Everything you need to know about Black Friday: Get a Samsung TV, Apple iPad, DKNY perfume and more all on the cheap November 25, 2016 If you're trying to buy all your Christmas presents online without your boss noticing, we're on hand to help. Here's everything we know about Black Friday deals so far, all in one place: John Lewis The department store has announced deals on Samsung TVs, KitchenAids, DKNY perfume, casserole dishes and more. Apple The tech giant [...]
Editor’s notes: Still in shock over Brexit? Get a grip November 25, 2016 Some corners of our national life are finding it harder to adapt to the new post-referendum reality than others. Earlier this week I joined the cream of the British commentariat at the annual Comment Awards, celebrating the best columns and comment pieces of 2016. As you know, we have a stable of excellent columnists here [...]
Two thirds of chickens sold in supermarkets are infected with E.coli November 21, 2016 Scientists have found that two thirds of chickens in UK supermarkets are contaminated with E.coli. The study from Public Health England and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) claimed that 78 per cent of chickens sold in high streets in England contained an antibiotic-resistant E.coli strain. This figure dropped to 53 per [...]
Asda records ninth consecutive quarterly sales drop November 17, 2016 Asda has reported yet another sizeable drop in sales. The struggling retailer has posted a like-for-like sales drop of 5.8 per cent in the three months to the end of September. This is the the ninth quarterly fall in sales in a row for the company which is suffering due to intense price competition from discount [...]
Sales at Tesco are growing at their fastest rate in three years – but Morrisons and Asda are still suffering November 15, 2016 The supertanker that is Tesco continues to change its course, after new figures suggested its sales rose to their highest in three years in the last quarter. Data by Kantar Worldpanel showed Tesco sales rose 2.2 per cent in the 12 weeks to 6 November, putting its market share at 28.2 per cent – up from [...]
Do schmaltzy Christmas ads cheer up revenues? November 15, 2016 What do a robin, a boxer dog, a cartoon character called Dave and Mrs Santa Claus have in common? It may sound like the start of a bad joke but this motley crew all have starring roles in 2016's Christmas adverts for major retailers. So far, the M&S ad appears to be the biggest hit [...]
Christmas adverts rated: Which retailer has made the best ad of 2016? November 12, 2016 Argos A gang of multicoloured yetis on ice skates stealing unattended electrical items from a pleasant-looking neighbourhood. Does anything say ‘come and visit our store’ less? ★☆☆☆☆ Aldi Good-looking food. But the poor carrot, Kevin, who we become attached to in this one-minute advert, is surely destined to meet an unfortunate ending. ★★★☆☆ Ebay Definitely [...]
Singles Day: What can British retailers learn from China’s version of Black Friday? November 11, 2016 Today marks the world’s largest e-commerce event. No, it’s not Black Friday yet – Singles Day is taking place in China, and it’s bigger than Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined. At midnight local time it took Alibaba just 52 seconds to take its first 1bn renminbi (£116m) and just under seven minutes to reach 10bn [...]
Sainsbury’s like-for-like sales fell for its first half, but statutory profit is up November 9, 2016 Sainsbury's like-for-like sales excluding fuel fell by one per cent in the its first half as the supermarket faces an uphill struggle to entice customers through its doors. The company eked out more profit however. Sainsbury's share fell at the open, ditching almost five per cent after it warned second half underlying profit is expected [...]
Asda vows to clean up its act after probe finds poor home delivery hygiene standards November 2, 2016 Supermarket Asda has taken “immediate action” to improve the standards of its home delivery service after an investigation exposed unhygienic conditions. Six in 10 deliveries were found to be “dirty or worse” by an undercover BBC Watchdog team, which launched the probe after a whistleblower raised concerns. Read more: Take that, Aldi: Tesco just gained [...]