Newspaper retail round up

A look at the retail stories from this week… Tesco, Habitat, Amazon.com, Sainsbury’s, Supermarkets and M&S

Tesco puts Finest foot forward

Tesco is waging a price war on its upmarket rivals Marks & Spencer and Waitrose by cutting the price of over 200 products in its Finest range.

From The Times

 

Sainsbury’s chairman warns of short-term view

David Tyler, chairman of Sainsbury’s, has warned shareholders that short- term profit growth could spell long-term damage to the supermarket business.

Supermarket price war hots up

The supermarket price war in the run up to Christmas is fiercer than ever this year with the Co-operative, Waitrose and M&S joining the fray with price-cutting and loyalty drives alongside Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s.

Retail groups will continue to struggle in 2010

More than 4,000 UK retail groups experienced major financial difficulty in November and early 2010 is expected to see a large number of chains collapsing, according to new weekly Retail Stress Indicator by Begbies Traynor for The Telegraph Media Group.

Tesco opens customer-free stores

Tesco is opening a network of ‘dark stores’ which will never be visited by shoppers. They will look exactly like normal stores but are exclusively for the use of staff fulfilling online grocery orders.

From The Telegraph

 

Habitat MBO expected

Habitat’s credit insurers have threatened to withdraw cover to its suppliers if it is bought by retail restructuring group, Hilco. Separately, The Observer newspaper says chief executing Mark Saunders and finance director Sébastien Drouillet have gained the backing of new investors to turn around the chain.

Bolland to join M&S early

Marc Bolland is expected to join M&S earlier than previously thought. The chief executive left Morrisons chain last week, two months earlier than expected.

From The Independent

Tesco plans to launch Clubcard in US

Tesco is said to be considering launching its Clubcard shopper loyalty scheme at its Fresh & Easy chain in the US.

Shoppers expected to spend £350m

The first Monday in December is expected to be the busiest day of the year for e-commerce sites, as shoppers who browse high street stores during the weekend place orders online.

From The Financial times