Asda boss Andy Clarke adds £500m fuel to the supermarket price war with Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons as well as discounters Aldi and Lidl ahead of supermarket Christmas earnings bonanza January 10, 2016 Asda is throwing a further half a billion pounds at the supermarket price war as boss Andy Clarke predicted another "challenging" year for the sector. "There is currently no growth in the food market and the rise of the limited assortment discounters means that we must take radical action to win back our customers," said [...]
Black Friday 2015 UK: After Asda pulled out of the big deals day, will it fade to grey? November 11, 2015 Asda’s decision to opt-out of the US-imported shopping holiday begs one question: Could this be Britain’s last Black Friday? With high-street retailers like Primark and Oasis also deciding to pull out of the Black Friday race, this is a huge sign that perhaps this one-day shopping bonanza could be abandoned by the majority of the [...]
Editor’s notes: Still in shock over Brexit? Get a grip November 25, 2016 Some corners of our national life are finding it harder to adapt to the new post-referendum reality than others. Earlier this week I joined the cream of the British commentariat at the annual Comment Awards, celebrating the best columns and comment pieces of 2016. As you know, we have a stable of excellent columnists here [...]
Marmitegate is the “thin end of the wedge” for the retail industry October 14, 2016 Tesco and Unilever's public price war is the "thin edge of the wedge" for the retail sector after the Brexit vote, analysts have said, as the prospect of higher import costs and job losses weigh on the industry. Unilever has used the fall of sterling after the Brexit vote as a basis for increasing its prices for [...]
Theresa May has axed an advisory panel of some of Britain’s top bosses September 22, 2016 Theresa May has axed an advisory panel established by her predecessor to generate feedback from some of the UK's top bosses. May has scrapped the Business Advisory Group launched by David Cameron in July 2015. The news – first revealed by Sky News – comes just over a year after Cameron launched the group in the [...]
Christmas adverts are great, but retailers including John Lewis, Asda and Lidl must live up to the hype November 4, 2015 You could feel the anticipation earlier this week as the first of the Christmas adverts landed. Asda and Lidl were among the first to showcase their festive offerings, while John Lewis announced its ad launch in advance, giving the nation several days to get excited before the big reveal, which happens at 8am this Friday. Watch: [...]
Asda owner Walmart goes head-to-head with Amazon as it requests permission to test drones for delivery October 27, 2015 Could your next Asda shop be delivered by drone? The supermarket's parent company, Walmart, has entered the drone wars, it's been reported, applying to US regulators to request permission to test out drones for delivery. Reuters reported that the company hopes to use drones for "home delivery, curbside pickup and checking warehouse inventories". That pits Walmart [...]
Tesco launches “immediate” price match guarantee against Sainsbury, Asda and Morrisons October 12, 2015 Tesco has launched a new "immediate" price match service, promising to give money back to customers if they could have bought branded goods cheaper elsewhere. Tesco's Brand Guarantee will enable customers to receive money off their bill at the checkout – both in person and online – if the overall cost of their branded grocery shop [...]
The supermarket squeeze: Big four supermarkets outperformed by discounters and premium competitors June 1, 2016 The big four food retailers – Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and Morrisons – are suffering in the supermarket squeeze today as both discount and premium challengers boasted the strongest sales growth. Tesco had the smallest drop in sales of the big four, at 0.1 per cent, and Asda the biggest, with a 5.1 per cent decline in sales. Discounters Aldi and [...]
City Moves for 17 October 2016 | Who’s switching jobs October 17, 2016 Yorkshire Building Society Yorkshire Building Society has appointed Mike Regnier as chief executive. Mike, who joined the Society in 2014, is currently chief customer officer and executive director. Mike, who has 20 years’ corporate experience in consulting and retail financial services, was formerly products and marketing director at Lloyds Banking Group, where he was responsible for the [...]