As UK enters deflation, Asda boss Andy Clarke calls 2015 supermarkets’ “most challenging year yet” May 19, 2015 On the day the UK was pushed into deflation for the first time since 1962 by a dive in food prices, Asda chief executive Andy Clarke has called 2015 the "most challenging year" of the recovery for supermarkets. Read more: Analysts say deflation will not be here to stay In the supermarket's first quarter results statement [...]
New Look confirms £780m sale to South African magnate Christo Wiese’s Brait May 15, 2015 Britain’s second-largest women’s clothing retailer confirmed today that it has a new owner. Private equity firm Brait, owned by South African billionaire Christol Wiese, has bought a 90 per cent stake in the fashion chain in a £780m deal. The figure is significantly less than the £1.9bn mooted in reports. The deal marks the first [...]
Record grocery deflation hurts sales at Tesco, Asda and Morrisons and Sainsbury’s May 6, 2015 All four of Britain’s major supermarkets saw sales fall over the last 12 weeks, while the discounters continued to slow, as grocery price deflation reached another record low, figures released yesterday show. Sainsbury’s was the strongest performer among the big four despite a 0.2 per cent fall in sales thanks to its increased focus on [...]
Supermarket share: Rise of discounters Aldi and Lidl continues – although Sainsbury’s performs well May 6, 2015 Sales at discounters Aldi and Lidl grew 15 per cent and 10 per cent respectively in the past year, data published this morning shows. On the day Sainsbury's posted its first loss in 10 years, that's significant. More on this story: Sainsbury's reports its first loss in a decade The figures, published by Kantar Worldpanel, [...]
How Sainsbury’s, Tesco and even discounters Aldi and Lidl reined in property expansion plans and ended the supermarket turf wars May 6, 2015 In the never-ending quest for growth, for decades supermarkets held a major arsenal in their weaponry – land. But not any more. Sainsbury's today revealed it took a £682m writedown on its property portfolio in another sign the decades-long land grab by supermarkets has failed to pay off. Tesco's property writedowns run into the billions [...]
Aldi and Lidl expansion plans speed ahead of Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Asda in supermarket wars with five times as many planning applications May 5, 2015 Rival German discounters continue to outpace the UK's "big four" in the supermarket wars with ambitious plans for expansion five times the rate of Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons, and Asda combined. While Tesco and Morrisons have been forced to shutter stores in the midst of declining sales and squeezed margins, Aldi and Lidl have submitted plans [...]
Sainsbury’s braced for first loss in a decade as supermarkets move to downsize May 5, 2015 Battling with excess space and a revival at Tesco, Sainsbury’s is having to fight harder than ever. It is early on a weekday morning, and the first wave of customers are yet to arrive at Sainsbury’s revamped store in Wandsworth – its aisles stacked high with everything from garden furniture to Le Creuset-style saucepans [...]
Zoopla snaps up price comparison website uSwitch in £190m deal April 30, 2015 ZOOPLA has bought price comparison website uSwitch for up to £190m as the property portal seeks to expand its reach into other household consumer services. Shares in the company rocketed 16.4 per cent yesterday as Zoopla announced it will pay £160m plus a performance-based fee of up to £30m for uSwitch’s parent company Ulysses Enterprises, [...]
Sainsbury’s to shed 800 store jobs in bid to save £500m in supermarket price war April 23, 2015 Sainsbury’s is set to axe 800 jobs in stores as part of a shake-up aimed at saving £500m over the next three years to better position itself in the ongoing supermarket price war. The supermarket chain said yesterday that it plans to remove department and deputy managers from certain stores in order to invest [...]
Retailers slammed for “dodgy” discounting practices in super-complaint to CMA April 21, 2015 Retailers could face an investigation into their discounts and promotional activity after consumer campaigning group Which filed a “super-complaint” to the Competition and Markets Authority. Which claims retailers are “confusing consumers with tactics that exaggerate discounts and manipulate shoppers”, arguing they create “the illusion of savings that don't exist”. The complaint comes on the [...]