Stelios is set to take on budget supermarkets August 4, 2013 ON THE ground floor of a tower block in Croydon, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou plans to open the first of many low-cost supermarkets under his Easy brand. Stelios said yesterday the pilot store, at the bottom of the former Metlife building recently purchased by EasyGroup, will serve as “a low risk experiment in a new market [...]
Ikea latest in horsemeat scandal February 25, 2013 A Czech veterinary authority has found that the meatballs of Swedish home products company Ikea are contaminated with horse. Ikea is the latest to be implicated in a scandal that has been a public relations blow to other including Tesco, Iceland, Aldi and Lidl. Horse found in IKEA meatballs – not like them to include [...]
Tesco voted worst supermarket in survey of 11,000 UK shoppers February 21, 2013 TESCO has been voted the worst of Britain’s nine major supermarkets in a poll carried out by one of the leading consumer groups. More than 11,000 Which? members rated the supermarkets with customer scores based on customer satisfaction and the likelihood they would recommend it to a friend. Tesco, the UK’s largest supermarket group, came [...]
Tesco fightback steadies giant’s market share January 29, 2013 TESCO maintained its market share and matched market growth for the first time since June 2011, according to the latest grocery share data from Kantar Worldpanel. The UK’s biggest supermarket grew sales year-on-year by 3.3 per cent in the 12 weeks to 20 January, giving it a market share of 30.4 per cent, as its [...]
What the other papers say this morning January 16, 2013 FINANCIAL TIMES Apple rolls out China credit facility Apple is to allow Chinese consumers to buy its gadgets on credit – a move that could help boost sales in the world’s largest smartphone market by unit shipments, where it has lost share to cheaper brands. HP arms become focus of M&A talk Reports that Dell [...]
Horse meat in Tesco burgers January 15, 2013 HORSE meat has been found in beef burgers sold by leading British and Irish supermarkets, it emerged last night. One sample of the meat in Tesco’s Everyday Value Beef Burgers was found to be 29 per cent horse, according to Ireland’s Food Safety Authority (FSAI). Tesco has responded by pulling the burgers from its stores. [...]
Sainsbury’s takes the lead at Christmas January 8, 2013 SAINSBURY posted the highest sales growth of the so called big four grocers in the run-up to Christmas and was the only one to grow market share, data revealed yesterday. Figures from Kantar Worldpanel showed Britain’s grocery market grew 3.2 per cent in the 12 weeks to 23 December, with the strongest growth at the [...]
Aldi hitting the mainstream as customers seek value January 8, 2013 THIS time last year poor results at Tesco shocked investors and the grocery sector, although followers of YouGov’s BrandIndex and this column would have been aware of their problems a month earlier. With the all-important Christmas season now behind us I’ve taken a look back at 2012 to see what the big customer perception stories [...]
Flailing high street has worse to come in the year ahead January 6, 2013 AFTER holding their breath for the last few weeks, some retailers can at last allow themselves a cautious sigh of relief. Positive sales numbers from the likes of John Lewis and Next have given the sector a much-needed dose of optimism, resulting in a slight hike in share prices for some of the larger players. [...]
Sun European takes a shine to packaging January 2, 2013 SUN EUROPEAN Partners has snapped up two packaging companies including Lincolnshire-based Paragon Print & Packaging in a £400m spending spree. Sun European, an arm of US private equity firm Sun Capital, yesterday said it had bought a 49 per cent stake in Paragon from Equistone and LDC for an undisclosed sum. Sun European also completed [...]