John Lewis’ Monty the Penguin beats Sainsbury’s, Harvey Nichols, Lidl to be crowned most compelling Christmas 2014 advert October 29, 2015 By now you will have met John Lewis' Monty, unwrapped Lidl's little present and cried over Sainsbury's wartime sharing. But which of these adverts is most likely to make you spend money? Despite the debate around whether Sainsbury's might have stolen John Lewis' crown for creating festive ads guaranteed to get you blubbing, it [...]
German discounter Aldi pledges to pay all UK staff above National Living Wage October 26, 2015 Aldi has set out to trump its supermarket rivals on pay by announcing today that it will pay all UK staff "significantly" above the living wage. The discount food retailer said all UK employees will be paid at least £8.40 an hour, and £9.45 in London from February 2016. This is ahead of the government’s national living wage of £7.20 an [...]
Sainsbury’s experiments with futuristic store formats, including faster checkouts, a SmartShop map of your shopping list and a focus on clothes October 23, 2015 You may never have to hear the phrase "unexpected item in the bagging area" again. Sainsbury's said today it's experimenting with futuristic new "SmartShop" technology, which will allow shoppers to scan their shopping lists at home, be shown a map of their items on their smartphone – and then pay by mobile app, meaning they don't have to queue [...]
The nightmare before Christmas: Aldi and Lidl hammer Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco October 21, 2015 Britain's biggest supermarkets are facing a crunch Christmas as the pressure from German discounters Aldi and Lidl is ramped up, with experts warning of a bloody battle for this year’s festive season. The German duo have both seen growth rates return to over 17 per cent in the past three months, according to data from [...]
The nightmare before Christmas October 20, 2015 Aldi and Lidl hammer British supermarkets BRITAIN’S biggest supermarkets are facing a crunch Christmas as the pressure from German discounters Aldi and Lidl is ramped up, with experts warning of a bloody battle for this year’s festive season. The German duo have both seen growth rates return to over 17 per cent in the past [...]
Trouble for the big four supermarkets as Aldi and Lidl growth speeds up again October 20, 2015 German discounters Aldi and Lidl both saw growth rates return to over 17 per cent over the last three months, dashing hopes for the Big Four that a slowdown earlier in the year may have been part of a longer term trend. The cut-price chains have been the fastest-growing grocers in the sector for some time now. But in [...]
Asda backtracks on London expansion plans as it seeks to revive flagging sales October 19, 2015 Asda has become the latest supermarket to backtrack on store opening plans after scrapping ambitions to expand in London in favour of reviving deteriorating sales at existing stores. US-owned supermarket chain said it is “temporarily” slowing down the planned expansion of smaller format stores in London as well as its programme to develop more stand-alone petrol [...]
UK grocery sector shows green shoots of recovery as distress levels fall October 19, 2015 Britain’s supermarket sector is showing signs of recovery, according to new research from Begbies Traynor that reveals the number of companies struggling to stay afloat declined for the first time in over two years. The business recovery specialist’s latest Red Flag Alert research, which monitors the health of UK companies, shows levels of “significant” financial [...]
Nectar profits collapse as supermarket price war takes its toll on loyalty cards October 18, 2015 Profits have tumbled at Britain’s biggest loyalty card provider, Nectar. Aimia Coalition Loyalty UK, Nectar’s parent company, said that pre-tax profits fell to £14.1m for 2014, from £74.4m the year before, due to a rise in people cashing in their points, while collecting fewer. The company warned that if people continued to redeem points then [...]
Amazon Fresh UK Vs Ocado: One chart showing why Amazon is about to seriously disrupt supermarkets’ online grocery delivery October 15, 2015 As if supermarkets weren't suffering enough with the threat of discounters, a new spectre is rearing its head – Amazon Fresh. Stealthily launched in London and Birmingham under the Amazon Prime Now banner, kitchen essentials like milk will be delivered to people's door within the hour. Analysts have already warned that Amazon will have an impact [...]