More bad news for Tesco bosses as Harris + Hoole makes big loss December 2, 2014 COFFEE chain Harris + Hoole, which is part-owned by troubled supermarket giant Tesco, announced a £12.8m pre-tax loss yesterday on filing its annual accounts. The company, which was forced to close six branches earlier this year following disappointing trading figures, said the results represent a period of investment for the fledgling coffee business, and reported [...]
YouTube ranking: John Lewis, Sainsbury’s, Burberry and Marks and Spencer have the best Christmas ads of 2014 December 2, 2014 It’s only the second day of December, but we've already been treated to a sneak peak of the joy ahead for the Christmas season via the medium of advertising. This year, retailers battled it out with penguins, soldiers and celebs in a bid to get the public into the festive spirit and spend their pennies- although [...]
Which supermarket wine wins top of the shops? Corks pop as M&S nets 73 medals December 2, 2014 Here's one thing the discounters aren't winning at. Aldi may just have launched its own range of fine wines, but this Christmas we'll be raising a toast to Marks & Spencer, which has just netted 73 medals at the International Wine Challenge (IWC). The supermarket won five gold medals, 21 silvers and 47 bronzes for [...]
Goodbye Christmas jumpers – hello Christmas suits? The must-have self-purchase for 2014 revealed. Maybe December 2, 2014 Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a novelty outfit of some sort. The Christmas jumper has been a long-time favourite but, as with the Shoreditch beard that has grown in popularity over a similar period, it's safe to say we've now reached peak-jumper. Last year every retailer from Tesco to John Lewis jumped on the [...]
2014 Black Friday, Cyber and Manic Mondays set to break all UK records December 1, 2014 Black Friday became a weekend-long shopping spree yesterday as consumers were set to spend about £650m during Cyber Monday. Yesterday marked another pre-Christmas internet shopping frenzy, and industry body IMRG estimated that about £451,000 was spent per minute – making it the busiest online shopping day ever and a 26 per cent increase on last year. Market [...]
Lewis shakes up Tesco management structure December 1, 2014 TROUBLED retailer Tesco yesterday announced a new management structure that will see group chief executive Dave Lewis temporarily take over the day-to-day leadership of the UK operation. In other changes that will take effect on 1 January, Robin Terrell, its multi-channel director who stepped in to lead the UK business in September after the discovery [...]
The best take-away Christmas lunch: From Benugo’s hot roast turkey sandwich to Itsu’s “aggressively disgusting” pot of chicken December 1, 2014 December is upon us and it’s now perfectly acceptable to buy a take-away Christmas lunch – our sandwich committee checked out some of the most popular. Fred’s at Tesco Thanksgiving Sandwich Turkey, vegetable crisps, tomato, lettuce, cucumber, brie ★★★☆☆ Full marks for presentation but zero for practicality; trying to fit this [...]
Tesco executive Matt Simister returns as supermarket restructures top team in aftermath of profits overstatement December 1, 2014 Tesco has restructured its top team in the wake of its profit overstatement, with one of the executives who stepped aside during the investigation into its accounting irregularities returning to the company. Matt Simister, who was one of several executives to step aside in September, will return to his role as group food sourcing [...]
The best places to find Cyber Monday deals 2014: John Lewis, Tesco, Asos, Marks and Spencer, Game, Samsung, Halfords and Morrisons December 1, 2014 Beleaguered shoppers are still nursing their bruises and retailers are still fixing up their stores following UK's biggest-ever "Black Friday", yet the deals keep on coming. Tomorrow is "Cyber Monday", the internet's biggest shopping day of the year when online retailers offer consumers another chance to grab a bargain as the Christmas shopping season [...]
Vodafone eyes up Tesco’s video service Blinkbox November 30, 2014 Vodafone is eyeing up Tesco’s video streaming service Blinkbox following its chief executive’s comments that the firm intends to push into home broadband and TV in the UK next year. While the mobile operator is looking at Blinkbox, along with a number of other interested parties, it is “nowhere near final terms on a deal,” [...]