Bottom Line: Despite the convenience boom, UK grocers are still thinking big December 8, 2013 IF YOU need reminding of the grocery sector’s continuing ambition, all you have to do is step outside your office to the nearest supermarket convenience store. These compact ventures have sprung up across city centres, going from 2,000 branches in 1998 to 14,000 and climbing today, a rate of increase that may seem to put [...]
Maidstone Mums: The new Holy Grail December 1, 2013 RONNY Gottschlich, managing director of Lidl UK, described the discount retailer’s growing number of core shoppers as Maidstone Mums. “The Maidstone Mum is someone who probably previously would have thought, I can’t be seen in a Lidl store. Those Maidstone Mums are no longer afraid of being seen in a Lidl store,” he said. But [...]
Discounters grab market share from UK’s leading supermarkets October 22, 2013 SAINSBURY’S was the only one of the big four supermarkets to gain market share in the 12 weeks to 13 October as discounters continued to put pressure on Britain’s grocers, Data from Kantar Worldpanel out yesterday showed Aldi’s sales leapt by 31.7 per cent year-on-year, gaining record market share of 3.8 per cent against three [...]
Bottom Line: An orderly handover but uneasy lies any head wearing this crown January 29, 2014 LONG live the new king. Sainsbury’s emphasis is firmly on continuity as it announces its new boss. The choice of commercial director Mike Coupe is the antithesis of a palace coup – every inch a loyal insider, Coupe is closely tied to King’s strategic vision, as demonstrated by his involvement in recent successes like Brand [...]
Brand Index: Price-conscious shoppers are feeling festive about Aldi October 1, 2013 ALDI has been on the rise this week. The discount grocer said its pre-tax profits had more than doubled in 2012, and during the year it attracted 1m additional shoppers. The company also revealed that it is launching a new own-brand line of cut-price luxury foods in time for the Christmas season. Aldi has a [...]
Tesco says £1bn plan on track as troubles mount December 4, 2013 TESCO boss Philip Clarke insisted yesterday that his £1bn investment plan to turn the retailer around was “firmly on track” despite posting a slump in trading across all of its markets. UK like-for-like sales fell 1.5 per cent in the third quarter to 23 November compared with flat sales in the second quarter and in [...]
Tesco hit by broker claims that prices rising faster than rivals December 10, 2013 TESCO’S share price faltered yesterday after the group suffered another downgrade from a major broker amid concerns that it has lost its differentiation with its rivals. In a damning note published yesterday, Bernstein analysts said that Tesco has raised prices faster than any of its supermarket competitors since 2010, losing its value credentials along the [...]
Analysts spread gloom ahead of Tesco numbers November 26, 2013 TESCO received an unwelcome early Christmas message from City analysts yesterday, as predictions of a further decline in third quarter like-for-like sales sent its shares down 2.5 per cent. Barclays predicted yesterday that the UK’s largest supermarket will report a 1.8 per cent fall in UK like-for-like sales next week compared with flat sales in [...]
Foreign buyers hungry for UK food takeovers November 24, 2013 THE WIDENING gap between discounters and upmarket retailers and a heightened focus on provenance following the horsemeat scandal is driving takeovers of British food brands, new research shows. The number of British heritage and independent brands being snapped up by domestic and overseas buyers is now at the highest level since 2006, according to a [...]
Inside Track: The EU’s rules to cap bankers’ bonuses aren’t working January 15, 2014 CREATE a loophole and bankers will leap through it quicker than you can say “deferred compensation”: that seems to be one of the axioms of the aftermath of the financial crisis. Examine the consequences of the European Commission’s cap on the multiple of salaries that banks can dish out in variable pay, though, and the [...]