Bard criticism? Tesco replies to popcorn complaint with a sonnet November 25, 2014 We've all experienced the frustration of a retailer discontiuing a line – but St Andrews University students Isabelle Bousquette and Tomi Baikie felt so emotional when their local Tesco stopped selling their favourite salted popcorn, they felt moved to write a sonnet, a sort of ode to popocorn. Then they sent it to Tesco chairman [...]
Black Friday UK 2014: Where are the best bargains for must-have Christmas toys? November 25, 2014 As the countdown to Black Friday – November 28 if you're wondering – continues, the big question is exactly which items will be going on sale. Luckily for you, the Toy Retailers Association has today unveiled its DreamToys, the gifts that the industry has judged “must have” Christmas crackers. The list has pedigree [...]
Argos rolls out eReceipts in bid to become a top digital retailer November 24, 2014 Argos has announced the introduction of eReceipts across its 750 UK and Ireland stores. The scheme gives Argos’ customers the option to have a receipt emailed to them to keep a record of purchases and warranties and has already been trialled this year. The technology has been developed by eReceipts, which is chaired by the [...]
Tesco: Black Friday will beat Boxing Day sales November 24, 2014 Tesco is betting the farm on Black Friday. The troubled supermarket, whose share price has plummeted more than 15 per cent since it admitted to having “overstated” its profits in September, is going all out for the sales bonanza day, which falls on November 28. To ensure some of the multi-billion-pound spend goes in [...]
Black Friday to kick off £42bn Christmas spree November 23, 2014 Britons are expected to splurge £42.4bn in the run-up to Christmas – £1.5bn more than last year – as retailers brace themselves for an American-style Black Friday shopping frenzy set to take over their websites and stores this week. Sales are forecast to rise by four per cent year-on-year in the period starting from today [...]
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 [...]
Baby goods retailer Mothercare sees UK turnaround plan pay off November 20, 2014 MOTHERCARE posted a small rise in first-half profit and said lower losses and improving sales in the UK provided early encouragement for its new turnaround plan. While Mothercare’s overseas business is profitable, fierce competition from supermarkets such as Tesco and internet retailers like Amazon has hit it hard at home. This has left the baby [...]
BG vote against £12m share award may make a Norwegian blue November 19, 2014 Desperate times call for desperate measures. How else to interpret the crude insinuation from BG Group that its newly anointed chief executive might not join if investors vote down a one-off share award worth £12m? The FTSE 100 oil producer certainly falls into the camp signposted “urgent need”, which explains why the lavish pay [...]
Royal Mail and miners weigh heavily on FTSE – London Report November 19, 2014 THE FTSE 100 ended a four-day rally yesterday as falling iron ore prices hit mining stocks and trading updates from Royal Mail and testing firm Intertek disappointed investors. Hit by its heavy weighting in commodity-related stocks, the blue chip index underperformed European peers, dropping 12.53 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 6,696.60 points. One of the [...]
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 [...]