Almost 2,000 jobs will be created, with retailer vying to overtake Morrisons as Britain’s fifth largest supermarket
Lidl is to open 50 new UK stores in the year ahead – as well as its first pub – as it aims to overtake Morrisons as the country’s fifth largest supermarket chain.
The German-owned retailer has begun building a pub in east Belfast in response to strict local licensing laws that cap the number of premises that can sell alcohol.
Continue reading...Retailer faces public outcry over treatment of Walker Smith, who tackled shoplifter stealing Easter eggs at London store
Waitrose is under growing pressure to reinstate an employee of 17 years who was sacked after tackling a shoplifter who was trying to steal Lindt Gold Bunny Easter eggs.
The retailer has faced public outcry over its treatment of Walker Smith, who was fired two days after he stopped the shoplifter taking items from the Easter egg display.
Continue reading...Walker Smith, 54, who worked for retailer for 17 years, says he grabbed bag from thief before they escaped
A Waitrose employee of 17 years has described his devastation after being sacked for stopping a shoplifter who had ransacked a display of Lindt Gold Bunny Easter eggs.
Walker Smith, a shop assistant at a branch of Waitrose in Clapham Junction, south London, was going about his normal duties when a customer stopped him. “They told me someone had filled up a Waitrose bag with the eggs,” he said.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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
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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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.”
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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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Continue reading...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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Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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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Continue reading...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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Continue reading...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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