Morrisons first quarter sales results offer no surprises with a 1.8% like for like sales decline. The decline is less than their last quarter but does nothing to recover lost market share. Aldi are gaining share in Morrison’s heartland in Northern England and are on a level playing field not having a convenience format or online business, but they are offering good value quality product. Morrisons have been urged by analysts to ‘sharpen their value pencil’ and have made progress but the primary brand message ‘Fresh’ is getting a bit stale.

Retail Experts

Morrisons have...

Sainsburys have today reported a 1.8% growth in like for like sales for their full financial year coupled with an increase in underlying pre-tax profits of 6.2%. Justin King can justifiably stand proud that his 10 years as CEO have turned the retailer’s fortunes. There was no mention today of succession planning so rumours of an imminent departure remain unfounded and with one more box left to tick I would expect him to remain at the helm for at least another year.

Sainsburys’ market share grew to 16.8% according to the latest Kantar Worldpanel data, the only growth recorded by the big four and leaves them tantalisingly close to taking over from Asda as the UK...

Argos has published positive like for like sales for the first time in five years, 2.1% up on their financial year. This is a cause for celebration and praise is due to the electrical buying team for being in the right place at the right time when the tablet PC boom hit in the latter half of 2012. Together with sales of children’s electronic devices, tablets have driven the sales growth and when availability is the key decision criteria, Argos’ live online stock availability and click and reserve make it very easy for the customer to find their product.

So with a bit of luck and good judgement thrown in Argos have benefited and in so doing fuelled the sales of...

PopUp Britain are opening a unit in London’s Kings Road to offer new retailing entrepreneurs an opportunity to sell their wares from somewhere other than their bedrooms. The PopUp Britain enterprise, as part of the StartUp Britain campaign, believe new businesses need to have experience of selling through bricks and mortar in order to grow and see this as an way for them to do just that in a low risk and low cost way.

As a side effect, the general health of the High Street benefits too. A landlord has a previously unoccupied unit paying rent (although I would hope it would be nominal); customers see new and exciting offers in their High Street that will change frequ...

Aldi are having a fabulous start to the year according to Kantar Worldpanel who report that, for the 12 weeks up to 14^th April, their sales are more than 31% up on the same period last year. Lidl and Waitrose are also significant winners of market share while Tesco part with 0.8% share points. Aldi were not unscathed by the horse meat scandal so we can only imagine what their share gain could have been.

Aldi are noteworthy for their loyal customers who rank them highly for customer service and quality, attributes that have placed them as the nation’s second favourite supermarket according to Which?. Good prices attract customers, but it is by giving great...

Asda are to trial same day delivery for its online grocery shopping and are to expand click-and-collect groceries across a further 200 stores. Currently, click-and-collect accounts for 50% of Asda’s non-food orders and 5% of food orders and their online sales are growing at 20% a year.

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One of the click-and-collect concepts Asda are trialling is a drive-through in York where you wave your smart phone at a reader and have your groceries downloaded into your boot. Another innovative step towards hassle free shopping, yet another step further away from entering a shop. Asda are cle...

M & S has had some trying times, all of them coinciding with their loss of customer contact and relevance to the UK shopper. They conversely have had times where their designs have been in synch with the population and their approach rewarded with strong growth and profit. Kim Winser in the late ‘90’s typified a strong buying period for M & S and fashion relevant clothing flew off the shelves, inspired by top designers such as Julian McDonald. When Kim moved on to Pringle a period of indecision was lifted by the introduction of George Davies, fresh from strong discipline and design at Next and pure volume from George at Asda. “Per Una” was born and with i...

Debenhams are the latest in a long line of retailers to report a decline in profits following the snow and cold conditions so far this Spring. Yesterday they reported their pre-tax profits are down 5.4% for the first half of their financial year suffering from discounting needed to invigorate sales and clear stock. Michael Sharp, CEO, is not promising a miraculous turn around either, remaining stoic about sales expectations and customer confidence.

But while shop sales creep along, Debenhams’ online sales are seeing exceptional growth reporting 46% increase for the first half compared to last year. Their online sales are now 12.7% of total sales, therefore sales thr...

Despite reporting a 14% fall in underlying Group profit compared to last year, Tesco investors appear to be upbeat and in a forgiving mood. This is just as well given the £1.2bn write down of exiting the US business and the decision to write down its UK property portfolio by more than £800m which was confirmed today. Philip Clarke has made some tough decisions and drawn a welcome line in the sand and given his investors what they wanted to hear - a focus on the UK and online businesses.

UK sales were up 1.8% for the year generating a profit of £2.3bn down 8.3%. The fourth quarter was the strongest of the year and is hinting at a recovery of growth. The U...

The smell of freshly mowed lawns could be in the air this weekend as Spring is forecast to finally make its appearance. It’s perhaps rivalled by the smell of desperation from some of the fashion and non-food retailers as frustratingly their Spring products lie untouched eroding, sales against last year and inevitably profit. This weekend could be the “Retail Release” they so crave.

The marketing department of every retailer with an ounce of seasonality to its offer, will be hard at it, negotiating advertising slots for the ads they shelved over Easter. Consumers should expect to be overwhelmed with messages about iced drinks, floating tea dresses and law...

There were no surprises this morning when the 4^th quarter sales results from Marks and Spencer showed a 3.8% decline in like for like sales of general merchandise compared to 2012. It has been widely forecast that the inclement weather in March seriously hampered any hope of recouping lost sales from the first two months of the year. Cold weather was blamed for the lack of Spring sales, not least by Marc Bolland, however there is also an underlying issue of fashionability. It may be that their 49 year old core customer just doesn’t like the ranges. She is the oldest core customer in the UK market, and seems to have been seduced by the likes of Next and John Lewis who ha...

Retail sales grew in March by 1.9% like for like, prompting hopes for improved consumer confidence. Even though the March figures from the British Retail Consortium include Easter which was in April last year, the message from Helen Dickinson, BRC Director-General, remained upbeat, saying the results were an encouraging end to the year’s first quarter.

As expected, clothing sales were hardest hit by the cold weather, with consumers staying wrapped up rather than seeking out summer fashions. Last year there was a mini heat wave in March which gave sales a welcome boost but this year tensions are rising for fashion retailers, concerned that unless the weather improves...

John Lewis had a week that other retailers could only dream of, with sales up 23.1% last week, and up 14.6% compared to Easter week in April in 2012. Drawing customers in from the cold with their Price Match and Double Points promotion on their partnership card was certainly a major contributor to increased footfall, particularly to their At Home stores. Homewares were up 22.5% and electricals and home technology saw an outstanding increase of 46.7%.

Layout of Store

Despite the cold and concerns for John Lewis’ Spring Summer fashion ranges, it was clothing de...

An Early Easter can be a bonus to retailers if the weather is good, both the DIY sheds and Garden Centres can start selling big ticket items reducing the risk for later in the season and making maximum profit. Unfortunately the longest winter since 1962 has dealt a body blow to early sales and profit for both Garden Centres and DIY sheds. The Arctic winds made it a bit too bracing to be laying a patio or tidying the borders but were perfect conditions for browsing, drinking coffee and gift buying. Footfall was reported to be good by the Garden Centre Association, but customers were not ready to invest in garden furniture or lawn care products just yet. Given the arctic winds, I don&rsqu...

Three months after Jessops collapsed and closed its’ doors, Peter Jones today opens two stores with another 4 to open over the weekend and 30 more through April. According to Jones, the new and improved Jessops will have a new store look, will be fully integrated with its online offer and provide a click and collect option for its customers. In addition customers can attend photography courses at the Jessops Photography Academy to improve their skills and make the most from their cameras (which they have hopefully purchased from Jessops) before printing out their photos while they wait in store.

These are all steps that the previous management team should have imple...

The High Street has been given a helping hand with the announcement that The Association of Town and City Management will be leading the programme to support and develop our High Streets over the next two years. After last weeks disappointment of Business Rates, retailers were knocking at Number 10 for help to deliver growth so that they could pay the rates. We will be following the developments of this closely and offer our no-holds-barred opinion as ever.

This programme will take the budgets allocated off the back of Mary Portas’ report last year and provide the support and mentoring that local towns and retailers need to innovate their High Streets and keep custo...

Despite some of the biggest names in retail joining the fight through Fair Rates for Retail campaign, the Chancellor did not freeze business rates and the planned increase of £175m will go ahead next month. This is on top of the additional £500m already added to the bill over the last two years.

But it isn’t all doom. With a budget that the Chancellor proclaimed being for those ‘who want to work and get on’, he increased the threshold for basic income tax to £10,000 and cut planned fuel duty rises and yesterday saw the announcement that parents would be able to claim back up to £1,200 per child of childcare costs. As a re...

Sainsburys today announced its 33rd consecutive quarter of sales growth contributing to a full year on year sales increase of 1.8% like for like excluding fuel. A strong Q4 at +3.6% LFL pushed sales higher than analysts expected, with record numbers of transactions at Christmas and strong spring seasonal events.

This result is largely driven by own brand, its continued growth in online sales and traffic through its growing convenience store estate. Where the consumer thinks twice about getting in the car or taking a bus to do the shopping, a convenience store matching the prices of the large out of town grocer is an easy decision to make...

Footfall was up in February by 0.8% year on year, the first positive result since December 2011. This is positive news for the High Street which delivered a 2.7%increase compared to shopping centres and out of town retail parks which declined year on year. However this time last year there was heavy snow so it is not surprising that footfall should be up on the High Street but down in out of town or shopping centres.

Couple this with the 2.7% like for like sales increase in February reported by BRC, conversion has also been positive. Hopefully the Chancellor won’t see this as a significant sign of recovery and decide to go ahead with the expected £175...

Morrisons this morning reported a decline of 7% in it’s pre-tax profits for 2012 and a 2.1% decline in like for like sales, failing to build on promising changes made prior to Dalton Philips arrival. Strategically their focus has been on the vertical integration of the supply chain, a valuable point of difference given the current horse meat crisis but meanwhile, they have been very slow to deliver their promised convenience stores or an online grocery operation. Creating ‘a platform for successful long term growth’ is admirable Mr Philips, but at some point the platform should be built on. To ride out another challenging year in 2013...

Tesco have today launched their latest tactic in the Grocery wars, their instant price comparison vouchers, a price comparison promise that considers not only branded goods but also own brand and promotions. Tesco will give their customers an instant coupon at the till for the difference up to a value of £10 should their basket be more expensive than their rivals. The only conditions are that the basket must consist of at least 10 items, one of which must be comparable.

Three things occur to me. The first is the vast quantity of price data that Tesco’s will require in order for this offer to be operational - the price comparison algorithms, the huge m...

The latest data compiled by the Local Data Company for Price Waterhouse Coopers reveals that store closures have accelerated in the UK to a rate of 28 per day averaged over three months to the end of February 2013. This following a year when 1779 stores closed compared to 174 in 2011. With multiple retailers including HMV, Clintons and Jessops going into administration in 2012, each with a high store count, the total is not surprising, but nonetheless it is a frightening statistic for surviving retailers, landlords and town planners alike.

The common factor threatening multiple retailers is the cost of operating multiple sites in an economic downturn – rent,...

Since the New Year all the talk has been about the closures on the high street, the fact that not only small independents but large names are not able to make the high street viable. We all think misty eyed about the high street of the past and many ask if that will ever return. Our view is quite simple and although we are not in the blame game the cause of the downturn cannot be laid at the local councils and the internet fully. Retail-Remedy work hard in getting our clients to construct a Vision which projects where they feel there customers will be and where the retailer feels it will be able to meet them. Had we been doing this 5 years ago at Jessops I have no doubt that we would ha...

UK retail consultants agree that Morrisons is in a muddle

The UK’s fourth largest supermarket, Morrisons, published its trading figures for the Christmas period on Monday and the consensus among UK retail consultants was that they were, well, a bit of a shambles. Morrisons’ like-for-like sales were down by 2.5%, which is pretty dire. I said in an article on the

Employment Law Update for this year, including October 2012 and the New Minimum Wages

· 1st Feb 2012 · Maximum limit of a weeks pay £430 · Unfair dismissal basic award & compensatory award £72,300 · Statutory Redundancy payment £12,900 · 1st April 2012 · Maternity, Paternity & adoption pay £135.45 per week · 6th April 2012 ... Read more August 6, 2012 Moral Of The Story...Have Salesmen That Care! Last week I set off on a mission to buy my son his first electric guitar. Like most people, our first port of call was the internet. After much trawling we knew the prices, availability and special offers available on anything from a Stratocaster copy to a genuine Les Paul Custom – however I knew nothing at all about the products themselves. We looked around a couple of higher end music shops with all the bells and whistles but we were clearly out of our depth and felt a little intimidated. So we started again by going back to the local company that supplied his first acoustic last year. I thought they probably wouldn’t be the cheapest, but I’d used them before. Read more July 23, 2012 Fashion Deliveries Right to Your...Tent? I have recently read that the well-established and ever growing group ‘Very’ have decided they’re going to push boundaries, taking retail to yet another level, by extending their delivery service to this year’s brave festival goers at V Fest’ in August. Very, an online fashion store fronted by the very popular Holly Willoughby and Fern Cotton, are the official “fashion partners” for this year’s Virgin Festival and have revealed earlier this week, that not only have they designed a 50 piece ‘Festival Favorites’ capsule collection for the event but also plan on providing a collection service for all customers attending. On... Read more June 12, 2012 Aurora launches PayPal mobile payments in-store I was very excited to read about the new PayPal in store payment method launched at the end of May by the Aurora group, the head of names such as Oasis, Warehouse and Karen Millen. I do have a small soft spot for the company being an ex “KM” girl but this is truly great seeing the British high street shopping experience, take one huge leap in to the future of shopping! So how does it work you ask. In a nut, when it’s time to make that ultimate decision and pay, simply turn to your Pay Pal PayPal “inStore app”, (available for Android and Apple iOS devices) which will then issue you a unique barcode and transaction number. The cashier is then able to... Read more March 29, 2012 High Street Futures High Street Futures As more and more town centres reflect the fortunes of some large retail brands with fading facia boards on empty shops you have to ask how is it that some town centres are thriving and others are dying. Local councils are desperate to maintain a retail centre for their towns and the desire from the communities is one of similar support. How is it then that so many towns are unable to provide an attractive retail offer. Excuses abound from both the large retailers and independents of declining customer numbers and their disposable income spend, however looking at the large out of town retail shopping centres the numbers and spend still seems healthy. Six... Read more March 21, 2012 Sainsbury Results March 2012 • Total sales for 4th quarter up 4.6 % • Like for like sales for 4th quarter up 2.5% • Like for Like sales for the year up 4.5% (2.1% excluding fuel) • 7.3% gross space growth in the year The top line all sounds rather good and no doubt is being positioned as such by their dynamic and media savvy leader Justin King. Our view is perhaps a little more balanced. These figures have to be taken into the context of the current retail landscape and in this respect JS have rarely had it so good. They are head to head with Tesco more than any other retailer and we have all heard much of the trauma that has affected the largest UK... Read more March 20, 2012 HRG Results March 2012 The recent results (15th March 2012) for HRGshow reasons for concern, something anticipated by all those who watch the high street and its operation. It is all well and good reflecting on the lack of sales and the pressured market in both its Homebase and Argos formats but if you wanted to know the reasons for their decline you really only have to look at their stores. Homebase were gifted a much easier market place when Focus folded and with B & Q making hay whilst the sun shone it seems Homebase sat back and tried to improve the business efficiencies rather than tackling the route of their problem. They suffer in a similar fashion to Wickes, good marketing, some good prod... Read more March 3, 2012 Should we be resentful of value retailers or should we learn from their business models? As volume and value retailers continue to gain market share, is there really a future for retailers who are not able to compete on price or deliver a true point of difference to their customer?   Many articles have been written discrediting value retailers and the dominance they have within the market place, however, the simple fact is, love them or hate them customers are turning to them to deliver a better return on the money in their wallets. Is it therefore imperative to understand how t... Read more March 3, 2012 Marks and Spencer - Times of opportunity or concern? As Marks and Spencer announced a drop in UK like-for-like sales of 5.9%; with falls in GM and food at 6.9% and 5% respectively, how much time does Ian Dyson really have to implement the ‘2020’ change program that he has been tasked with?   Marks & Spencer’s UK sales have dropped by 1.7%, whilst its overall sales grew by 0.4%, thanks to the 25.9% increase in international sales. Last year, the adjusted profit before tax was £1.09bn whilst this year’s results see a drop to £768.9m.   The Board has taken the last six months to review the business and layout its long term strategy. Ian Dyson has been entru... Read more March 3, 2012 Andy Bond President of Asda Wal-Mart gives a direct warning to retails on cost controls and understanding the changing face of consumers. At the first Annual Retail Lecture conducted by the BRC (British Retail Consortium) Andy Bond President of Asda, discussed the changing landscape of retail and a shift in customer attitude towards value “There appear to be increasing signs that we may be at the bottom of the cycle and green shoots may be appearing. But don’t let this fool you. While consumers may be ready to shop again, the recession will have definitely created a good degree of long-term behaviour change.”   According to Bond, consumers are beginning to revaluate what and how they purchase; retailers will no longer be able to drive higher margins through so called ‘special... Read more March 3, 2012 Is cost and price reduction the only way to survive within a recession? Most retailers (who are still trading) have responded to the recession through cost reduction and margin improvement programmes, which, as a retail improvement consultancy we applaud, albeit with caveats. As consumers become more restrictive on what and how they spend. Retailers, who invest in their brand through a recessionary period, have the opportunity to profit whilst others fail. It has been proved time and again that a strong brand is the most important asset a company has when recession strikes. In fact, retailers with strong brands can profit from recessions, as lesser companies turn inwards and fail to spend. Look at Intel! Intel’s famou... Read more March 3, 2012 Phil Dorrell joins Retail-Remedy as Lead Retail Consultant for Branding and Marketing. Retail-Remedy Ltd today confirmed that Phil Dorrell has joined the team as Lead Retail Consultant for Branding and Marketing. The role hands Phil a wide remit within the business – including, supporting a number of the businesses key clients with their UK and International branding objectives.   The appointment, confirmed that a significant part of Phil’s role would be to ensure the continued development of Retail-Remedy’s service portfolio across all geographies. Phil Dorrell said: “I am delighted to be joining Retail-Remedy”…. “It is exciting to be with a company that is focused on supporting retailers deliver profit gr... Read more March 3, 2012 Consumers and the Brand After a retail strategy meeting, we sat Phil Dorrell down and asked him for his take on consumers’ focus on brand.   More and more, consumers look to the brand and its brand values for reassurance as to quality, security and value for money. Consumer spending will focus on ‘reason to buy’, not ‘impulse to buy’. The brand is the key element in the purchasing decision.   Brand awareness is desperately important but it’s not the whole story – in the States, everyone knows General Motors, trouble is no-one is buying their cars! Consumers are responding to brand differentiation – at... Read more March 3, 2012 UK promotional retail strategies and their use The Grocer recently wrote on the continuing use of promotions by the big grocery retailers and suggested that execution varied greatly. Their article entitled “Waitrose shines amid promotional shambles” rated Waitrose as the most professional on implementation and Asda the worst of the top 5. Our view at Retail-Remedy is somewhat different. As customers are becoming increasingly promiscuous, no longer is the nearest supermarket the obvious choice with press and TV advertising enticing people into bargains and creating a nation of cherry pickers. Safeway’s demise was in part due to their insistence in a high low retail pricing strategy that meant busy action alley Wedne... Read more March 3, 2012 Striking the balance between Customer satisfaction and Employee Engagement...a priority for business? People Management (http://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/pm/articles/2010/07/sainsburys-appoints-gwyn-burr-to-top-hr-role.htm) recently reported on Sainsbury’s decision to merge the HR Director and Customer Director roles at Board level which has raised some eyebrows in both the retail and HR communities. But should it? As retail experts we understand completely that the customer is king but for customers to feel that way, employee skill sets should be developed to reflect this, enabling the enhancement of the dialogue and experience between retailer and customer. Talent management, career planning and succession planning are all established processes in large companies but small busi... Read more March 3, 2012 Emma Reed (ex-Asos.com exec) joins Retail-Remedy as Lead Buying and Merchandising consultant. Retail-Remedy Ltd today confirmed that Emma Reed would be joining the team as Lead Consultant for Retail Buying and Merchandising. The role hands Emma a wide remit within the business – including, supporting a number of the businesses key clients with their UK and International Buying strategies.   The appointment, confirmed that a significant part of Emma’s role would be to ensure the continued development of Retail-Remedy’s service portfolio across all geographies. Emma Reed said: “I am delighted to be joining Retail-Remedy”…. “It is exciting to be with a company that is focused on supporting retailers deliver sustainab... Read more March 3, 2012 Entering the Dragons' Den At Retail-Remedy we are often asked if we can support people making presentations to retailers in order to get their product listed. Our experience with buying teams and new product development means we are well placed to offer the guidance that sees people make a success of their product. It is however not always straight forward and each product or concept needs to be viewed in-line with the retailer’s total range. That said good lines will always find a way if presented well. We are very proud of the work we have done with Kirsty Henshaw, owner of Worthenshaws-freedom http://www.worthenshaws-freedom.co.uk/. Kirsty had a great product that she had worked hard to... Read more March 3, 2012 Objective Strategy Of all the overused and misunderstood terms there is little doubt that Strategy is the most often quoted. Retail-Remedy has worked with some large retailers who surprisingly would not be able to articulate their Strategy but have merely fallen into the business path on which they tread. Red faces have followed questions about the direction and they only get redder when asked about the customer imperatives that have guided that direction. Yet in truth Strategy should be one of the easiest things to do in business, small businesses started usually in a response to a perceived need, understanding the continuance and evolution of that need is fundamentally what Retail Strategy is. ... Read more March 3, 2012 Mary Queen of Shops During the month of January, we have been reflecting the challenges that the last year has given to many of our customers and how we can help them ensure the best possible year ahead. Undoubtedly the Economic Climate has been tough for all and yet the difference between those who have floundered and those who have flourished is about their operation, more than global financial meltdown. The Christmas reports are littered with CEO’s suggesting the weather has cost them dear and gearing up for that New Year profits warning. There are also traders who have done themselves proud and despite increasing online competition, customers who are controlling a budget and inclement we... Read more March 3, 2012 Retailers need to improve Customer Service Training to improve Customer Retention In the current financial climate many Retailers and Service Providers are looking to make cutbacks or increase revenues, usually at the expense of the customer. One of the major cutbacks seems to be Customer Service Training, as Mary Portas has proved in her mission to bring good Customer Service back to the High Street.   When a customer interacts with your business face to face, phone, website or e mail are they merely satisfied or delighted by the service they receive? Every interaction with a customer is an opportunity to make a difference and surprise the customer by not just meeting their needs but exceed their expectations. Investing in Retail Training of s... Read more March 1, 2012 Loyalty to Retailers - you are either a chip shop or a hairdresser Retail Advice I tweeted some time ago that Retailers can be categorised into two types depending on how customers see them and use them, clearly I exaggerate to make a point however in essence the principle is true, if you are a Retailer you are either a chip shop or a hairdresser!   Most of will be familiar to moving to a new town and trying to work out where the best chip shop is located, usually this means that some of the early visits are not as good as you wanted and you quickly move on to the chip shop with the huge queue outside on a Friday tea time. You are persuaded by the improved quality and/or service an... Read more March 1, 2012 Format Development: Small and Beautiful? As availability for supermarket new build becomes limited and increasingly expensive it is no surprise that both Asda and Morrisons look toward small Format Development in order to continue footage growth. Asda, who are no stranger to Format Development for small stores, sold 16 of the original 195 Netto stores to it’s Yorkshire rival for £28.1M.  With only 47 of the 195 having to be sold on, Asda clearly need to get their format working as it has never done before and we loo... Read more March 1, 2012 Small Format Development News Can the four leading supermarkets use their Format Development to expand in an increasingly contested market place?   As Tesco, Asda, Sainsburys and Morrisons fight for customers this summer it seems that some of these leviathans are better placed than others to make the best use of their Format Development and expand in an increasingly contested market place. Tesco have all the options to open in any market and have reaped the reward of a well-developed Format Development strategy that has been much publicised. Sainsburys have a similar if not as compelling offer and have small store experience in the ranks fro... 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