All articles by Steve Farrell
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NewsLidl takes aim at Home Bargains and string of other retailers in price comparisons
Lidl has also been pitting its non-food middle aisle prices against Asda, John Lewis, Homebase, Currys, Robert Dyas and online retailer Wayfair
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NewsAldi planning to create more than 1,600 store jobs in 2025
The discounter – which now has more than 1,050 stores, up by about 10 since December – said the jobs would result from a previously announced plan to invest £650m in further expansion in 2025
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NewsLidl recalls chocolate Alpenfest Salted Mini Pretzels over ‘burning sensation’ fears
The Food Standards Agency is advising anyone to have bought the products not to consume them
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NewsPoundland MD Austin Cooke departs
Cooke’s departure follows former Poundland MD Barry Williams’ return to the board of the struggling retailer on an interim basis
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NewsM&S targets family shoppers in renewed value push
The new value messaging comes after M&S CEO Stuart Machin warned earlier this month of waning consumer confidence, despite the retailer growing food sales faster over Christmas than any other major grocer
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NewsAldi rolls out InPost parcel collection lockers to 260 stores
Aldi said it followed positive feedback from customers on how convenient the service is
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NewsLidl to ask shoppers for ‘micro-donations’ to the NSPCC at tills
Customers will be invited to make a donation of up to 30p with card transactions
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NewsSavers to open 30 new stores this year
It follows a year of successful trading, according to the retailer
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Comment & OpinionHow did Aldi end up charging shoppers £10 to enter a store?
The ‘pre-authorisation’ fee at Aldi’s Shop & Go store in Greenwich has turned ‘just walk out’ into ‘just walk out at least £10 worse off’
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NewsAldi taking £10 ‘pre-payment’ from shoppers to enter its checkout-free store
Shoppers who don’t leave with £10 worth of shopping could have to wait several days or longer for a refund
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NewsAsda ends its Aldi and Lidl price match scheme
Asda has ended its Aldi and Lidl price match scheme, as it plans to launch a major new Rollback campaign of price cuts
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NewsHundreds of supermarkets forced to shut as Storm Éowyn ravages UK
Major supermarkets have closed swathes of stores across large parts of the country which are subject to a Met Office red weather warning
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Analysis & FeaturesPoundland: what’s gone wrong and what can it do to fix it?
Distracted by an expansion opportunity, management ‘took their eye off the ball’ as a crisis was developing in the customer offer
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NewsAldi donates 1.1 million-plus meals over Christmas
The discounter worked with redistribution partner Neighbourly to donate fresh and chilled food from stores after closing early on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve
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NewsBarry Williams returns to Poundland to address crisis
It is understood Williams has returned in a supervisory role on an interim basis to run a comprehensive assessment of Poundland
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NewsLidl claims a UK supermarket first with fibre food sales target
It aims to increase the tonnage of fibre it sells by 20% by 2026
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NewsAldi beats rivals to offer the UK’s highest hourly pay rate for supermarket workers
From 1 March, the hourly rate for Aldi store workers will rise from £13.65 to £14 within the M25 and from £12.40 to £12.71 elsewhere in the UK
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NewsAldi infringed Thatchers’ trademark, finds Court of Appeal
Lord Justice Arnold said Aldi had ‘intended to take advantage of the reputation of the trademark in order to assist it to sell the Aldi product’
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NewsPoundland owner reportedly appoints City advisers to explore options
Pepco Group is said to have engaged AlixPartners to explore options for arresting Poundland’s sales slump
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NewsAldi launches wine with sales ‘supporting the removal of plastic from oceans’
For every bottle sold, the equivalent of 10 plastic bottles worth of ocean plastic will be removed from the environment, according to the discounter