Category Archives: Supermarkets

Ocado failing to deliver on its potential as one of UK’s great technology hopes

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Firm’s automated warehouses are struggling to compete against swift deliveries from stores by bike riders

Only six years ago, the boss of Ocado Group was writing the obituary for supermarkets as he predicted that a surge in online grocery shopping during the pandemic had brought forward the hi-tech future.

“Not every store will disappear, but there will be a dramatic shift,” Tim Steiner said at the height of the Covid pandemic, when shopping from the sofa became the only option for many.

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Ocado to cut 1,000 jobs in £150m cost-saving drive

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Major restructure by retail technology business will lead to reduction of about 5% of global workforce

Ocado is to cut 1,000 jobs as the retail technology business attempts to slash costs by £150m in a major restructure.

The group confirmed about 5% of its global workforce is being cut, with about two-thirds of the job losses affecting its UK operations.

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Groceries via delivery apps like Uber Eats, DoorDash and Milkrun can be up to 39% more expensive

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Seven out of 13 items at Aldi were priced higher on DoorDash than in store, while Milkrun charged more for 11 out of 13 items from Woolworths

Convenience can come at a steep price, Choice has found, with Australian consumers paying up to 39% more for groceries ordered through rapid delivery apps.

Choice compared in-store prices of 13 common grocery items available at Coles, Woolworths and Aldi with their equivalents on third-party apps Uber Eats, DoorDash and Woolworths-owned Milkrun.

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Tesco steps up UK sales as Asda struggles amid rising inflation

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Marks & Spencer bounces back from cyber-attack as it extends contract of chair Archie Norman

Tesco has grabbed a bigger slice of Britons’ supermarket shopping, as it stepped up sales and market share, while its rival Asda continued to struggle amid rising grocery inflation.

The UK’s biggest supermarket increased its market share to 28.3% in the 12 weeks to 5 October, up 0.7 percentage points on a year earlier, while its sales advanced nearly 7%, according to Worldpanel by Numerator.

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Marks & Spencer food chief calls for ‘concrete target’ on British produce

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Alex Freudmann says ministers need to increase proportion of food eaten in UK that is grown or reared in Britain

Marks & Spencer’s head of food has called on the government to set a legally binding “concrete target” to increase the proportion of food produced at home, as he warned that Britain was becoming “less and less self-sufficient”.

Alex Freudmann, the managing director of the upmarket grocer’s food division, which works with 10,000 British farms, said: “If ministers are committed to domestic food supply, then they need to prove it, and that’s why we’re backing our farmers’ calls for a clear and concrete target to increase the proportion of food eaten in Britain that’s grown or reared in Britain.”

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Iceland says it will pay customers £1 if they report a shoplifter

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Grocery chain employees will verify the incident and the reward will be adding to the shopper’s loyalty card

The grocery chain Iceland is offering customers who shop a thief a £1 reward on their loyalty card.

The frozen food specialist said that anyone who spots a suspected shoplifter in its stores should inform the nearest Iceland employee who will verify the incident before adding the reward to the individual’s loyalty card for immediate use.

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Women’s Euro 2025 final to cap £800m boost for UK supermarkets, pubs and retailers

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Sunday’s England v Spain match set to be most-watched women’s football match in UK history, benefiting food, drink and hospitality industries

The climax of the exhilarating women’s Euros, as the Lionesses attempt to atone for their loss to Spain at the World Cup, is poised to be the most-watched women’s football match in UK history with the tournament providing a more than £800m boost to supermarkets, pubs and retailers.

With Sunday’s showdown aired on both ITV and the BBC, and their respective streaming services, TV industry executives expect that, with the help of a family-friendly 5pm kick-off time, viewing will eclipse the 14.8 million peak audience when England lost 1-0 to Spain in Sydney two years ago, if the match is close.

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Cheaper imported chicken and beef increasingly seen in UK supermarkets

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Grocers turning to Australia, Poland and Uruguay for meat, prompting claim they are undermining British farmers

Cheap chicken and beef from Australia, Poland and Uruguay is on the rise on UK supermarket shelves, according to the National Farmers’ Union, as supermarkets look for money-saving options.

The NFU regularly monitors supermarket shelves and notes that Morrisons is now selling raw chicken from Poland in its poultry aisle. Chicken in Poland is generally produced to different standards from those in the UK, and is cheaper as a result. Morrisons requires that for its UK chicken, poultry must be kept at a maximum stocking density of 30kg/m2, giving the chickens more space to roam. In Poland, this is up to 39kg/m2.

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Asda unlikely to see growth before year end at earliest, says supermarket boss

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Sales at UK’s third largest supermarket fell 3.1% in four months to April, as rival Aldi announces big expansion

Asda is unlikely to see growth before the end of this year at the earliest, the supermarket’s chair, Allan Leighton, has said, as sales continue to fall despite price cuts and more stock on its shelves.

Meanwhile, Aldi, which is closing the market share gap with Asda, put further pressure on its rival by announcing significant expansion plans across the UK.

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Cost of Easter rises as UK chocolate, lamb and hot cross bun prices soar

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Shoppers also face more ‘shrinkflation’ as manufacturers ‘try to offset rising production costs’

Exchanging Easter eggs and tucking into a roast dinner are among the highlights of the spring holiday but Britons face paying more for this year’s celebrations after a sharp rise in the price of essentials such as chocolate, lamb and hot cross buns.

A leg of lamb joint now costs on average £13.94 a kilo in supermarkets, which is 10%, or £1.31, more than last year, according to the price analysts Assosia. Over two years, the jump is nearly 27%, or approaching £3 more a kilo, based on the pre-promotion price across Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons.

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Labor promises price gouging crack down on supermarkets

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Anthony Albanese says his government, if re-elected, will establish taskforce to investigate ‘excessive’ pricing regimes, and it will be enforced by ACCC

Anthony Albanese has promised that a re-elected Labor government will outlaw price gouging by supermarkets, marking the first big policy announcement of the campaign.

The prime minister on Sunday will announce Labor will act on recommendations made by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to improve transparency about supermarket prices, promotions and loyalty programs.

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Groceries are getting more expensive at Woolworths but cheaper at Coles, report finds

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Choice price tracker finds cost of shopping at Aldi barely changed between March and December 2024 in quarterly assessment of 14 common items

The cost of groceries at Woolworths has gone up even when factoring in specials, while prices at Coles decreased and Aldi’s remained relatively stable, according to Choice’s latest supermarket price tracker.

The consumer advocacy group has released its fourth quarterly report, funded by the federal government, into supermarket prices, which it assesses by purchasing a basket of 14 common grocery items from different stores.

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Ten thousand Kroger-owned grocery store workers strike in Colorado

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Two-week strike begins as union for King Soopers alleges surveillance of workers and pushes to gut health benefits

Ten thousand workers at Kroger-owned King Soopers grocery stores in Colorado begin a two-week unfair labor practice strike on Thursday.

The union, United Food and Commercial Workers local 7, whose contract expired last month, voted 96% in favor of authorizing the strike.

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UK grocery inflation slows for first time in six months amid rise in promotions

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Kantar figures could be good news for government as food price rises have fuelled persistent UK inflation

Grocery inflation slowed in January – for the first time in six months – as retailers ramped up promotions to attract budget-conscious shoppers.

The price of groceries increased by 3.3%, easing from 3.7% in December, as the costs of toilet roll and cat food fell but those of chocolate, butter and chilled juices rose, according to analysts at Kantar.

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High food prices becoming ingrained in Australian economy, analyst warns

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Economic data shows food and beverage prices still rising faster than long-term average, even as inflationary pressures ease

High food prices are now embedded in the economy, a retail analyst has warned, after new inflation data released on Wednesday.

Egg prices surged 11% last year, and the cost of cooking oil is up 7%; lamb prices have jumped 17%, while shoppers are paying about 6% more for fruit and vegetables. Beer prices have lifted by 4%.

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Woolworths selling downsized’ Brut deodorant for more than double unit cost of old product

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Consumer advocates call for more transparency around ‘shrinkflation’ as supermarkets continue to defend against price-gouging allegations

Australia’s biggest supermarket chain, Woolworths, is selling a significantly smaller stick of Brut deodorant for more than double the unit price of the old product, in an extreme example of “shrinkflation” that leaves shoppers paying more for common household products.

While not unlawful, the pricing decision rubs against heightened public criticism of strategies employed by supermarkets, which have consistently defended themselves against price gouging allegations during a cost-of-living crisis.

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Falsely labelled ‘organic’ products rife on Australian shelves, shoppers warned

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Organic farmers sound alarm about greenwashing amid push to introduce national domestic standard

Organic farmers and retailers have warned that Australians are being misled by producers who engage in a form of greenwashing by falsely labelling their products “organic”.

Australian consumers may be happy to pay higher prices for meat, cheese, cosmetics and other goods marked “organic” but producers can use the term without meeting any particular standards or being certified.

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Tesco enjoys ‘biggest ever Christmas’ as shoppers switch from rivals

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Supermarket now controls 28.5% of grocery market, with sales at UK stores up 4% in six weeks to 4 January

Tesco has recorded its “biggest ever Christmas”, with the UK’s largest supermarket chain landing its biggest share of the festive shopping trolley since 2016.

Sales at established UK stores rose 4% in the six weeks to 4 January, with fresh food performing particularly strongly and clothing and homeware sales also up.

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Australia news live: Allan defends Victoria after it’s named worst state for business; Burke to meet Indonesian minister over Bali Nine

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The Victorian premier has defended the state’s business credentials saying there’s key data missing from the Business Council of Australia’s report. Follow today’s news headlines live

Weather check shows mixed conditions forecast across Australian cities

It’s a mixed, if warm, bag in capital cities today, with the Bureau of Meteorology forecasting storms in Melbourne, sunny skies in Brisbane and Adelaide and showers across all other major cities.

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Woolworths takes $50m hit as strike leads to empty shelves

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The supermarket giant filed an urgent application with the Fair Work Commission to end industrial action blocking distribution centres

Australia’s biggest supermarket chain, Woolworths, says it has lost $50m in grocery sales since the start of industrial action that has disrupted the flow of goods into some of its stores.

More than 1,500 Woolworths warehouse workers have been on strike since 21 November, seeking better pay and safety on the job. Industrial action has affected up to five distribution centres, impacting supplies in some stores in Victoria, New South Wales and the ACT.

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