‘Super Thursday’ saw the fortunes and disasters of the retail industry dominating yesterday’s news cycle – and grocery retailers in particular as Tesco, Marks & Spencer and Waitrose all reported results.

Tesco shares slide despite its biggest ever sales week in the run-up to Christmas as shoppers snapped up festive foo, The Mail writes. Tesco enjoyed its best Christmas sales performance in its core UK business since the end of the leadership of Sir Terry Leahy, but disruption from the collapse of Palmer & Harvey dragged on its performance and trading fell short of City expectations, The Times notes. The Financial Times lead with a similar line to The Times, writing “Tesco posted its best Christmas sales for eight years, but its performance widely missed analysts’ forecasts as cautious British consumers spent less on gifts over the festive season”. The Telegraph concentrates on food sales being blown off course by lost tobacco sales caused by the demise of wholesaler Palmer & Harvey.

Disappointment at Marks & Spencer was the main angle of most stories. The Financial Times reports that declining same-store sales in its upmarket food business was sharply worse result than at other large grocers, which have posted rising sales as inflation begins to bite. The drop compounded the retailer’s other woes, it adds. Lex in The Financial Times focuses on the fashion side of the business. “Retailer struggles against more nimble competitors so must find its own way of being a specialist,” he says. The Mail flags the retailer’s director of clothing and beauty quit just weeks before Christmas, which it links to M&S clothing sales falling again. Revenues at the high street bellwether fell in the months leading up to Christmas as consumers with “tighter budgets” shopped elsewhere, The Telegraph says.

Waitrose takes a back seat to John Lewis in most news stories. The Times writes that John Lewis Christmas sales exceeded £1bn but profit margin shrank. Sales at John Lewis department store rose 3.1% in the six weeks to 30 December, while sales at posh supermarket Waitrose grew by 1.5% in the period, The Mail says. The Telegraph highlights John Lewis warns of ‘volatile’ economy despite record Black Friday sales.

The Financial Times prints a separate article lumping together Tesco, John Lewis and Waitrose. “The precarious state of Britain’s listing consumer economy was laid bare on Thursday, as several big retailers spooked investors with weak Christmas sales, while upmarket outlets said profit margins would have to be cut to prop up demand,” the paper writes. The Guardian also writes one story to cover all three retailers, deciding that Tesco and John Lewis were winners but M&S was a turkey.

Walmart is raising its US starting wage from $9 to $11 an hour, as the world’s largest retailer anticipates reaping billions of dollars of extra cash in the wake of the Republicans’ sweeping tax reform plan (The Financial Times). The Guardian was less forgiving of Walmart in its reporting. “Walmart uses massive Trump tax gain to offer modest pay rise to workers,” ran the headline.

Amazon Fresh is stoking up the grocery price war as it undercuts the top supermarkets by up to 25%, according to research done for The Mail by consultancy Oliver Wyman.

Sales of reusable coffee cups are soaring in the UK, retailers are reporting, as the government hints at a tax on disposable cups, The Guardian reports. Argos said it had sold 537% more portable cups in December 2017 than the same month the previous year. Meanwhile, kitchenware chain Lakeland reported an increase in sales of more than 100% month-on-month, homeware company Robert Dyas reported a 50% lift year-on-year, John Lewis said the week before Christmas was its biggest ever week for sales of travel cups, and Wilko said it sold 78% more in December than November.

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