Morrisons sales nudge up again as management “simplifies and speeds up” business May 5, 2016 Morrisons' like-for-likes have risen again, continuing the signs of green shoots emerging from the troubled supermarket. The figures Like-for-likes excluding fuel rose 0.7 per cent in the 13 weeks to 1 May. That follows on from growth registered in its Christmas trading update in January, which was the first time the supermarket had been in [...]
Ad agencies need better advertising: 101’s Laurence Green on why positioning should be more important than pitching June 20, 2016 Our industry conversation has swung too far from long-term to short, from strategy to tactics, and away from the alchemical power of great creative,” says Laurence Green, founder of creative agency 101. He has been critical in the past of the fact that pitching has become the default method for procuring agencies’ services. And he believes [...]
Supermarket sales rise over Easter – but prove egg-sasperating for Tesco, Morrisons and Asda April 5, 2016 It could have been so easy for supermarkets. Not only are prices at an all-time low, but an early Easter pushed sales up compared with last year, new figures have shown. But while the Easter bunny hopped along to most of the nation's retailers, the big four continued to struggle. The figures, by Kantar Worldpanel, showed sales [...]
Waitrose PYOO (“pick your own offers”) ups game in supermarket price wars with Aldi, Lidl and big four June 17, 2015 Middle England favourite Waitrose has upped the stakes in the supermarket price wars with what it's calling "game-changing" discounts. The latest salvo in the battle with Aldi, Lidl and the big four – and adding a new acronym to our lingo almost as good as BOGOF – is "Pick Your Own Offers", or PYOO, which is [...]
Forget World Cup in 2022, England can win the European Championships in four years, insists Trevor Brooking March 22, 2016 Scepticism abounded when Greg Dyke began his chairmanship of the Football Association by claiming England could win the 2022 World Cup, but Sir Trevor Brooking insists the Three Lions are on course to lift silverware two years earlier. England have only fleetingly threatened to end a seemingly interminable wait for success, last tasted at the 1966 World [...]
From the Budget 2016 and Brexit to Cheltenham and the world’s first pizza robot: Here’s what got us talking this week March 18, 2016 Humanities students were given a fright in this week's Budget. Getting pizza suddenly got a lot easier. And we learned that when it comes to houses, Britons don't dream big. Bookies have had to pay out £50m already at Cheltenham according to William Hill (Source: Getty) 1) Budget blues Whether you were a sugar lover or a second [...]
EasyFood store re-opens in London after crowds of shoppers forced its closure two days after launch – but this time with bouncers February 8, 2016 The first EasyFood store has re-opened in north west London after being swamped by customers – but this time there’s security. The low-cost supermarket, which is selling every product for 25p throughout February, was forced to shut just two days after opening in Park Royal last week. Eager bargain hunters had cleared the shelves of [...]
Sainsbury’s to phase out Bogof and other multi-buy grocery deals from August February 11, 2016 Sainsbury's has become the latest supermarket to announce it is phasing out multi-buy deals in favour of lower everyday prices instead. The move, which will see the end of buy one get one free (bogof) and other such deals comes after Tesco announced similar plans last month, bring both chains closer in line with practices of the discounters Aldi and [...]
Aldi, Ocado, Morrisons, Tesco and Sainsbury’s are all making moves to win market share, but Asda’s next step is unclear March 9, 2016 The latest supermarket sales data has painted a slightly less gloomy picture than has become customary for Britain's big four grocers, hinting that the billions poured into lowering prices and luring back customers might finally be paying off. Despite a brutal price war that has savaged Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons, data from Kantar has shown [...]
Supermarkets reap over £1bn of property investment in 2015 as new buyers pile in March 22, 2016 Britain's supermarket sector attracted over £1bn of property investment last year as investors shrugged off the price wars and and went in search of stable returns. Research released today by Colliers International and data analytics provider MSCI revealed that deal volumes reached £1.4bn in 2015, up slightly on the previous year but down on the record [...]