City & Gild: How Tesco can make us fall back in love with its brand April 17, 2014 Tesco’s current strategy worries me enormously, especially off the back of a six per cent fall in profits. Chief executive Philip Clarke has confidently explained, “Tesco will be firmly established as a middle-market retailer, which offers low prices and good quality – all under one roof”. My translation of this is essentially, “we’re going to [...]
John Lewis makes changes to its gold-plated final salary scheme January 30, 2014 JOHN LEWIS is set to make cuts to its generous pension scheme, one of the few non-contributory final-salary schemes left in the country. The department store group, which also owns Waitrose supermarkets, launched a review of its pension scheme in March last year after revealing that the deficit had ballooned to £840m. The draft proposals [...]
Discount stores feast on Tesco’s market share March 12, 2014 TESCO’S market share has fallen to its lowest level in almost 10 years as the supermarket and its mid-market peers lose ground to hard discounters Aldi and Lidl. Britain’s biggest supermarket, which announced plans earlier this month to win back shoppers by cutting prices, saw its market share decline to 28.7 per cent in the [...]
Discount stores feast on Tesco’s market share March 11, 2014 TESCO’S market share has fallen to its lowest level in almost 10 years as the supermarket and its mid-market peers lose ground to hard discounters Aldi and Lidl. Britain’s biggest supermarket, which announced plans earlier this month to win back shoppers by cutting prices, saw its market share decline to 28.7 per cent in the [...]
Why Sainsbury’s is SocGen’s favourite supermarket January 22, 2014 When it came to supermarkets’ Christmas performance in the UK, the discounters claimed the victory. Aldi and Lidl saw sales leap, both increasing their market shares. It was good news for high-end store Waitrose, too, which also saw a bumper festive period. It’s the Big Four – or, at least, three of them (Tesco, Asda [...]
Tesco slashed the price of milk. Here’s how dairy farmers have responded March 3, 2014 Dairy farmers have accused Tesco of sparking a price war with its supermarket rivals that will cause further damage to an already fragile dairy industry, after the retail giant slashed the price of milk. Britain’s biggest food retailer delivered a fresh broadside in the battle for customers’ loyalty after cutting the price of a four [...]
Supermarkets look to generate own electricity January 26, 2014 SUPERMARKET chains are increasingly looking to generate their own energy, as a means of securing supply, cutting costs and reducing their carbon emissions. FTSE 100-listed Sainsbury’s “will continue to invest in low-carbon technologies including solar panels for stores and depots in 2014,” a spokesperson told City A.M. The retailer opened two carbon-neutral stores late last [...]
UK’s debt burden is falling – but the crisis is merely postponed April 3, 2014 BRITAIN’S debt burden is falling. Yes, you’ve read that right: the UK is finally deleveraging. But there is a catch: debt hasn’t fallen enough even though we are already nearing the end of the deleveraging cycle. Over the next few years, we are likely to go on another borrowing binge. The end result could be [...]
Food retailers are getting crushed this morning January 9, 2014 It's not been a great morning for the supermarkets. Food retailers Ouch!!!! pic.twitter.com/OZwHAdNE1P — Alastair McCaig (@AMcCaig_IG) January 9, 2014 Morrisons, the third biggest grocer on the FTSE 100, is leading the index lower after an shock Christmas update – like-for-like sales were down 5.6 per cent. Shares have fallen over five per [...]
Bottom Line: Bicester faces stiff competition as London bares its retail teeth January 6, 2014 UNTIL recently, “designer outlet” was usually preceded by three very specific words – out of town. The UK’s biggest designer outlet, Bicester Village, is officially billed by owner Value Retail as being its London village. In fact, it’s a 63 mile drive – or hour-long train journey – from central London, nestled in a market town [...]