Bottom Line: Discount retailers keep surging whatever the economic weather May 11, 2014 IT’S NOT exactly a dramatic rebirth but there are some stirrings of spring in these figures. Unsurprisingly, particularly at a time of year when the national imagination turns to home improvement, UK consumers invested even more this April in their fastest-appreciating assets than they did 12 months before, with DIY spending up 11.9 per cent [...]
Sainsbury’s to trial selling clothing online June 9, 2014 Sainsbury is to take on its high street and supermarket rivals by selling its clothing brand TU online for the first time. People close to the company previously said that clothing margins were too low justify delivering clothes bought online to customers. However in a statement yesterday Sainsbury’s said it will pilot selling [...]
Bottom Line: This is the end of the big four supermarkets March 13, 2014 DALTON Philips kicked off more than just a price war yesterday. By promising to slash prices in an effort to turn around Morrisons’ fortunes, he also exposed a growing schism at the heart of the British grocery market. For years, supermarket analysts have talked about the big four (Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons) but with [...]
Dave Lewis: Tesco banks on first outsider in its 95-year history. Will he make a difference? July 21, 2014 Tesco’ incoming boss Dave Lewis will have no easy task on his hands when he takes the reins at the UK’s biggest retailer and the world’s third largest chain in October. But while he lacks the Tesco genes that Philip Clarke had from spending 39 years at the grocer, Lewis makes up for it in [...]
Justin King’s final curtain: Sainsbury’s CEO goes out on sliding sales June 11, 2014 It is chief executive Justin King’s last set of results, and Sainsbury's has reported a 1.1 per cent fall in like-for-like sales – in line with expectations. Including fuel, they dropped 2.4 per cent in the 12 weeks to 7 June. But shares have risen by as much as two per cent this morning. Darren [...]
Tesco share price is falling after sales plummeted again June 4, 2014 Another set of falling sales figures from Tesco this morning. The UK supermarket giant has reported a 3.7 per cent drop in like-for-like sales – 3.8 per cent when including petrol. That does mark the store’s third drop in a row but is, however, better than the four per cent decline analysts were expecting. Revenues [...]
Marx was wrong (cont): Corporate giants are inherently fragile June 17, 2014 ONE of Karl Marx’s big theories was that capitalism had an inherent tendency towards monopoly and would thus self-destroy. The idea remains widely held, and is one reason countries operate stringent anti-trust regulations. But it’s a little more complicated than that. First, many monopolies or quasi-monopolies are actually created by the state, rather than resulting [...]
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 [...]
Accelerating competition: How to level the playing field for challenger banks June 24, 2014 THERE is something that politicians and bankers both agree upon – we believe that greater competition improves the service and the products that customers get. We’ve heard ideas about increasing competition in banking from across the political spectrum. Today, the BBA is adding to that debate with some new ideas on promoting competition by levelling [...]
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 [...]