Brand Index: Discounters’ customers force top shops to up their game July 16, 2014 For consumers, every little helps, and the tills at Aldi and Lidl are ringing as the German discounters attract new and unlikely customers. YouGov’s mid-year BrandIndex’s Buzz rankings show that Aldi tops the list with Lidl coming in fourth, as consumers keep buying habits forged in the downturn. In our Buzz Metric, a measure of [...]
Toblerone and Red Bull a hit for Poundland in Spanish Dealz shop July 3, 2014 Poundland chief executive Jim McCarthy said yesterday its Dealz chain “could be bigger” in Europe than its sister chain in the UK, after kicking off its expansion by opening its first store in Spain on Wednesday. The company, which reported a 23.5 per cent jump in annual profits yesterday, said 2,700 people came [...]
Asda to cut 1,360 jobs in management restructure July 3, 2014 Asda has announced that it will be making 1,360 employees redundant over the next three months. The supermarket chain, which is owned by US-based Walmart, had previously said that there would be job losses but did not confirm the number until now. The cuts are being made to help create more flexible management structures across [...]
Morrisons and Tesco lose grip on market share and sales July 1, 2014 Morrisons and Tesco have both suffered another heavy fall in sales and market share in the last 12 weeks despite efforts to slash prices and win customers back into their stores. Data released yesterday from Kantar Worldpanel showed that overall grocery market grew by 2.8 per cent year-on-year in the 12 weeks to 22 June, [...]
Aldi and Lidl to grab more sales from supermarket stores June 30, 2014 The amount of money spent at Britain’s larger supermarket stores is set to shrink over the next five years, new figures show, as competition from discounters, convenience stores and online gathers pace. According to research released yesterday by the industry body IGD, the value of the UK grocery market is set to rise by 16 [...]
Morrisons warns of discounters’ growing threat June 26, 2014 MORRISONS boss Dalton Philips warned yesterday that discounters could grow to as much as 25 per cent of the grocery market if supermarkets fail to “face the brutal reality” of the changes taking place and fight back. Speaking at the British Retail Consortium’s annual symposium, Philips said the threat posed to the UK’s big four [...]
Fitch slashes Tesco credit rating June 23, 2014 Tesco came under renewed pressure yesterday after Fitch downgraded the troubled supermarket’s credit rating amid growing competition in its home market. Fitch said it has cut its rating from BBB+ to BBB, citing increasing competition from the hard discounters Aldi and Lidl and the mounting price war among the big four grocers. The downgrades comes [...]
Morrisons ramps up assault on rival supermarkets after slashing more prices June 23, 2014 Morrisons has launched a fresh round of price cuts today as the troubled supermarket group steps up its efforts to win back shoppers defecting to cheaper rivals. Britain’s fourth-largest grocer will cut the price of a further 135 grocery and household products today by an average 14 per cent. “These are permanent price cuts, not [...]
Danish discount retailer Netto teams up with Sainsbury’s in UK return June 20, 2014 Danish international discount grocery retailer Netto is returning to the UK, teaming up with Sainsbury's as the supermarket chain attempts to take on rivals Aldi and Lidl. This is an attempt by Sainsbury's to reposition itself, via Netto, to tackle the burgeoning discount store market that has grown rapidly in recent years and started [...]
Lidl owner Schwarz Group to be biggest grocery retailer in western Europe by 2018 | City A.M. June 18, 2014 Schwarz Group, the owner of cut-price supermarket Lidl, is set to become the top grocery retailer in western Europe, with the German company likely to overtake current market leader French rival Carrefour by 2018 and perhaps as soon as the end of next year,a report released by Planet Retail yesterday claimed. With Schwarz Group only [...]