Waitrose pulls Christmas cracker as online shoppers boost sales January 6, 2015 THINGS may be bleak for the big four supermarkets, but for the smaller, challenger businesses initial signs are that Christmas was a real cracker. Waitrose has topped off a strong year, in which it had grown market share to five per cent by December, according to figures published yesterday. The upmarket grocer, which is part [...]
Jobs at risk as Johnsons reveals plans to shut more than 100 dry cleaning outlets January 6, 2015 A third of Johnsons Dry Cleaners branches are to be shut within the next six months, putting up to 450 jobs at risk. The business, which also operates a larger textile rental arm, said its dry cleaning division had not manage to maintain performance in 2014 and that 109 branches whose leases were up [...]
Cork blimey! Christmas champagne outsells semi-skimmed milk at Lidl January 4, 2015 Shoppers at budget supermarket chain Lidl bought more champagne than semi-skimmed milk this Christmas, the retailer has revealed. Figures show that savvy customers snapped up so many bottles of Lidl’s £11.99 Comte De Senneval champagne that it knocked the store’s usual bestseller, semi-skimmed milk, off the top spot for the festive season. The champagne has [...]
Apps to improve your work-life balance in 2015 December 31, 2014 A 24/7 business cycle coupled with the smartphone invasion can create a seemingly insurmountable workload making it increasingly impossible to achieve the ideal work-life balance. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and for the tech-savvy there's a myriad of apps to help fight back against the increasingly blurred lines between work and play. Rescue [...]
Nightmare on high street: How discounters stole Tesco’s market share December 19, 2014 Although at first glance any shift in the share of the grocery market seems slim, the changes that have taken place over the last two years tell an interesting story. It shows the gradual increase of smaller companies such as Aldi, Lidl and Waitrose at the expense of larger chains such as Tesco, Sainsbury’s [...]
Tesco quarterly sales show sign of turn around following profit warning December 16, 2014 Tesco has enjoyed its best quarterly sales performance since June, according to the latest industry data, giving investors in the troubled supermarket chain some reason to cheer following last week’s profit warning. Sales fell by 2.7 per cent in the 12 weeks to 7 December, a slowdown on the 3.7 per cent decline recorded in [...]
Grocery deflation continues to tumble as Aldi and Lidl ramp up supermarket price war December 16, 2014 The supermarket sector has nudged back into growth after the surprise decline recorded last month. Figures out today from Kantar Worldpanel show that for the 12 weeks to December 7, the grocery market grew 0.1 per cent. The data company said this was down to “shoppers putting slightly more in their baskets compared with [...]
Thames Water releases updated 12 Days of Christmas video as an “anti-fatberg” message December 15, 2014 If you're the sort of person for whom jolly Christmas songs can all get a bit sickly then Thames Water might just have the festive message for you. The utilities company – which has spent much of the year battling fatbergs in the city's sewers – has recorded a reworked version of the 12 [...]
Lidl’s Lidl Surprises Christmas advert helps to keep discounter ahead of the game – Brand Index December 9, 2014 Budget supermarkets, and specifically Aldi and Lidl, have taken the British high street by storm, with consumers warmly embracing the German retailers’ “low price but high quality” message. All supermarkets have ramped up their advertising efforts in time for Christmas. However, Lidl’s Lidl Surprises displays a confidence that they can challenge the big brands not [...]
Blackstone mulls £1.5bn takeover of drinks bottler December 7, 2014 US PRIVATE equity giant Blackstone Group is considering a £1.5bn takeover bid for Refresco Gerber, Europe’s largest soft drinks bottler, it emerged yesterday. The US investment specialist is among several interested parties weighing up bids for the Anglo-Dutch company. Blackstone’s private equity rival KKR and CVC Partners are also rumoured to be circling, with bids [...]