The week in brief February 23, 2014 Coca-Cola to reinvest $1bn in marketing after fall in sales The soft drinks company – one of many struggling to deal with declining demand – plans to make an extra $1bn (£600m) in productivity savings by 2016, most of which will then be reinvested back into marketing. Earlier this month, it announced a drop in [...]
Asda hurt by first sales drop in three years February 20, 2014 ASDA chief executive Andy Clarke yesterday admitted it had been a “tough year” after the supermarket chain reported its first fall in sales for three years. The Walmart owned chain said like-for-like sales fell 0.1 per cent in the 13 weeks to 3 January, compared to the same period a year ago, marking its first [...]
Brand Index: New banks on the block will find it tough to win custom February 18, 2014 NOT LONG ago, the British retail banking sector was dominated by just a few big brands. That is undeniably starting to change, and yet our research shows that people may say they have a fairly low opinion of the traditional players, but there is also a strong preference for the devil they know. According to [...]
Tesco Bank up to 7m accounts February 17, 2014 THE CHALLENGER bank run by grocer Tesco has opened 7m accounts for customers, across its whole range of products including insurance, savings and credit cards, it revealed today. The landmark figure covers just over 5m customers, as some have more than one product with the retailer-based bank. The figures put it ahead of other large [...]
Kickstarter says hackers stole customer data February 16, 2014 KICKSTARTER, the crowdfunding platform used by thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises, admitted yesterday that US law enforcement had informed it of a major data breach last week. The company said that user’s credit card information had not been accessed, but that some usernames, email addresses and encrypted passwords had been compromised. “We set a [...]
Morrisons shares are buzzing on this takeover rumour February 12, 2014 Morrisons shares jumped over five per cent this morning on rumours that the founding family is planning to take the company private. According to Bloomberg, a number of private equity firms have been approached to see if any is interested in a buyout, which would be valued at over £7bn. Reported names include CVC Capital [...]
Grocery sales grow at slowest pace since 2005 February 11, 2014 BRITAIN’S grocery market is growing at its slowest pace since 2005, with only discounters as well as Waitrose and Sainsbury’s defying the downturn and growing market share. Figures out yesterday from Kantar Worldpanel showed that grocery sales rose by 2.4 per cent in the 12 weeks to 2 February compared with the same time last [...]
Flying first glass: Virgin Atlantic kits out crew with Google specs February 10, 2014 IF YOU happen to be flying with Virgin Atlantic out of Heathrow today, you may be met with a surprise. Never one to be left behind in technological adventures, Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic fleet will be trialling Google Glass – well, in the Upper Class Wing at least. Concierge staff will meet customers in the Upper [...]
Sir Terry Leahy joins social media company Starcount…but still not Twitter February 10, 2014 Former Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy has leapt into social media, wallet blazing, by both investing in and becoming a board member of fan science company Starcount. Sir Terry will be joining old Tesco comrades Clive Humby and Edwina Dunn – the pioneers behind the supermarket’s Clubcard – who took stakes in [...]
Challenger banks face a Capital Catch 22: It’s time to level the playing field February 5, 2014 WANDER down any high street and you’ll see those well-known chain restaurants offering appetising food at a reasonable price. Then there are the one-off, often family-run eateries with their own unique menu – perhaps with a speciality that will one day become a staple of that household-name restaurant over the road. The larger chains, of [...]