Retailer news
The retailer said that it believed this was thanks in part to a Christmas direct marketing campaign “landing with customers”
Total divisional sales excluding fuel were up 4.7% on last year at Waitrose for the week ending 14 November 2015.
The retailer said that it believed this was thanks in part to a Christmas direct marketing campaign “landing with customers”.
Waitrose’s online channel also delivered, with grocery sales 26.1% higher than last year following a promotion.
Fruit performed well in the period covered, with frozen fruit up by a third, soft fruit up 9%, and pears up 4% respectively.
Sweet potato sales, meanwhile, were up 32% on the same week last year.
It’s been a fifth successive quarter of falling revenue at Asda, as CEO laments the “challenge” nature of the UK grocery market
Asda has seen like-for-like sales fall by 4.5% in the three months to the end of September, its fifth quarter of falling revenue.
In the previous quarter, Asda’s sales slumped 4.7%, marking its worst performance in its 50-year history.
The retailer said, sales volumes remained under pressure from discount supermarkets such as Aldi & Lidl.
Asda chief executive Andy Clarke said the UK grocery market continued to be “challenging”.
It is now the worst performing of the Big Four supermarkets.
Nevertheless, Clarke added that Asda had the “financial strength and clear plan to sustain us through this period, while we take appropriate and considered action to further strengthen our competitive position”.
Lincolnshire store offered crate of free fruit to children saying it wants to encourage healthy eating
A Tesco store has impressed shoppers by offering free fruit for children to eat while their parents shop.
The Lincolnshire store put a notice up by a crate full of fruit consisting of: bananas, oranges, apples, berries and other fruit, saying it wanted to encourage healthy eating.
Shopper Vicci Skinn posted a photo of the sign on Tesco’s Facebook page. It said: “Hi parents. Please feel free to take a piece of fruit on us for your children to eat whilst you shop.
“We would like to encourage healthy eating and make your shopping trip that bit easier.
“Enjoy your day and thank you for shopping at Tesco Brigg!!”
Skinn wrote under the post: “I just wanted to say how wonderful it was to see this display in our local Tesco today. After seeing all the sweets out for Hallowe’en this made a refreshing change.”
Tesco responded to the post to say: “Hi Vicci. This is fantastic to see! I’m glad you appreciate the free fruit our store offers.”
Retailer will stock wonky carrots, potatoes, onions and parsnips in new range after Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall highlights food waste
Morrisons is launching a new permanent range of wonky vegetables before the end of this year at a discounted price.
The new range will include wonky veg such as onions, potatoes, carrots and parsnips, Morrisons told FPJ. A spokesperson said the retailer already sells Class 2 carrots as part of its Savers range, but the new wonky range is a new addition.
The news comes following a programme by celebrity chef and food campaigner Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, named Hugh’s War on Waste, where he gave away outgrade parsnips outside a London branch of Morrisons to highlight the problem of food waste.
In response, the retailer conducted a trial of selling wonky courgettes alongside Class One courgettes, but found that the ‘ugly’ vegetables sold much more slowly which was anticipated. Morrisons said this was because it had been priced the same as the Class One produce, and wonky veg only works when it is discounted.
Fearnley-Whittingstall criticised the trial as “pathetic” and told the Guardian newspaper that placing Class One next to substandard produce is “not what we’re asking supermarkets to do”.
It’s not the first time a celebrity chef has been instrumental in prompting a supermarket to stock outgrade produce – earlier this year Jamie Oliver persuaded Asda to launch its first-ever range of wonky fruit and vegetables after meeting growers as part of his Channel 4 series Jamie and Jimmy’s Friday Night Feast.
Analysts say supermarket is moving in the right direction despite decline in sales over the latest quarter
Morrisons has insisted it is making “good progress” against its targets despite posting a sales decline in the latest quarter
Like-for-like sales excluding fuel fell 2.6% in the 13 weeks to 1 November, with the retailer pointing out that investment in lower prices brought 2.2% deflation in the period and 5.3% deflation on a two-year basis.
Morrisons also reduced the number of vouchers it accepted, whch hit third-quarter sales to the tune of 2.4%.
The company predicted that underlying pre-tax profit would be higher in the second half of 2015-16 than in the first, with net space sales growth of around 0.5% following the closure of 11 supermarkets and the sale of 140 M local stores.
Chief executive David Potts said: “The business is moving at pace on the long journey towards improving the shopping trip for customers. Our priorities for the rest of the year are unchanged – to stabilise trading, reduce costs and further improve the capability of the leadership team.
“We are making good progress in many areas and customers are noticing improvements.”
David Gray, an analyst at Planet Retail, said the numbers represented “limited progress”, but pointed out that it puts Morrisons behind key competitors Sainsbury’s and Tesco.
“Even so, credit must be given to Morrisons’ new management under David Potts for taking some tough but necessary decisions to protect the long-term profitability of the business – exiting convenience and the price comparison loyalty scheme, Match & More,” he said. “Both initiatives were a major cost and their removal will allow the chain to invest in the core proposition, hypermarkets and superstores. This after all is where Morrisons makes the vast majority of its sales and profits.
“Morrisons may be moving in the right direction under new management though this has yet to show in the numbers.”
Going forward, M&S has planned and targeted to concentrate on increasing food sales
Sales at Marks & Spencer have fallen for the six months to the 26th of September.
UK like-for-like sales fell by 0.4% for the period, and while sales of general merchandise, which includes the clothing division, were down by 1.2%, food sales rose by 0.2%.
The retailer said underlying profits rose by 6.1% to £284 million, although after taking into account one-off items, pre-tax profit fell 22.7% to £216m.
Those one-off items included almost £27m on revamping UK stores and £22m on European store costs.
M&S noted that it plans to concentrate on increasing food sales, gross margins and cash generation.
Research by mySupermarket.co.uk in October also found that a basket of essentials rose slightly from £85.94 to £86.16 in that month
Morrisons has narrowly come out cheapest in a study of grocery essentials for the month of October.
The monthly study, conducted by mySupermarket.co.uk, the shopping and comparison website, monitors the cost of the same 35 most-commonly bought grocery products.
Overall, it found that a basket of essentials rose slightly from £85.94 in September to £86.16 in October.
The October increase was driven by a sharp rise in the cost of broccoli, up 18%, and mushrooms, up 11%. Only apples fell significantly in price, dropping 11% in price compared to September.
The small rise follows a period of falling grocery prices, with the September basket total of £85.94 having been the lowest in 2015.
mySupermarket analysed the basket cost across the top four supermarkets, Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s, and Morrisons, plus Waitrose and Ocado, and found significant differences in price.
Morrisons was the cheapest closely followed by Asda. Ocado was most expensive, with Waitrose coming second bottom.
In comparison to a year ago, though, the same basket in October 2014 would have cost shoppers £89.74, a saving of 4%.
Gilad Simhony, CEO of mySupermarket.co.uk, said: “One side effect of the current supermarket price war – the environment in which supermarkets are fighting for shoppers hard earned pounds – is that the cost of grocery staples are being priced very competitively.
“This is great news for shoppers who are looking to make savings. Another side effect, however, is more confusion regarding which of the supermarkets is cheapest as the price of our favourite grocery products can change on a daily basis. Shoppers need to be aware and take control of their weekly shop as the differences in price can be huge.”
Tesco is set to sell off more than a dozen sites in a £250 million deal.
Around 10,000 homes could be built on the sites in London, the South East and Bath as a result, it is believed.
The sites are part of nearly 50 projects which Tesco said earlier this year it was abandoning, many of which are now derelict.
Tesco is selling the sites to Meyer Bergman, a property investment firm. The retailer stated in January that it was shelving plans to open 49 large supermarkets, some of which had already been built, as well as closing 43 unprofitable stores.
Tesco CEO, Dave Lewis, said: “Since announcing our decision to build fewer stores we have been working with Meyer Bergman to bring forward investment on our Spenhill sites. We are very pleased to have agreed a deal with Meyer Bergman that will bring forward significant investment for these local communities, including opportunities for residential development.
“We will be working with Meyer Bergman and local councils in the coming weeks to complete a formal handover, and look forward to the delivery of investment on these sites.”
Markus Meijer, CEO at Meyer Bergman, said: ”We see this investment as an opportunity to give new impetus to the Spenhill projects, to make Tesco’s place-making ambitions for the sites happen and to make an enduring contribution to local communities. ”
BBC News reports that the development sites being sold by Tesco include:
– Fulham High Street
– Highams Park (next to existing Tesco store)
– Hounslow (Hounslow bus garage)
– Lewisham (next to existing Tesco store)
– New Barnet (East Barnet Road)
– St Albans (London Road)
– Tolworth (Former MOD site next to Tolworth Broadway and A3)
– Hillingdon Master Brewer Site (Hillingdon Circus)
– Woolwich Phase 3 and 4 (next to existing Extra store)
– Epsom (Upper High Street)
– Kensington (next to existing Cromwell Road store)
The Jaffa Juniors tour, which launched in April 2015 in tandem with the Tesco Eat Happy scheme, has worked with 5,000 children
An initiative launched by citrus specialist Jaffa in conjunction with the Tesco Eat Happy Project is celebrating after reaching a rather significant milestone in its educational program.
The Jaffa Juniors tour, which launched in April 2015, has put its 5,000th child through the scheme as it undertook lessons at Grimsargh St Michael’s Church of England School in Preston, Lancashire.
Roy Van Grevenbroek, of Jaffa, said: “The Jaffa Juniors tour was launched because as a brand we recognise the importance of education to children of where their food comes from and how it is made..
“The tour was launched in conjunction with the Tesco Eat Happy project and is a great way of interacting with kids on a 1-2-1 and group basis and getting over the importance of fresh produce in our everyday diets.”
The lessons are aimed at Key Stage 1 and 2 children covering infant schools nationwide, and were developed in conjunction with education resource specialists TTS.
Van Grevenbroek added: “It is important that we educate from an early age to build the recognition through teens and into early adulthood.
“The tour has been successful in doing just that and is a testament to both the support given by the Tesco Eat Happy project and the schools themselves for being open to this outside interaction. As a brand we have made an ongoing commitment to the program which will extend into 2016 and beyond.”
The Jaffa brand was formed over 50 years ago in Israel. The brand is imported by Israeli grower/exporter Mehadrin, and distributed to Tesco stores in the UK via AMT.