Retail reunion at Shore Cap’s Christmas lunch December 11, 2014 The who's who of the retail world trotted over to the Montague on the Gardens Hotel yesterday to share a Christmas toast (and another, and another) with Shore Capital’s retail guru Clive Black. Any airs and graces were brushed aside as each guest arrived at their table to find some sort of festive [...]
FTSE tumbles on Tesco share price turmoil as banks take a hit – London Report December 9, 2014 Britain’s main equity index yesterday fell to one-month lows, hit by supermarket retailer Tesco’s fourth profit warning this year. Shares in Tesco at one stage fell as much as 17 per cent to their lowest in around 14 years, wiping some £2.6bn off the firm’s market capitalisation. It later regained some ground to close 6.6 [...]
Which supermarket wine wins top of the shops? Corks pop as M&S nets 73 medals December 2, 2014 Here's one thing the discounters aren't winning at. Aldi may just have launched its own range of fine wines, but this Christmas we'll be raising a toast to Marks & Spencer, which has just netted 73 medals at the International Wine Challenge (IWC). The supermarket won five gold medals, 21 silvers and 47 bronzes for [...]
The best places to find Cyber Monday deals 2014: John Lewis, Tesco, Asos, Marks and Spencer, Game, Samsung, Halfords and Morrisons December 1, 2014 Beleaguered shoppers are still nursing their bruises and retailers are still fixing up their stores following UK's biggest-ever "Black Friday", yet the deals keep on coming. Tomorrow is "Cyber Monday", the internet's biggest shopping day of the year when online retailers offer consumers another chance to grab a bargain as the Christmas shopping season [...]
Priory clinic opens in the Square Mile: How to tackle stress in the City November 30, 2014 The opening of a Priory clinic in the Square Mile should be a call to action for employers. The Priory Group’s move to open a new wellbeing clinic in the City is a strong indication of an increasing problem. Recent ONS statistics show that the number of working days lost to “serious mental health” [...]
Christmas just got tougher for Tesco, Sainsbury and Morrisons: Lidl adds “discount” oysters to its deluxe range November 21, 2014 In a year dominated by the rise of the discount grocer, it's perhaps no surprise that Lidl and Aldi will be pulling out all the stops to bring consumers a bit of low-cost luxury. Lidl, which launched a £5 lobster in 2009, has a track record of doing exactly that but this year it's pulling [...]
Supermarket price war fails to save sector as it enters negative sales territory for first time on record November 18, 2014 The supermarket "price war" has failed to help kick-start sales, with the sector falling into negative territory for the first time since records began in 1994. Sales were down 0.2 per cent for the 12 weeks to November 9, according to Kantar Worldpanel. The average basket price of everyday goods such as milk, bread [...]
Supermarkets Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Morrisons told they must shrink to survive in war against discounters Aldi and Lidl November 17, 2014 Supermarkets need to dramatically scale down their store estates if they want to stop haemorrhaging sales and return to growth, according to analysts at Goldman Sachs who sent a stark warning to the retail industry. In a research note published yesterday, Goldman Sachs said Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Morrisons must cut space by around 20 per [...]
Are you a Waitrose Wendy or a Tesco Tracey: How do the UK’s supermarket shoppers look? November 17, 2014 What does a Waitrose shopper look like, and how would you tell them apart from a Sainsbury's regular? There's actually not much to choose between them, according to YouGov, which has just released the best visualisation tool we've seen for a while. What YouGov says is particular (as opposed to generally true) about [...]
Asda hits out at rivals for using price gimmicks November 13, 2014 Asda yesterday accused its supermarket rivals of resorting to “short-term gimmicks”, such as vouchers, to buy customer’s loyalty as the US-owned group reported a slump in third-quarter underlying sales. The UK’s second-largest food retailer, said like-for-like sales fell 1.6 per cent in the 13 weeks to 30 September compared with a 0.6 per cent rise [...]