Waitrose PYOO (“pick your own offers”) ups game in supermarket price wars with Aldi, Lidl and big four June 17, 2015 Middle England favourite Waitrose has upped the stakes in the supermarket price wars with what it's calling "game-changing" discounts. The latest salvo in the battle with Aldi, Lidl and the big four – and adding a new acronym to our lingo almost as good as BOGOF – is "Pick Your Own Offers", or PYOO, which is [...]
Sainsbury’s and Tesco ditch Transport for London’s Tube station Click & Collect scheme June 17, 2015 It seems the retail revolution is still a little way off, after supermarket giants Sainsbury's and Tesco ditched a scheme introduced by Transport for London (TfL) to let shoppers collect their groceries at Tube stations. Read more: TfL given the green light to turn its HQ into flats The scheme, introduced amid much pomp and [...]
Former Tesco asset Blinkbox Music goes into administration less than six months after sale June 11, 2015 Blinkbox Music, the music streaming service sold off by Tesco in its asset fire sale, has gone into administration less than six months into its new ownership. Australian firm Guvera, which bought the company in January for significantly less than the £10m the supermarket paid to acquire it back in 2012, attempted to sell Blinkbox [...]
Around 1,000 in-store Tesco managers accept redundancy rather than take a pay cut June 11, 2015 More than a fifth of Tesco's in-store management have taken voluntary redundancy rather than move onto a lower rate of pay, as part of a huge restructure of the supermarket. Around 1,000 people have left the grocer, which has effectively stripped out two layers of management – deputy manager and line support – from [...]
George Osborne’s great government sell-off: Taxpayers risk getting burnt as sun may yet shine on RBS June 10, 2015 So after almost seven years, the moment has arrived. The symbolic importance of George Osborne’s announcement last night that the Treasury is to begin selling Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) shares at a loss is hard to overstate. “I’m not interested in what is easy – I’m interested in what is right,” he told [...]
Supermarket price war attracts short sellers to record positions in sector June 9, 2015 It's no secret UK supermarkets have been under the cosh both in terms of the ongoing price war with discounters Aldi and Lidl, as well as several problems of their own making. Now it seems short sellers are making hay while the sun shines. The sector has attracted record interest from short sellers, with [...]
Tesco’s Dunnhumby has another suitor as Hellman & Friedman join WPP, Nielsen and several private equity firms June 7, 2015 Yet another company has joined the clamor for a slice of Tesco's data business which was behind the supermarket's hugely successful Clubcard loyalty scheme. Hellman & Friedman, the US private equity firm, is the latest bidder said to be interested in Dunnhumby, joining a crowded line-up of potential buyers willing to splash out as much as [...]
Tesco: What assets has it sold off and what’s heading to the checkout as billion-pound South Korea sale considered? June 5, 2015 Streamlining, belt tightening, slimming down: call it what you will, but Tesco assets are making their way through the checkout at a swift pace, as the troubled supermarket attempts to raise funds for its turnaround. The latest item heading for the bagging area after reporting its biggest ever loss, is part of its large and [...]
Morrisons is the only big four grocer “currently on right track”, says Nielsen June 5, 2015 Morrisons waits for good news for months and then three come along at once. The supermarket – which has, until now, been one of the more unloved – has already had one set of figures prove it's the only one of the big four in growth, which in turn prompted a share price rally, [...]
Tesco boss Dave Lewis tackles food waste: Unsold food given to charities in new scheme June 4, 2015 Tesco boss Dave Lewis is taking steps to reduce food waste at the supermarket. New figures reveal the company has thrown away 55,400 tonnes of food over the past year, as he announced plans to give away unsold food that is still edible to charities, helping the homeless and other vulnerable groups. "No one wants to [...]