All Supermarkets articles – Page 394
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News
Confident Co-op unveils record H1 performance
The Co-operative Group has underlined its readiness to join a supermarket 'big five' as its food division pushed the group to record profits and sales for the first half of the year.
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Waitrose, Booths shake on surprise buying alliance
Waitrose has signed a surprise deal with supermarket rival Booths to pool their resources and share buying duties on a range of products. Booths, which enjoys a similarly upmarket reputation to its larger partner, will co-operate with Waitrose on sourcing a number of products in a bid to lower costs.
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New mystery shop survey rates convenience stores
The Grocer has launched a mystery shopping survey for the convenience sector. As part of The Grocer’s new-look Independent View section, the mystery shop benchmarks independents against symbol groups, co-ops, discounters and the multiples’...
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M&S scorns claims Waitrose is cheaper
Marks & Spencer this week hit back at claims by John Lewis that Waitrose is 10% cheaper. John Dixon, M&S’s director of food, said he was surprised at John Lewis’s chairman Charlie Mayfield’s comments. M&S products cost the same or less than at...
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Good value ad drive by Co-op Group
In the same week that Tesco and Asda launched an all-out price war on value lines, The Co-op Group launched a campaign to prove it’s also good value. The society doubled its usual press activity to trumpet its A Great Deal Locally campaign with...
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Yorkshire range by Co-operative Group
The Co-operative Group has teamed up with local producers in Yorkshire to bring together products from the county in a branded range. Made In Yorkshire, available in 38 The Co-operative stores in Yorkshire, includes products such as beer, ice cream...
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Charlie’s class conflict
There’s no escaping class in the UK. Last week former Fast Show funnyman and kids’ author Charlie Higson was scoping out his local Waitrose researching a new book about a post-apocalyptic world without adults. The book sees one gang of middle-class...
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Shoppers urged to boycott multiples over cost of organic
The Soil Association is advising consumers to save money on organic food by spurning the supermarkets – using box schemes, co-ops and farmers’ markets instead. In an apparent u-turn for the association, policy director Peter Melchett said organic...
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Premium grocer Waitrose says it’s cheaper than Aldi
It is known as a premium retailer and is always the most expensive supermarket in The Grocer 33 weekly pricing survey. Yet this week, Waitrose claimed it was cheaper than hard discounter Aldi – in six of its 25 categories at least. Unveiling a 2.5%...
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Co-op store refurbishment up to 2,000
As its store refurbishment programme hit the 2,000 store mark this week, The Co-operative Group said it was on course to revamp 700 food stores this calendar year, and all of its 4,200 estate by the end of 2009. The Co-operative food store at Locks...
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Lothian shares Marks’ UK-wide Co-op vision
Peter Marks’ vision of a single co-operative society moved a step closer to fruition this week after Lothian Borders & Angus Co-operative Society said it was considering merging with The Co-operative Group. The society, which operates 66 food,...
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Premium release from Arniston Bay
South African producer The Company of Wine People is boosting the premium appeal of Arniston Bay with a new Limited Release tier, which will be available for just a month. The Co-operative Group will be the exclusive stockist of the new range,...
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Crossing the road to another Co-op will cost you 70p more
The Co-operative Group is charging customers inconsistent prices for brands, The Grocer can reveal. A snapshot study by The Grocer found prices for brands varied by as much as 20% in society-owned stores, including shops on the same street in a...
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New standards set for Co-op’s sourcing of fish
The Co-operative Group has set out its stall to be the UK’s leading sustainable fish retailer with the launch of a new corporate policy supporting good fishing practice. The Responsible Fish Sourcing Policy, launched this week, was developed in...
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co-op gives netball a leg-up
The Olympic Games kicked off in Beijing only yesterday, but The Co-operative Group is already thinking ahead to 2012. All this week the society has been polling its customers on whether netball should become an Olympic sport, showcasing at the 2012...
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Light bottles for Co-op ales
The Co-operative Group will use lighter glass bottles for its own-label ales from September, saving 131.5 tonnes of glass and 90 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions a year. “This proves it is possible for packaging to be resource-efficient without...
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Marks confident about Somerfield integration
Integrating Somerfield into the Co-operative Group will be easier than last year’s merger with United Co-operatives, the Co-op Group’s CEO has predicted. Peter Marks is confident he can pull off a seamless integration following the society’s £1.57bn...
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The man for the merger
The Co-operative Group has persuaded Guy McCracken, its influential CEO of food retail, to delay his retirement to integrate Somerfield into the business. McCracken officially stepped down as head of food on Sunday but will take up the new post,...
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A new colossusis born
The Co-operative Group’s CEO Peter Marks moved to reassure Somerfield’s suppliers in the hours after the mutual’s £1.565bn deal to acquire the supermarket was completed. Asked in an interview with The Grocer what implications the “biggest structural...
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Marks sets out plan for the Co-op’s big future
Marks sets out plan for the Co-op’s big future Having agreed to buy Somerfield for the knockdown price of £1.57bn, the Co-op boss turns his attention to the task in hand. Mark Choueke reports