Store wars: Sainsbury’s and Asda mega-merger heats up race to become Britain’s ultimate supermarket superpower April 30, 2018 The race to become Britain’s ultimate supermarket superpower grew suddenly more interesting over the weekend as Sainsbury’s and Walmart-owned Asda revealed they are in merger talks to become Britain’s largest grocer. The two supermarkets, which have both lost market share, are seeking to join forces in a bid to topple Tesco, the current market leader [...]
Carlyle buys Hardy’s wine owner Accolade in $1bn deal April 5, 2018 US private equity giant Carlyle has bought Australia’s Accolade Wine, owner of brands such as Hardy’s, for one billion Australian dollars (£550m). Accolade Wine was owned by Australian private equity firm Champ Private Equity, which created Accolade in 2011 after buying two wine businesses from Constellation Brands for £159m. Read more: Lidl’s created a chatbot [...]
NatWest has recruited a “digital human” called Cora to help customers February 21, 2018 NatWest has developed a new “digital human” prototype called Cora to have conversations with customers and help them out with some 200 banking queries. Since the start of last year, NatWest has been using a text-based chat bot which customers can use on its online help pages. Now though, the bank has drawn upon “advances [...]
John Lewis, Waitrose and Lidl: The top 10 retailers with the best customer shopping experience – Forrester February 15, 2018 Middle England favourites John Lewis and Waitrose continue to triumph when it comes to offering shoppers the best customer experience – but Lidl is racing ahead of rivals. The discounter climbed to ninth – a rise of six places – in an annual ranking of the best customer shopping experience, taking into account things such [...]
Aldi knocks Waitrose off supermarket top spot while shoppers turn to Iceland and Ocado for online groceries February 12, 2018 Aldi has knocked Waitrose off the top spot as the UK’s favourite supermarket for in-store shopping. Customers rated their experience at the budget retailer as best in Which?’s annual survey. Last year’s most popular supermarket Waitrose fell to fourth-highest, below Marks & Spencer and Lidl. Respondents rated Aldi’s value for money very highly, and were [...]
‘Supermarket giants doomed’ – no, just history repeating February 2, 2018 Investors, analysts, journalists or other market commentators often become convinced some scenario or trend definitely will or will not play out. Check back a few years later, however – always anyone bothers – and that certainty may prove unwarranted. Three or four years ago, for example, many were arguing it was ‘game over’ for supermarket [...]
The City of London is bracing itself for a raft of UK retail collapses in 2018 January 12, 2018 Retailers painted a gloomy picture of the high street this week as several big names failed to cash in on the Christmas shopping season. Gloomy financial updates from household favourites such as Marks and Spencer (M&S), Debenhams, and House of Fraser prompted analysts to signal several retail collapses may be on the cards in 2018. [...]
Kantar figures: Lidl maintains position as UK’s fastest growing grocer as Sainsbury’s outpaces Big Four November 14, 2017 Lidl has kept its crown as the UK’s fastest growing grocer for a fifth quarter in a row, as Sainsbury’s becomes the best performing of the Big Four. Figures published by Kantar Worldpanel this morning show that sales were up 15.1 per cent at Lidl in the 12 weeks to 5 November, with 10.6m households [...]
Suits you: Supermarket fashion is turning heads in the UK October 24, 2017 Cheap? Check. Convenience? Check. Choice? Check. Sainsbury’s launched a rival to Savile Row in outlets this week, giving shoppers a chance to buy suits with their weekly shop. The move is a classic example of how wafer-thin margins and the dog fight for market share is forcing supermarkets to turn towards different revenue streams – [...]
Sales rise but market share falls for Big Four grocers as Aldi and Lidl continue to grow October 17, 2017 Each of the big four grocers has grown sales but seen a decrease in market share as Aldi and Lidl can now boast half the total market’s growth, new figures show. Morrisons was the fastest growing of the large retailers, with sales up 2.8 per cent in the 12 weeks to 8 October, followed by [...]