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Tesco’s market share has fallen to 29.7 per cent, its lowest point for nearly seven years. The UK’s biggest retailer has seen customers increasingly defect to upmarket competitors as well as discount retailers including Lidl and Aldi. Tesco remains the country’s leading supermarket, taking in £7.53bn at UK checkouts over the 12 weeks ending 20 [...]
(Read More)28th Feb 12
Co-op struggles with Somerfield acquisition
by Harry Oldfield
The food division at the Co-operative Group is suffering from a trading crisis in its Somerfield stores, which it acquired almost three years ago for £1.6bn. The Independent newspaper has also seen documents which reveal that the group’s food business is battling against an increasing amount of complaints in its shops, including accusations of overcharging [...]
(Read More)27th Feb 12
Burger King withdraws from work experience initiative for unemployed
by Sally Davies
Burger King is the latest company to withdraw from the government’s work experience initiative for unemployed people. The fast-food chain had been registered to allow youngsters to be taken on at its headquarters in Slough, but has now withdrawn because of “public concerns”. Critics have described the project as a kind of “slave labour” as [...]
(Read More)24th Feb 12
Government energy plans may cost billions
by Adam Richards
The government’s energy plans may cost billions of pounds to the UK if a possible shale gas boom leads to a fall in prices, warned a think tank. Policy Exchange claimed that the government’s strategy for the electricity generation market is “flawed” and that it is gambling with bill-payers’ money “unnecessarily”. It said that the view that [...]
(Read More)23rd Feb 12
Edinburgh Woollen Mill buys Peacocks
by Paul Russell
Discount homewares and fashion chain Peacocks has been partially saved by Edinburgh Woollen Mill, with 6,000 jobs being rescued in the process. However, 3,100 employees will be made redundant, while 224 stores have been shut down with immediate effect. This partial rescue is a welcome surprise to the retail sector; Edinburgh Woollen Mill had dropped [...]
(Read More)22nd Feb 12
Asda to cool hypermarket expansion as festive sales rise
by Adam Richards
Asda’s chief executive Andy Clarke has become the latest supermarket boss to indicate that the days of building large out-of-town hypermarkets filled with non-food items could be coming to an end. He made his comments on Tuesday as the Walmart-owned retailer posted a slowdown in underlying growth for the final quarter of 2011. Mr Clarke [...]
(Read More)21st Feb 12
Shoppers opt for prestige and bargain brands
by Adam Richards
Job insecurity and rising unemployment may have led to calls for Chancellor George Osborne to come up with a plan B, but recent data reveals that the bleak economy has failed to affect the retail sector’s higher echelons, with sales of premium brands soaring as upmarket supermarkets’ luxury dining lines defy the downturn. In addition, [...]
(Read More)20th Feb 12
Retail spending increase in January
by Paul Russell
Bargain-hunting shoppers eased fears that a double-dip recession was imminent with the sharpest monthly rise in retail spending since last spring’s Royal Wedding. Shares increased and the pound strengthened following the release of Office for National Statistics’ data showing that spending on the high street and the internet went up by 0.9 per cent in [...]
(Read More)17th Feb 12
High street sees 14 closures a day in 2011
by Harry Oldfield
Britain’s high street suffered 14 shop closures a day in 2011 as retailers struggled to attract hard-up consumers and cope with the rise in online shopping. Some 5,268 stores were shut down by major retailers, and just 5,094 opened last year – resulting in 174 fewer stores being present on the high street, according to [...]
(Read More)16th Feb 12
Qantas profits slump amid high fuel costs and strikes
by Harry Oldfield
Qantas has said it plans to cut almost 500 jobs and close some international routes after its profits suffered due to rising fuel costs and an industrial dispute. The airline made a A$42m (£29m) net profit for the last six months of 2011. This was a fall from A$241m in the same period the previous [...]
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