All articles by Guy Montague-Jones – Page 39
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News
Booths like-for-likes slip as its shoppers buy smaller baskets
Booths has blamed a 2% fall in annual like-for-like sales on cash-strapped shoppers downsizing their baskets. Total sales rose 0.6% in the year to 2 April, according to results filed at Companies House. But like-for-likes have experienced a massive reversal in fortunes since 2009-10,
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News
Amazon: the US online colossus bids to click with British shoppers
How can former US grocery chief Bram Duchovnay make Amazon's British operation win when its UK retail offer is so idiosyncratic, asks Guy Montague-Jones
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NewsThe Co-op to make debut in online grocery
The Co-operative Group is planning to launch an online grocery service within the next year. Details are currently being fleshed out but the launch was “within reach”, said Helen Bridgett, The Cop’s head of strategy, insight and…
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NewsWaitrose denies taking tougher line with charges for late orders
Just two weeks after being criticised by suppliers for demanding a 5% price cut, Waitrose has come under fire again for ramping up its use of technical charges. Suppliers told The Grocer the chain had increased artwork, technical and…
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NewsWaitrose products head to New Zealand in new tie-up
Up to 100 Waitrose products will be hitting the shelves of a small New Zealand grocer called Nosh Food Market this Christmas. The two companies have signed a partnership deal that will bring Waitrose products to six Nosh stores.
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NewsBooths to offer online service at MediaCity
Booths is to start selling food online for the first time next week. The upmarket northern supermarket chain is due to open a new store in Salford Quays on Wednesday, at MediaCityUK, the new home for the BBC and ITV.
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Analysis & Features
Big Price Drop doesn’t spell a drop in promotions
Despite its self-proclaimed new focus on base prices, the number of deals at Tesco is on the increase.
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NewsHolland & Barrett adds sweet sense of theatre to new store
Holland & Barrett is pushing further into traditional grocery categories with a trial of pick’n’mix and novel food dispensers at its largest-ever new store in Richmond. The 2,600 sq ft shop, which opened this week, features peanut…
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NewsWheat price fall takes pressure off suppliers
A dramatic slump in wheat and corn prices over the past month has given hope of a respite to food suppliers weighed down by relentless commodity price increases. All grain prices have taken a tumble. Bread milling prices in the UK have…
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Comment & Opinion
Don't count on wheat and other commodity prices deflating
The slump in corn and wheat prices over the past month appears to offer the industry and consumers a much-needed reprieve from seemingly endless rounds of price hikes.
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NewsBoom for Burton’s: profits triple despite commodity crunch
Burton’s Foods shrugged off rising cocoa and dairy prices in 2010 to more than triple its profits. The maker of Cadbury Fingers, Jammie Dodgers and Maryland Cookies reported profits of £13.1m for the year to 1 January 2011 compared with…
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Analysis & Features
Putting the sparks back into Marks
Marc Bolland is on a mission – to completely revamp the Marks & Spencer estate in two years. He shows Guy Montague-Jones how at the retailer’s flagship Kensington store
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NewsM&S adds to online offer with ‘food hall favourites’
Marks & Spencer has bulked up its online food range with 100 “favourite food hall products” that widen the scope of the offer beyond entertaining. The enlarged M&S Food to Order range, which allows customers to order online and collect in-store, contains everyday items including ready meals, fresh meats and ...
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Analysis & Features
Tesco cuts will be welcomed
In figures taken as its Big Price Drop was starting, Tesco’s prices went up, while Morrisons and Sainsbury’s made month-on-month cuts.
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NewsThorntons’ chairman von Spreckelsen to step down
Thorntons is on the hunt for a new chairman. John von Spreckelsen has announced plans to leave the embattled confectioner at some point in the next 12 months.
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NewsLucozade Alert Plus clings on as shot sales struggle
Lucozade Alert Plus has survived an internal review as UK energy shot sales fall woefully short of industry expectations. GlaxoSmithKline pledged £13m in support of its Lucozade Alert Plus drink when it launched in September 2009,...
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NewsOcado debuts savings club as margins face new squeeze
Shares in Ocado slumped 12% this morning on news of a slowdown in sales growth. Gross sales growth for the 12 weeks to 7 August was 16.9%, down from 17.2% in the second quarter.
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Analysis & Features
Waitrose ramps up its deal activity, acting on impulse
The only retailer to increase its year-on-year promotional activity last month was Waitrose.
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News
Waitrose targeting Tesco rather than Ocado inside M25
Waitrose MD Mark Price claims the retailer's expansion of its online service into London will steal market share from Tesco not Ocado. Describing Ocado as a "business partner", Price said his goal was for Waitrose and Ocado to overtake...
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NewsNescafé makes new commitment to Colombian coffee farmers
Nescafé UK has made a pledge to Colombian coffee growers to plant four million new trees and build 48 coffee plant nurseries in the country.