Newspaper retail round up

Supermarket BOGOF deals
Cut-price offers in supermarkets could be a thing of the past as the government reveals its strategy to maintain food supplies over the next 40 years. The Food 2030 report is highly critical of ‘buy one get one free’ (BOGOF ) deals and heavy discounting that encourages shoppers to buy produce they don’t need and contributes to food wastage.

HMV
HMV chief executive, Simon Fox has been ruled out of the race for ITV top job, choosing to stick with HMV to see through the final 12 months of a three-year turnaround programme.
From The Guardian

July retail sales
Furniture and floor covering retailers enjoyed their best monthly performance in over three years in July. Strong sales at homeware chains helped boost the retail sector and deliver a 1.8% rise in sales according to the British Retail Consortium-KPMG survey.
Department stores and shoe stores also performed well in July while food sales slowed.

From The Independent

JJB Sports
The executive chairman of JJB Sports, Sir David Jones, is secretly planning to take the chain private with former chief executive, Chris Ronnie, who he sacked earlier this year. Ronnie has since been accused of bringing the chain to its knees.

Kurt Geiger
Luxury shoe brand Kurt Geiger reported earnings rose 21% last year, and sales increased 7%. The chain has almost 30 UK stores as well as concessions in department stores.

Nisa Today’s
Convenience stores are battling for survival as Nisa Today’s, Britain’s last remaining mutually-owned buying group for independent shopkeepers, faces a potentially hostile bid from Bibby Line Group, which owns a 51% stake in the Costcutter chain. Nisa Today’s board rejected the bid last week, but Bibby Line is pursuing support from shopkeepers, which could force a turnaround.

From Sunday Telegraph

Niche retail brands such as Superdry are getting tougher at preventing rivals from replicating their designs to avoid costly legal battles after the event. The brand is not alone in being embroiled in legal settlements over imitation garments on the high street. Julian Dunkerton, chief executive of fashion brand Superdry said: “We spend about £1m a year on protecting our designs and on enforcement. We have about 15 cases ongoing with everyone from the biggest, quoted retail chains to the seedy wholesale manufacturers who supply the lower end of the high street.”

From Times on Sunday

Supermarket Own Label
Sales of supermarket premium own-label food ranges rose by 4% in the three months to June, signalling consumer confidence is recovering, according to market research company Nielson.

Sports Direct
Sports Direct has failed to find buyers in five areas of concern after buying 31 stores from rival JJB Sports. The Office of Fair Trading has referred the case to the Competition Commission

From Financial Times

Supermarkets
British supermarkets are thriving on competitive marketing this summer because they moved quickly to stop customers defecting to discount food stores. Despite heavy discounting, British Supermarkets are posting sales growth.

From Wall Street Journal