Amazon enters online grocery market
Amazon today launched a grocery division offering free delivery on thousands of household goods. The online retailer, which launched in the UK in 1998 as a bookseller, will offer 22,000 top grocery lines including Pampers, Ariel, Uncle…
Selfridges named as world’s best store
Selfridges walked off with the world’s best store accolade at the global department store summit in New York. Photograph: Frank Baron for the Guardian
Selfridges was today named as the world’s best de…
Big four supermarkets tough it out in battle of the British aisles
Times are tough for Britain’s supermarkets. Photograph: Alamy
When Tesco boss Sir Terry Leahy announced last week that he was bowing out after 14 years as the nation’s number one shopkeeper, most atte…
Philip Clarke: a profile of Tesco’s next chief executive
Philip Clarke is currently Tesco’s international and IT director and will replace Sir Terry Leahy in March. Photograph: PA
Tesco chief executive designate Philip Clarke will fly out to Japan this morn…
Argos falls flat as World Cup fever fails to lift TV sales
Argos was disappointed by lack of demand for new TVs. Photograph: Stephanie Pascal/Rex
The World Cup has failed to stoke demand for new TV sets with Argos today reporting slumping sales ahead of the t…
Tesco’s Terry Leahy pockets £5.2m in salary and bonus
Sir Terry Leahy, chief executive of Tesco, pocketed over £5.2m in salary and bonus last year as the supermarket group notched up a 10% increase in profits to make a record £3.4bn. The bumper profits mean Tesco will be sharing a bonus pot of £105m among its more than 216,000 staff. Everyone from checkout operators [...]
Knight of Bra’s checks out
So, the man behind one in four of the bras and knickers in the UK has begun his long goodbye. Sir Stuart Rose, the executive chairman of Marks & Spencer, presented his final annual profits last week, after a stint that has, he likes to point out, lasted longer than the second world war.
His end [...]
Blood on the shopfloor
There’s a bloodbath coming, said one supermarket boss in private this week. His reasoning was that a slowdown in food inflation, or even a slip into deflation, plays havoc with supermarkets’ financial models. Add a few tax rises to constrain shoppers and the pressure is on. Expect a fierce attack on costs, especially on jobs, [...]
Marks & Spencer says worst of recession is over
Marks & Spencer chairman Sir Stuart Rose declared today that the UK has come through the deepest ravages of the economic turmoil. Speaking after M&S posted profits of £632.5m for the last financial year, Rose said he was not worried about the UK falling into a double-dip recession.
“Marks & Spencer has had a good year,” [...]
