Retail news

• Instead of pursuing shoplifters, the big supermarkets should use their record profits to prevent food waste | Drew Rooke

  03-09-2023 17:00
  
  It’s reprehensible during a cost-of-living crisis to dump binloads of groceries and enforce strict cosmetic standards on produceAustralia’s supermarket giants have been making a lot of noise about the spike in shoplifting across the country and the impact it is having on their business.“We are seeing it in every store and every category, it’s a real challenge,” Coles chief operating officer Matt Swindells told 3AW radio station last week. Brad Banducci, CEO of Woolw
  
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• The Wilko wake-up call: how marketing played its part in the retail giant’s demise

  03-09-2023 16:30 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  It’s the retail story that’s been running and running over the last two weeks, as British high-street retailer Wilko announced that it was going into administration, nearly 93 years after it opened its first store.
  While the news came as a surprise to shoppers across the UK, the retail giant’s downfall didn’t come out of the blue; signs of financial struggle had been clearly visible to those in the industry for some time.
  But what was less visible were Wilko’s marke
  
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• Sparks flies: how frumpy Marks & Spencer became fashionable again

  03-09-2023 14:00
  
  Four years ago the venerable retailer fell out of the FTSE 100, suffering a humiliating blow to its prestige. But now it has turned things aroundIt’s four years to the day since Marks & Spencer dropped out of the FTSE 100 for the first time since the City share index’s 1984 inception.It was a major blow for one of the UK’s biggest retailers – and symptomatic of a series of existential problems it faced. Share prices were close to a 20-year low; annual profits had slum
  
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• John Lewis faces ‘extreme challenges’ in making profit from housing scheme

  03-09-2023 12:22 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  John Lewis advisers have warned that it faces “extreme challenges” in making money from its scheme to convert parts of its stores into housing.
  According to The Telegraph, plans to construct over 400 flats above a West Ealing Waitrose could cost the company far more than its worth on paper.
  Planning documents have revealed the development could result in a negative return of £57m for the business.
  Property consultant Quod, which carried out the early analysis, said the “f
  
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• Tesco gives workers bodycams after rise in violent attacks

  03-09-2023 12:21
  
  Chief executive says chain has invested heavily in security and assaults have rise by a third in a year Tesco’s chief executive has called for a change in the law to make abuse or violence towards retail workers an offence across the UK.Writing in the Mail on Sunday, Ken Murphy said the supermarket chain has offered body-worn cameras to members of staff who need them after seeing physical assaults rise by a third in a year. Continue reading...
  
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• Tesco offers staff bodycams as physical assaults soar by a third

  03-09-2023 12:17 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  Tesco workers are being offered body cameras following an increase in violent attacks, according to the grocer’s CEO.
  Physical assaults at the grocery giant have risen by a third since 2022, Ken Murphy said in The Mail on Sunday, as he called for stricter laws for the perpetrators.
  Although recent law changes have made attacking a shop employee an “aggravating factor” in convictions, Murphy said he wanted “abuse or violence towards retail workers” to become an offen
  
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• John Lewis £150m Oxford Street redevelopment delayed

  03-09-2023 11:54 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  John Lewis is facing hold-ups in the £150m sale of part of its Oxford Street flagship store.
  Last year, the departmnet store picked a joint venture between developer Hines and Korea’s National Pension Services as preferred bidder for the scheme, which would convert the upper floors of the Oxford Street store into offices.
  The bidders were said to be willing to pay £150m for the chunk of the store, however, declining property values and increasing interest rates have thwarted th
  
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• Wilko secures creditor backing for HMV rescue deal as OnBuy ‘drastically’ improves offer

  03-09-2023 11:46 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  Wilko is closing in on a rescue deal with HMV owner Doug Putman’s offer securing the backing of the retailer’s creditors for the deal.
  PwC is thought to have obtained support from creditors including the Pension Protection Fund and other major landlords and suppliers, The Times reported.
  It is understood that the administrators were looking into the financing behind Putman’s bid, which is mostly in the form of debt provided by Gordon Brothers, as they want to understand th
  
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• HMV owner secures creditor backing for Wilko rescue deal as OnBuy ‘drastically’ improves offer

  03-09-2023 11:46 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  Wilko is closing in on a rescue deal with HMV owner Doug Putman’s offer securing the backing of the retailer’s creditors for the deal.
  PwC is thought to have obtained support from creditors including the Pension Protection Fund and other major landlords and suppliers, The Times reported.
  It is understood that the administrators were looking into the financing behind Putman’s bid, which is mostly in the form of debt provided by Gordon Brothers, as they want to understand th
  
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• Aldi heads down new aisle with US supermarket shopping spree

  03-09-2023 06:00
  German discounter is moving into more conventional big store territory in a fiercely competitive market
  
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