Running a business is hard, but Tide makes it easier May 17, 2023 Claire Pedley, a 41-year-old mother of two, has one company with three phone lines. People will ring and expect to speak to a man “because obviously I don’t know anything about concrete”, she says. Claire likes to connect such callers to one of her alternative numbers and to hear the surprise in their voice when [...]
Tesco cuts price on 30 own brand products including pasta and oil as supermarket wars continue May 16, 2023 Tesco has announced another round of price cuts on its own-brand pasta and cooking oil as it sees deflation making its way through to cupboard essentials. The UK’s biggest supermarket is dropping the price of 30 products, with 15p off 500g and 1kg packs of own-brand pasta, 14p off its one litre vegetable oil and [...]
Some meat, yoghurt and vegetables have doubled in price in a year, new data shows May 16, 2023 Some meat, yoghurt and vegetables are among items that have doubled in price compared to a year ago, according to new figures from consumer group Which? The group urged Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to intervene on behalf of struggling consumers as its latest data shows food inflation remaining at “shockingly high levels”. The figures come ahead of Tuesday’s [...]
The Notebook: Victoria Scholar on Big Tech’s recovery, soaring sterling and luxury goods booming in China May 16, 2023 Where the City’s movers and shakers get a few things off their chest. Today, it’s Interactive Investor’s Victoria Scholar. Big Tech looks to be back in Vogue BIG Tech suffered painful declines in 2022 with sky-high inflation and central banks scrambling to keep a lid on rising prices. Now with US inflation easing, and the [...]
Supermarkets do butter to ease soaring prices for shoppers May 10, 2023 The price of a slice of toast with butter is about to get cheaper as some of the UK’s biggest supermarkets have slashed the price of the kitchen staples following criticism over high prices. Sainsbury’s said that as commodity prices started to fall on wheat and butter, it is now able to reduce the price [...]
We shouldn’t be running out of tomatoes because we can’t sort out our supply chains May 5, 2023 Over the last month, bad weather in Europe and Northern Africa led to certain salad items being in short supply across the UK. Leading supermarkets, including Tesco’s, Morrisons, Aldi and Lidl all limited the number of tomatoes, peppers and lettuce that consumers can buy. Product shortages aren’t necessarily unusual, but since the pandemic, they have [...]
Sainsbury’s profits takes inflation and cost of living hit as supermarket faces stark choice April 27, 2023 In its full year results for the year ending 4 March 2023, Sainsbury’s pre tax profits fell from £854m to £327m as the retailer battled to keep its pole position as one of the UK’s largest supermarkets. The supermarket giant said it was impacted by non-cash asset impairments, driven by a higher discount rate, and [...]
Grocery inflation dips by just 0.2 per cent as Aldi now has a tenth of the market April 25, 2023 Grocery price inflation dipped slightly in April – but consumers are still paying 17.3 per cent more than this time last year, figures show. Kantar warned that the fall from last month’s 17.5 per cent only meant that prices were not increasing as quickly after 10 months of double-digit growth. As consumers continued to find [...]
Week Ahead: Aldi and Lidl tightening the screw on Sainsbury’s as retailers fight to retain price-wary customers April 23, 2023 The supermarket giant is set to report a fall in annual pre-tax profits this week, posting up to £690 million, down from £730 million last year. According to the latest Kantar survey, Sainsbury’s reported a strong 12-week sales growth of 12 per cent at the end of March, but fell short of rivals Aldi and [...]
Will inflation ever fall back below 10 per cent? Yes, but we’ve been wrong before April 19, 2023 We find ourselves in the same situation again. UK inflation has topped the City and Bank of England’s expectations, hanging in the double digits in March at 10.1 per cent. The forecast was for it to slip to 9.8 per cent. Families and businesses will be forgiven for worrying whether it will ever fall back [...]