Budget retailer and adviser PwC have until Monday to find new funding
The troubled budget retailer Wilko has stopped offering home deliveries for orders on its website as it holds last-ditch talks on a potential rescue deal.
The household and garden products retail chain, which has about 400 stores, warned last week that it was on the brink of collapse, with more than 12,000 jobs at risk.
Continue reading...Firm says profitability suffered due to post-pandemic inflation and Ukraine war
Nomad Foods, the owner of Birds Eye, Findus and Goodfella’s pizzas, has seen a sharp rise in sales after it increased prices by 18%, amid political scrutiny over food pricing.
The business, which supplies the UK’s major supermarkets, said sales had risen by 8.6% in the three months to the end of June. The number of items sold dropped by 9.4%, but profits rose by 6.8% to €210m.
Continue reading...Marketplace sellers in UK and rest of Europe say having to wait over a week means they will struggle to pay staff and loans
Amazon has told thousands of marketplace sellers in the UK and continental Europe it will hold on to sale proceeds for more than a week in a move that small businesses say could force them to go bust.
The company has written to sellers to inform them it will no longer credit their accounts as soon as a sale is made online but will do so a week after an item has been delivered.
Continue reading...British Retail Consortium and KPMG report shows steep annual drop in volume of sales and a rise in promotional offers
Britain’s hard-pressed retailers are being forced to slash their prices to drum up business after dismal summer weather and ever-higher interest rates combined to depress consumer spending in July.
The monthly health check of high street and online spending patterns from the British Retail Consortium and the consultancy KPMG reported a steep annual drop in the volume of sales and an increasing number of retailers offering promotional offers to woo consumers reluctant to part with their cash.
Continue reading...Household goods retailer with about 400 stores files notice of intention as it tries to secure finances
Budget retailer Wilko has said it plans to appoint administrators in a move that could put 12,000 jobs at risk.
The household and garden products retailer, which has about 400 stores, said in a notice of intention filed at the high court on Thursday that it had appointed the advisory firm PricewaterhouseCoopers in recent months to try to find a buyer in an attempt to secure additional cash needed to keep trading.
Continue reading...Other retailers say they are working with government on implementing industry-wide comparison service
Asda has begun publishing local fuel prices at its forecourts online, becoming the first retailer to launch the service following pressure from the competition watchdog and MPs over widened profit margins at the pump.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has called on the government to introduce legislation to ensure fuel retailers provide up-to-date pricing for a new industry-wide comparison service.
Continue reading...Clothing and footwear among items reduced most in July as retailers try to counter bad weather
The UK’s biggest retailers have reported the first monthly fall in shop prices for two years, as stores tried to tempt in customers with big discounts during July’s unseasonably wet weather.
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said its annual shop price inflation rate, compiled with the help of NielsenIQ, had declined to its lowest level of the year, sliding to 7.6% last month from 8.4% in June.
Continue reading...M&S says ‘short-sighted act of self-sabotage’ leaves no choice but to review position on UK’s premier shopping street
Marks & Spencer has been refused permission to demolish and rebuild its main store on Oxford Street in the West End of London in a win for campaigners concerned about the carbon footprint of redevelopment.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities confirmed that Michael Gove, the secretary of state, disagreed with the recommendation from inspectors to approve the plans and had “decided to refuse permission”.
Continue reading...Competition regulator tells business committee of ‘significant change’ in retailer’s fuel pricing
Asda’s profit margins on fuel have tripled since before the pandemic, according to the competition regulator at a bad-tempered parliamentary hearing where the supermarket chain’s co-owner repeatedly refused to explain its pricing strategy.
Mohsin Issa declined to answer multiple questions on whether Asda had increased its profit margins on fuel since its takeover in 2021, prompting MPs on the business select committee to become increasingly furious as the retailer insisted it had not changed its strategy.
Continue reading...Energy secretary backs voluntary price comparison scheme in meeting with supermarket bosses rather than new law
The energy secretary, Grant Shapps, appears to have rowed back on plans for a law to force supermarkets to make fuel prices more transparent, instead backing a voluntary price comparison scheme in a meeting with supermarket bosses.
Shapps on Monday endorsed the non-mandatory scheme, which had been suggested by the competition regulator, after a summit with retailers that he had promised would involve him holding “rip-off retailers” to account.
Continue reading...Shopkeepers complain the number of thefts from stores is soaring. Is the cost of living crisis to blame or organised gangs?
It could be laundry tablets, lipstick or even baby milk. According to shopkeepers in the UK the number of thefts is rising. The British Retail Consortium said there were 8m instances of theft from shops last year, which cost businesses nearly £1bn. The Office for National Statistics reports a 22% rise.
For shop assistants and managers it is a daily struggle, which can be costly and infuriating – but what’s behind it? The Guardian’s North of England editor, Helen Pidd, spoke to shopkeepers on one Manchester street to see how they were coping, and spent the day in a magistrates court to find out what happens when a shoplifter is caught. She explains how organised crime may be a factor behind the rise.
Continue reading...Retailers should be forced to display detailed price information on loyalty card deals, says consumer group
Supermarket food prices have increased by more than 25% over the past two years according to the consumer group Which?, with the size of the rise reinforcing the case for retailers to be forced to display detailed price information on loyalty card offers and promotions so shoppers can find the best deal.
Which? said the government needed to close loopholes that result in “confusing and inconsistent” pricing practices of some supermarkets. Last month it reported Tesco to the UK’s competition watchdog because it does not provide unit prices – such as the price for each 100g or 100ml – for the loyalty card offers it uses as a sales tactic to pull in shoppers.
Continue reading...Like-for-like sales up 9.8% in quarter and supermarket says it has put more than £60m into cutting prices of basics
Food inflation is starting to fall, according to the boss of Sainsbury’s, who said shoppers were putting more items in their baskets as it began to cut prices on some basics.
Simon Roberts, the chief executive, said the supermarket was “putting all our energy and focus into battling inflation” as household budgets were “under more pressure than ever”.
Continue reading...Promotion is designed to help parents who are struggling to afford clothes amid cost of living crisis
Families are being offered money off children’s clothes in Marks & Spencer if they donate school uniform hand-me-downs, as part of a push designed to help parents struggling to afford them amid the cost of living crisis.
The second-hand uniform collected will be sold via Oxfam’s high street chain as well as via a new “back-to-school” eBay shop. The tie-up is an extension of M&S’s existing “shwopping” partnership with Oxfam, in which customers drop off old clothing in exchange for loyalty card perks.
Continue reading...British Retail Consortium says figure eased to 8.4% in June from 9% in May
Britain’s biggest retailers have said shop price inflation is easing ahead of a crunch meeting with MPs on Tuesday over the soaring cost of groceries, but warned food prices were continuing to rise at near record rates.
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said annual inflation in overall shop prices eased to 8.4% in June, down from 9% in May, as retailers cut the price of many staples including milk, cheese and eggs. Clothing and electrical goods prices also fell ahead of the summer holidays.
Continue reading...Associated British Foods says group sales rose by 16% with Primark saying rises supported by steeper prices
The owner of Primark and food brands including Twinings has upgraded its profit forecast for this year as sales revenue jumped thanks to inflation-fuelled price increases and as shoppers bought summer clothes.
Associated British Foods, which also owns brands including Ovaltine as well as a sugar business, said that group sales rose by 16% to £4.7bn in the three months to 27 May. Sales at Primark were up by 13% to nearly £2bn.
Continue reading...Shoppers for consumer group Which? ordered 1,800 items to test the average shelf life at six retailers
From out-of-date frankfurters to bashed brie, online food shopping can be a lottery, especially when it comes to the groceries’ shelf life, according to an investigation by the consumer group Which?.
Groceries delivered by Sainsbury’s were found to have the shortest average time left before their use-by dates, according to the items received by a team of 12 mystery shoppers located around the UK.
Continue reading...While the rate has fallen from its October peak of 11.1%, the figure for May is expected to stay stubbornly high
UK inflation is expected to have remained stubbornly high in May despite a string of forecasts earlier this year predicting a sharp fall in response to tumbling energy prices.
Official figures are expected to show on Wednesday that the UK’s consumer prices index (CPI) eased slightly last month, to 8.4%, from 8.7% in April.
Continue reading...Supermarket inflation slows to lowest rate this year, although households still under pressure
Supermarket inflation in Great Britain has eased to its lowest level this year but remains high, forcing people to change how they eat and cook as household budgets are strained, according to the data firm Kantar.
Grocery inflation declined to 16.5% in the four weeks to 11 June, down from 17.2% last month and a record 17.5% in March. It remains at its sixth-highest level since the financial crisis in 2008, Kantar said.
Continue reading...Rishi Sunak says he is suspending anti-obesity measure to avoid restricting consumer options during cost of living crisis
The government is to delay its planned ban on two-for-one junk food deals – a key anti-obesity measure – for another two years amid the cost of living crisis.
Rishi Sunak will shelve the expected measure targeting multi-buy promotions on products high in fat, sugar or salt (HFSS) to avoid restricting consumer options while prices remain high.
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