Coles and Woolworths leverage their dominant position over smaller suppliers and consumers alike – and both groups are getting angry
Farmers are pressuring supermarkets to raise produce prices, and shoppers want shelf prices lowered. Can both win?
As inflation eases, supermarkets would typically lean on suppliers to cut prices, with some of those savings passed on to frustrated shoppers to dissuade them from buying less or switching grocery stores in search of a better deal.
Continue reading...Bidder says multiple attempts to engage with high street group’s board were rejected
The US investment group Elliott has ended its bid to buy Currys after previous offers were rejected by the electrical goods retailer.
Elliott, which owns Waterstones, told the markets on Monday that it had made multiple attempts to engage with the Currys board but all had been rebuffed.
Continue reading...New owner Frasers Group decides it is unwilling to fund turnaround
The luxury clothing retailer Matchesfashion is to enter administration after its new owner, Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group, said it was not willing to fund a turnaround.
Matches was acquired by Frasers just three months ago for £52m in cash from private equity firm Apax Partners but the business has “consistently missed its business plan targets” and made losses, Frasers said.
Continue reading...Short of breaking up Coles and Woolworths, retail experts call for regulation of wholesale supply deals and help for new entrants to access sites
The Albanese government has ruled out breaking up Australia’s dominant supermarkets after likening such a measure to the old Soviet Union’s command and control economy.
While the government’s position will disappoint some of Coles and Woolworths’ fiercer critics, meaningful reform doesn’t necessarily require a hammer, according to industry and supply chain experts.
Continue reading...Fast-fashion company believes it unlikely that SEC will approve US flotation, according to report
The fast-fashion company Shein is reportedly considering a stock market flotation in London rather than New York because of potential problems with a listing in the US, its preferred location.
Shein, which was founded in China but is now based in Singapore, is in the early stages of exploring an initial public offering in London because it believes it is unlikely that the US Securities and Exchange Commission would approve its initial public offering (IPO), Bloomberg reported.
Continue reading...Competition helped offset impact of Red Sea shipping crisis in February, says analyst Kantar
Grocery price inflation in the UK has slowed to a two-year low as fierce competition among supermarkets offset the impact of the Red Sea shipping crisis on goods prices.
In a boost to households, supermarket prices were 5.3% higher than a year earlier in February, the lowest rate since March 2022 and down from January’s 6.8%, according to the analyst Kantar. Grocery sales grew by 5.1% in the four weeks to 18 February.
Continue reading...Costs are escalating amid delays, according to British Chambers of Commerce research that shows UK exporters have also been hit
More than half of UK retailers and exporters have been affected by the disruption to Red Sea trade from Houthi rebel attacks on cargo ships, research by a leading business lobby group suggests.
The price of shipping a container from Asia to Europe has gone up by as much as 300% for some businesses, while logistical delays have added up to three to four weeks to delivery times, according to the survey by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC).
Continue reading...Brad Banducci will face a Greens-led Senate inquiry, but it is Amanda Bardwell who will have to rebuild the supermarket giant’s reputation
Woolworths chief executive Brad Banducci is stepping down from Australia’s biggest supermarket chain – but he’s going down swinging.
Against a backdrop of multiple parliamentary inquiries and a year-long pricing investigation, Banducci maintains that the grocery sector is “unbelievably competitive”.
Continue reading...British Retail Consortium says criminals ‘being given a free pass’, with thefts more than doubling to 16.7m incidents last year
UK shop workers are facing 1,300 incidents of violence and abuse a day and a battle to control “brazen” acts of shoplifting, as pressure mounts on ministers to intervene to protect retail employees.
Retailers saw the number of incidents of racial abuse, sexual harassment, physical assaults and threats with weapons rise 50% last year, while thefts more than doubled to 16.7m incidents, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC), the trade body which represents most major retailers.
Continue reading...Hundreds of jobs at risk less than three months after cosmetics chain was bought by German firm Aurelius
The Body Shop has collapsed into administration in the UK, less than three months after it was taken over by a private equity company, in a move that puts hundreds of jobs at risk at the cosmetics chain.
Aurelius, the German buyout company that bought The Body Shop for £207m in November, said it had been unable to revive the fortunes of the business after dismal trading over Christmas and new year.
Continue reading...Process likely to lead to job losses and store closures, and threaten source of sales for global network of small farmers and producers
When Anita Roddick sold The Body Shop in 2006, she left behind not just a thriving cosmetics and skincare empire but living proof that a business could follow strict ethical guidelines and still make healthy profits.
But on Monday, the private equity-owned company filed the intention to appoint administrators.
Continue reading...Inspired by French action, British campaigners say they will continue slow tractor protests after Dover roads were blocked
Farmers say there will be further French-style blockades following a slow tractor protest at Dover against low supermarket prices and cheap food imports from post-Brexit trade deals.
Around 40 tractors and other farm vehicles blocked roads around the Kent port for several hours on Friday evening by driving slowly and carrying signs with slogans such as “No More Cheap Imports”.
Continue reading...US firm expects rising costs to hit profits and sales as consumers cut spending on treats
The US chocolatier Hershey has warned on profits and sales after a sharp increase in the cost of cocoa to record levels pushed up the price of chocolate, hitting cash-strapped consumers in the pocket.
Global cocoa prices hit a new peak of $5,874 (£4,655) a ton on Thursday in New York as dry weather continued to affect crops in west Africa, with poor harvests driving up prices in the region, which produces the majority of global supply.
Continue reading...Rappers entered breakfast market with Snoop Cereal in 2023, and allege conspiracy between manufacturer Post Consumer Brands and supermarket chain Walmart to ‘choke’ startup brand
Rappers Snoop Dogg and Master P are suing US supermarket chain Walmart and food manufacturer Post Consumer Brands, claiming that the two companies conspired to sabotage the success of the pair’s new breakfast cereal enterprise.
Snoop Cereal launched last summer, with Master P hailing parent company Broadus Foods as the first Black-owned cereal company in the US: “This has been going on for over 100 years, that we’ve been consumers and never owners, so we’re changing that game.” The rappers partnered with Post to produce the cereal itself.
Continue reading...Sales growth slowed last month amid cost of living crisis, poor weather and rail strikes
The traditional January sales on the high street failed to inspire a revival in consumer spending last month, as households continued to cut back amid the cost of living crisis.
Britain’s largest retailers said sales growth slowed last month as higher living costs weighed heavily on consumers, while weather conditions and strikes on the transport network also hit spending.
Continue reading...New Bond Street department store, which opened in 1890s, to close doors for final time this weekend
More than 130 years after it opened, the flagship Fenwick department store in central London, will close its doors for the last time on Saturday.
The historic four-storey shop in New Bond Street, Mayfair, is shutting after the retailer – which is owned by more than 40 descendants of John James Fenwick who founded the company with a single store in Newcastle in 1882 – sold the property to developers for £430m.
Continue reading...Increasing preference said to be driven by desire to be healthier and is fuelling trend for 100ml taster bottles
As the adage goes: good things come in small packages. According to alcohol industry experts British consumers are increasingly choosing to enjoy their beverages in smaller portions, but of higher quality – fuelling a trend for 100ml taster bottles.
The shift comes from a desire to be healthier, experts say, with drinking among UK teenagers and young people falling. In June 2023, Tesco sold 25% more low- and non-alcoholic beer than in dry January.
Continue reading...Claim comes amid state and federal inquiries into Australian grocery sector and what producers say is a widening gap between wholesale and shelf prices
Farming groups have accused the major supermarkets of using their power to distort the market, leading to elevated prices for shoppers and low prices for producers.
The claim comes amid falling global prices for agricultural goods that have failed to dent grocery bills, and growing scrutiny of supermarket pricing practices through newly announced federal and state parliamentary inquiries.
Continue reading...Surprise fall in December sales damages chancellor’s claims that UK economy is on right track
The UK economy was probably in recession during the second half of 2023 if the latest retail sales figures are anything to go by.
A surprise 3.2% slump in the level of sales in Great Britain during December appears to show the cost of living crisis was continuing to hurt household finances despite a rise in wages that gave many consumers a bit more spending power.
Continue reading...Petition demands online retailer stop immediate sale of bags and compensation for damages incurred
Uniqlo is suing the Chinese online retailer Shein over the sale of items it claims copy its popular banana-shaped ‘it’ bag, the “round mini”.
The petition demands that Shein immediately stops the sale of “the imitation products” and pays compensation for damages incurred as a result of their sale. It was filed last month in the Tokyo district court against the fast-growing business’s parent groups Roadget and Fashion Choice, as well as Shein Japan.
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