Retailer
Retailer continues expansion programme with 16 new shop openings in 2015 along with two major redevelopments.
Premium retailer Waitrose has announced that it expects to create 2,000 jobs through opening 16 new shops and carrying out two major extensions.
The retailer is opening 14 shops across the UK from spring this year, including seven new supermarkets and seven new ‘little Waitrose’ convenience shops. It has already opened two so far this year.
It is also relocating one supermarket and carrying out two major extensions to existing branches in Saffron Walden and Bayswater. In total Waitrose will add around 230,000 sq ft of selling space to its portfolio.
The news comes as the supermarket also unveiled a new e-commerce grocery depot, known as a Dot.com Fulfillment Centre (DFC) in Couldson, south London.
New supermarkets include Wollaton (Nottinghamshire) Milngavie (East Dumbartonshire), Bagshot (Surrey), Oxford, King’s Cross (to incorporate a new cookery school), Basingstoke (Hampshire) and Guildford (Surrey).
The business will be also be creating additional roles in its distribution department to service the expanding number of branches.
Waitrose director of development, Nigel Keen, said the move shows Waitrose’s investment in an “omni-channel approach”.
“Last year many of our new branches received than more than 10 applications for every vacancy – so we’re delighted to be able to create an additional 2,000 roles in 2015,” he said.
Total sales also fell by 3.6%, but retailer says long-term plans such as moving packing operations to UK yet to benefit sales.
Morrisons like-for-like sales fell 6.3% in the third quarter of the year, with total sales excluding fuel down by 3.6%.
But the UK’s fourth largest retailer insisted that the results, for the 13 weeks to 2 November, showed “continued progress” on a three-year plan.
A company statement said it will take time for initiatives such as the launch of its Match & More card, which compares prices with discounters Aldi and Lidl, to fully benefit sales performance.
And it said that a proposed closure of its Netherlands-based produce packing facility Bos Brothers BV is expected to transfer operations to growers or existing Morrisons produce facilities in the UK during 2015.
An improved IT platform, simplifying the range and restructuring teams were also listed as ways in which the retailer is cutting costs.
During the last quarter, Morrisons opened 12 new M local stores and three new core stores, and said it is on schedule to open between 60-70 further M local stores by the end of the year.
“Morrisons is meeting the challenges created by a period of intense industry competition and structural change with quick and decisive action,” said chief executive, Dalton Philips. “I am encouraged by the further progress we have made, especially on a number of key operational measures, cash flow and costs.
“The launch of the Match & More card was another big move for Morrisons. We are the only supermarket that is price matching the discounters and the successful launch last month was a testament to the positive way our 120,000 colleagues are delivering innovation and embracing the changes at Morrisons,” he said.
Morrisons said it now expects underlying profit before tax to be in the narrower range of £335m to £365m (previously £325m-£375m), after £65m of new business development costs and £70m of one-off costs.
The new butchery apprenticeship standard, developed by a Trailblazer Employer Group, has received ministerial approval after “months of hard work”.
The Butchery Trailblazer Employer Group, made up of representatives from companies including Morrisons, Aubrey Allen, Fairfax Meadow, Bernard Matthews and Tulip, saw its new standard formally published on 20 August after the ministerial approval.
The standard will replace current frameworks as part of the government’s employer-driven Trailblazer Strategy.
Skills minister Nick Boles said: “Since 2010 there have been over 1.8 million apprenticeship starts and the Butchery Trailblazer is leading by example in the development and delivery of high-quality apprenticeships that give people the chance of successful careers and help businesses get the skills they need to grow.
”Lucianne Allen, chair of the Trailblazer group and sales and marketing director of Aubrey Allen, said: “This new standard will be responsive to the needs of our industry, meaning that each apprentice we train will have the skills, knowledge and behaviours we require. Our business is very much looking forward to the new standard coming into effect in 2015.”
The Food and Drink Training and Education Council (FTC), which supported the group, also offered its congratulations. Chief executive Bill Jermey said: “We are delighted to receive this announcement today, it is testimony to the hard work which the employer-led group has put into this reform.
“Today is a real milestone for the sector, one which will have a strong and positive impact on the future of the industry in terms of the way in which we can develop the skills and knowledge of young butchers. At FTC we welcome the new approach to apprenticeships that the government is taking. And we could not be more happy with the quality of this new butchery standard. Very well done to all involved.”
UK’s fourth largest retailer continues online expansion by offering delivery across parts of north London
Morrisons has expanded its online grocery delivery services across north London following a successful trial in Ruislip.
The new coverage area stretches from Ealing to Essex, and from the Thames, north to Cheshunt and Potters Bar.
It gives the UK’s fourth largest retailer an operating area of 1,297 square kilometres across London, encompassing two million homes.
“We want to challenge Londoners’ preconceived ideas of online grocery services by surprising them with just how good an experience it can be with us,” said managing director for online food, Simon Thompson.
The service offers one-hour time slots from £1.00, as well as Morrisons’ rosette rating system for product freshness and quality.
Morrisons made its first online food deliveries on 9 January of this year to homes across the Midlands, followed by Yorkshire in February and Manchester and Hull in May.
Its online proposition is in partnership with Ocado’s logistics and distribution operations. The retailer has previously committed to deliver £550 million in combined sales from its M Local convenience stores and its online business.
Like-for-like 12-week sales at Justin King-led retailer down for second quarter in a row, as Mike Coupe prepares to become CEO
There has been no dramatic turnaround in sales fortunes for outgoing Sainsbury’s CEO Justin King: for the second quarter in a row, the retailer has seen its share of the market fall.
Like-for-like sales in the 3 months to 7 June 2014 were shown to be more than one per cent lower compared with a year earlier, with the results following on from the first decline in sales at Sainsbury’s in eight years reported in March.
The retailer is currently preparing for Mike Coupe, the company’s group commercial director, to take over as chief executive from King, who has been in the post for the last ten years.
King said: “Lower food price inflation and reduced fuel prices are a welcome respite to customers’ finances, but they continue to spend cautiously, leading to industry growth in the quarter being the slowest in a decade.”
Sainsbury’s latest fall in sales comes only a short time after Tesco revealed it also saw a like-for-like sales slump for the second quarter of the year.