Prime Minister David Cameron appoints Alibaba’s Jack Ma to his Business Advisory Group October 19, 2015 Alibaba founder and executive chairman Jack Ma has been appointed to Prime Minister David Cameron's Business Advisory Group (BAG). Number 10 announced the appointment today, ahead of a four-day state visit by China's President Xi Jingping. Commenting on the appointment today, a Downing Street spokeswoman said: "This is about appointing someone who has real business [...]
Black Friday 2015 UK: Where and when to get the best discounts is already being hinted at by Tesco, Currys PC World, John Lewis and Amazon October 13, 2015 Brace yourselves: Black Friday is coming. Last year's retail bonanza-cum-bun-fight is back. This year it will be taking place on 27 November, meaning there are less than eight weeks to go. In 2014, it was the biggest single day for online sales of the year, and retailers are falling over themselves to make sure they [...]
Asda poaches Sainsbury’s executive Roger Burnley to be chief operating officer October 13, 2015 Asda has poached one of rival Sainsbury’s top executives as competition among the supermarket chains heats up. Sainsbury’s retail and operations director Roger Burnley is jumping ship to take up the role of chief operating officer at Asda, the Walmart-owned group announced this morning. The appointment comes after Asda reported its worst ever quarterly result in the 16 [...]
Tesco launches “immediate” price match guarantee against Sainsbury, Asda and Morrisons October 12, 2015 Tesco has launched a new "immediate" price match service, promising to give money back to customers if they could have bought branded goods cheaper elsewhere. Tesco's Brand Guarantee will enable customers to receive money off their bill at the checkout – both in person and online – if the overall cost of their branded grocery shop [...]
Aldi is launching online shopping in 2016, taking on Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons in e-commerce, as discount supermarket reports record UK sales September 28, 2015 Aldi will venture into online shopping for the first time with plans to sell wine online from early 2016, taking on rivals Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and Morrisons on new territory. Further non-food "special buys" will follow, and customers will have the choice of having items delivered to their homes or picking them up from third-party [...]
Oil prices: UK supermarkets Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s in petrol price war as they match crude oil price decline September 24, 2015 The UK’s supermarkets kicked off yet another price war yesterday, with Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s all slashing petrol prices by up to 2p per litre (ppl). Morrisons, which has 336 petrol stations in the UK, announced that it was making its third petrol price cut in four weeks. “The falling wholesale price of [...]
Amazon might be planning to launch online food service Fresh in the UK – but against Tesco, Sainsbury, Asda and other major players, has it bitten off more than it can chew? September 23, 2015 If there were an award for the company that most shaped the retail zeitgeist over the past 10 years, then Amazon would most certainly be a contender. Its innovations have changed the way we shop. Such a pioneering status inevitably creates a great deal of interest. However, along with the interest come some hype: including the [...]
Sainsbury’s beats Tesco, Asda and Morrisons as only top supermarket in growth while Kantar warns of impact Amazon Fresh will have on sector September 22, 2015 Yet more bad data for the Big Four was released today – plus a hint that there could be a fresh problem facing the UK's supermarket sector, in the form of Amazon Fresh. Sainsbury was the only supermarket among the Big Four to keep pace with the sector's growth over the last quarter, with Asda's [...]
Ex-Sainsbury’s boss Justin King takes on first big role since leaving September 7, 2015 The former chief executive of Sainsbury's, Justin King, is set to take on his first major role since leaving the supermarket last year. King, who is widely credited with reversing the fortunes of the supermarket chain, is due to become vice-chairman of private equity firm Terra Firma Capital Partners. "A source close to Terra Firma [...]
Milk emergency: Farmers face water cannons as they stage huge protest in Brussels against falling prices September 7, 2015 Today, thousands of farmers have driven their tractors into Brussels to protest against falling milk prices in Europe. They are gathering outside the headquarters of the European Union, bringing traffic to a standstill. The protest coincides with an emergency meeting held by the EU Agriculture Council in the Belgian capital. Anti-riot police have [...]