Who Gives a Crap: The toilet roll tycoon making a splash Retail Simon Griffiths founded Who Gives a Crap toilet paper with the philanthropic aim of ensuring everyone has access to a clean toilet. He has raised £11m so far, but Griffiths tells Felix Armstrong that’s not nearly enough “I was always an entrepreneurial kid at school,” Simon Griffiths says, as he explains the complex process of [...]
BRC chief: Red tape ‘weighs heavily’ on retailers Retail Helen Dickinson, the boss of leading trade body the British Retail Consortium, believes red tape “weighs heavily” on retailers. She speaks to Felix Armstrong about food inflation, workers’ rights and her meeting with the Chancellor. Helen Dickinson was six weeks into her job as chief executive of the BRC when the horsemeat scandal landed on [...]
Sainsbury’s to deliver food inflation update as Argos future could be settled Retail After Tesco hit back against fears of double-digit food inflation last week, supermarket rival Sainsbury’s is set to update the market this week. From the Iran war to the future of Argos, Felix Armstrong looks ahead to a landmark set of results due on Thursday. Sainsbury’s spooked shoppers last week when it threatened people caught swapping [...]
Co-op merger to bring huge shakeup to retail and funeral giant April 9, 2026 The Co-op Group is preparing to takeover the Southern Co-op, in a merger which would bring a major shakeup to the retail and funeral giant in its bid to move on from a crushing cyber attack. The deal would see the group snap up around 300 food stores, funeral branches and Starbucks coffee shops. The [...]
Investors pile into Sainsbury’s, but will it last? November 6, 2025 Sainsbury’s has proved a good bet for investors this year as the grocer goes from strength to strength, but will it last into 2026? The UK’s second-largest supermarket has seen a 50 per cent uplift in share price since April, with another five per cent jump following better-than-expected results on Thursday. It’s a marked departure [...]
Fresh food inflation continues despite fall in overall shop prices October 28, 2025 The price of fresh food has continued to climb despite a broader softening in inflation at UK shops, according to new data. Fresh food inflation increased to 4.3 per cent year on year in October, against growth of 4.1 per cent in September and above the three-month average of 4.2 per cent, according to the [...]
Meat and coffee prices drive grocery price inflation October 14, 2025 Grocery price inflation in the UK passed five per cent in September to its highest level since July after the cost of fresh meat and coffee jumped. Like-for-like grocery price inflation rose to 5.2 per cent over the four weeks to 5 October versus the same period last year, according to the latest figures from Worldpanel [...]
Amazon Fresh to close all UK stores September 23, 2025 Amazon is set to close all 19 of its Amazon Fresh stores in the UK, just four years after launching its first supermarket outlet in London. It has been revealed that the tech giant plans to convert up to five of these locations into Whole Foods Market stores, a US organic food chain it acquired [...]
Shopper confidence falls as Brits expect food inflation to climb September 9, 2025 Surging food inflation has dented Brits’ confidence at supermarkets, with many expecting food prices to climb even further, according to new data. Inflation at the grocers hit five per cent in the four weeks ended August 10, down from 5.2 per cent in the previous month but well above the wider UK rate of 3.6 [...]
Asda boss slams tax hikes: ‘Businesses have to be allowed to invest’ August 28, 2025 Asda chair Allan Leighton has warned that the Government must change the way it thinks about growth or risk a stagnating economy. Ahead of Asda’s quarterly results – where the grocer reported its fourth consecutive quarter of improving like-for-like sales – Leighton said that the company has a “simple philosophy… if you want growth, you [...]