Supermarkets
Supermarkets examines the strategies, performance, and operational challenges facing the UK grocery retail sector. This section reports on trading results, pricing strategy, supply chain management, sustainability initiatives, and consumer trends influencing supermarket performance. Retail Sector’s Supermarkets coverage provides analysis and insight for retail leaders, buyers, and suppliers, exploring how competition, regulation, and innovation are shaping profitability and long-term growth across the grocery landscape.
-
Jul- 2020 -6 July
Tesco demands large supplier discounts as it preps for ‘price war’
Big Four Grocer Tesco has reportedly demanded discounts of up to 50% from suppliers as it prepares for a price war with Aldi and Lidl. According to the Sunday Times, Tesco has given suppliers up until Friday 10 June to accept the terms which will likely be funded by abandoning…
Read More » -
6 July
Morrisons appoints Jeremy Townseand as non-exec director
Morrisons has announced the appointment of Jeremy Townsend as a non-executive director with immediate effect. Townsend will also be appointed to the audit, corporate compliance and responsibility, nomination and remuneration committees. He will be appointed as chair of the audit committee with effect from 10 September 2020. Townsend currently holds…
Read More » -
1 July
Sainsbury’s sales boosted by online growth
Sainsbury’s has welcomed a “particularly strong” online performance in its first quarter of trading, as online sales more than doubled, rising 87% year-on-year. From the start of the crisis, online orders rose from 370,000 to over 650,000 per week, and nearly 50% of new online groceries customers were reported as…
Read More » -
Jun- 2020 -30 June
Waitrose to create 800 jobs with third online warehouse
Waitrose has unveiled its plans to open a third online fulfilment centre, which will see its online order slots in London quadruple. The centre, based in Greenford, West London, will create 800 jobs in the local area, and “significantly” increase the availability of delivery slots for customers in and around…
Read More » -
26 June
Tesco sales soar as online business booms
Tesco saw sales surge in the first quarter of trading, with like-for-like sales up 8.2% despite the pandemic and nationwide lockdown. In the quarter ended 30 May, total sales were up by 9.2%, while online sales soared by 48.5% as more shoppers shifted online. The group doubled its online capacity…
Read More » -
19 June
92% of shopworkers oppose longer Sunday working hours, says Usdaw
Some 92% of retail staff in England have opposed large shops opening for more than six hours on a Sunday, as the government considers deregulating Sunday trading. According to a survey by shopworkers trade union Usdaw, 66% of the 11,000 retail staff said they feel they are pressured to work…
Read More » -
18 June
Tesco offloads Polish arm
Tesco has confirmed the offload of its Polish business through its sale to Salling Group A/S. The transaction includes the sale of 301 stores, as well as its associated distribution centres and head office. The deal had a total value of zł900m (£181m), with total net proceeds expected to be zł819m…
Read More » -
9 June
Iceland founder and CEO take full ownership after buying 63% stake
Frozen food retailer Iceland has announced that its founder and executive chairman Sir Malcolm Walker and chief executive officer Tarsem Dhaliwal have taken full ownership after buying out the entire shareholding of the company’s sole external investor Brait. Walker and Dhaliwal have bought Brait’s shareholding in Iceland Topco, representing 63.1%…
Read More » -
8 June
Usdaw opposes government plans to open supermarkets full time on Sundays
Shopworkers union Usdaw has condemned government plans to let supermarkets open for 24 hours a day on Sundays as “a slap in the face” for key workers. The news comes as the government is considering trading laws limiting supermarket Sunday opening times to six hours, in an attempt to boost…
Read More » -
8 June
FRC closes five-year investigation into Tesco
The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has announced the closure of a five-year investigation into the accountants working within ‘Big Four’ grocer Tesco. The investigation itself related to the £250m overstatement of profits it reported in 2014, and the UK watchdog said the matter has now been closed “without service of…
Read More »
