost £1bn on flowers, gifts, and at-home meals this Valentine’s Day as shoppers sought to create a special occasion at home rather than splashing out at a restaurant. According to the latest NIQ Till Tracker, £962m was spent on food and gifting on Valentine’s Day, with the biggest growth in spending on flowers, [...]
Supermarket sales rise, but Asda continues to struggle March 4, 2025 Sales at UK supermarkets rose above inflation in February as Brits looked for cost-effective ways to treat themselves. Take-home sales at the grocers rose by 3.6 per cent over the four weeks to 23 February, while prices rose 3.3 per cent, according to Kantar. However, the headline figure masked a gulf between the performance of [...]
Asda ditches Aldi and Lidl price match promise just a year after launch January 29, 2025 Asda has axed its price-matching scheme with Aldi and Lidl in a bid to stop “dancing to the tune of the discounters”, according to reports. The Leeds-based firm, which in January 2024 became the first of the UK’s ‘big four’ to offer the scheme, said it wanted to focus on “its own great Asda prices, [...]
The Week in Business: Reeves tries to rescue the non-doms January 24, 2025 It’s a funny old world when the pleas of pensioners, farmers and shopkeepers fall on deaf ears but a Labour chancellor flies to Davos to break the news that she’s “listened to the concerns of the non-dom community” – and will be watering down her assault on their tax arrangements. Let’s take a look at [...]
Inheritance tax on farms: Lidl, Tesco and Aldi join demands for consultation January 22, 2025 Supermarkets Lidl, Tesco and Aldi have added their names to calls for a consultation over the government’s reforms to inheritance tax, citing concerns the changes would dent farmer confidence and choke off investment. In an unusual string of interventions, the retailers rode to the defence of farmers’ calls to pause the changes to Agricultural Property [...]
Ocado shares surge after online grocer reports record-breaking year January 14, 2025 Ocado Retail’s sales boomed in the weeks leading up to Christmas, vastly outperforming the broader market with double-digit revenue and customer growth. In a trading update issued today, the company, a 50:50 joint venture between Ocado and Marks and Spencer, reported revenue growth of 17.5 per cent in the 13 weeks to 1 December. Ocado [...]
Tesco shares drop despite bumper Christmas trading January 9, 2025 Tesco shares dropped two per cent in early deals this morning despite the retailer reporting abumper festive trading period. Food sales rose by 4.7 per cent in the six weeks to January 4, with a “particularly strong contribution” from fresh food, the grocer said. That’s more than double the market average of 2.1 per cent. [...]
Grocery spending hit record high at Christmas as Brits favour food over gifts January 7, 2025 Grocery spending hit a record high this Christmas as Brits dined out on premium goods and fizz, in a marked contrast to the anaemic growth in retail spending. Overall take-home sales at the grocers rose by 2.1 per cent over the four weeks to 29 December compared with last year. Brits splashed out on premium [...]
Asda needs to ‘dig down into its soul’ and recover sense of purpose, say analysts December 9, 2024 Asda needs to “dig down into its soul” and reshape its pitch to customers if it wants to tackle the rising threat from the likes of Aldi and Lidl following a rollercoaster 2024, analysts have warned. The Leeds-headquartered supermarket giant has not been far from the headlines all year amid debt struggles, strikes, falling sales [...]
Budget uncertainty has gone but odds have been stacked against business November 22, 2024 If Rachel Reeves thought certainty would cure the UK economy’s growth problem, she was wrong. She’s just pitted consumers against retailers. This data-heavy week has reflected that uncertainty over the Budget has not been cured by policy which heaps pressure on business. We’ve had inflation rising, debt compounded, inheritance tax receipts soaring, farmers protesting, the [...]