Asda to cut 1,360 jobs in management restructure July 3, 2014 Asda has announced that it will be making 1,360 employees redundant over the next three months. The supermarket chain, which is owned by US-based Walmart, had previously said that there would be job losses but did not confirm the number until now. The cuts are being made to help create more flexible management structures across [...]
Morrisons and Tesco lose grip on market share and sales July 1, 2014 Morrisons and Tesco have both suffered another heavy fall in sales and market share in the last 12 weeks despite efforts to slash prices and win customers back into their stores. Data released yesterday from Kantar Worldpanel showed that overall grocery market grew by 2.8 per cent year-on-year in the 12 weeks to 22 June, [...]
As Ocado posts a half-year profit, will the business now go from strength to strength? July 1, 2014 Jonathan Jackson, a partner and head of equities at Killik & Co, says Yes. Ocado offers a unique way to play the expected strong growth in the UK online grocery market. The group offers investors the potential to benefit from its industry-leading intellectual property, built up over 13 years of investment in technology, to more [...]
Morrisons warns of discounters’ growing threat June 26, 2014 MORRISONS boss Dalton Philips warned yesterday that discounters could grow to as much as 25 per cent of the grocery market if supermarkets fail to “face the brutal reality” of the changes taking place and fight back. Speaking at the British Retail Consortium’s annual symposium, Philips said the threat posed to the UK’s big four [...]
Amazon’s lockers arrive in London Tube station car parks June 25, 2014 Amazon has introduced new lockers at Finchley Central and Newbury Park tube station car parks in a partnership between the online retail giant and Transport for London that will let customers collect their purchases at the lockers – like they can do in some Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury’s car parks. Amazon has lockers in over [...]
Morrisons ramps up assault on rival supermarkets after slashing more prices June 23, 2014 Morrisons has launched a fresh round of price cuts today as the troubled supermarket group steps up its efforts to win back shoppers defecting to cheaper rivals. Britain’s fourth-largest grocer will cut the price of a further 135 grocery and household products today by an average 14 per cent. “These are permanent price cuts, not [...]
Danish discount retailer Netto teams up with Sainsbury’s in UK return June 20, 2014 Danish international discount grocery retailer Netto is returning to the UK, teaming up with Sainsbury's as the supermarket chain attempts to take on rivals Aldi and Lidl. This is an attempt by Sainsbury's to reposition itself, via Netto, to tackle the burgeoning discount store market that has grown rapidly in recent years and started [...]
Samsung’s #Selfie4England backfires June 19, 2014 There is a long, rich and humorous history of hashtags backfiring on corporates but it doesn’t seem to stop them – step forward Samsung, who has been running the #Selfie4England since England’s first game last week. Let’s just say it’s been going wrong almost as much as right. A quick scan of the [...]
Bottom Line: As the going gets tough, Justin King gets going June 11, 2014 There was a lot of back-slapping at Sainsbury’s yesterday, with Justin King talking up his successor, and his successor lavishing praise on the soon-to-depart chief executive. “When Justin started at the business we were serving 14m customers a week, and now we’re serving 24m a week. That’s a great achievement,” enthused Mike Coupe. King insists the [...]
Sainsbury’s to expand clothing sales by trialling online launch June 9, 2014 Sainsbury is to take on its high street and supermarket rivals by selling its clothing brand Tu online for the first time. The retailer said yesterday that it will pilot selling clothing to around 200 “invited” customers in the Midlands in August, which if successful would then be rolled out nationwide. It comes after people [...]