Retail round up – The Weekend papers.
Diageo owed 1.9m by failed Threshers owner, Balls Bros boss: era of short lunch dawns, Planning test to safeguard competition could cost 25,000 supermarket jobs, Bumper Christmas for online supermarket Ocado, M&S to report holiday sales rise,Luxury defies high street crunch, Stellar sales for John Lewis with takings up 30%, Local ‘parcel exchanges’ to transform online purchases, Bankruptcy fears if New Year sales flop…
The Sunday Telegraph
Diageo has emerged as the biggest corporate creditor to First Quench Retailing, the Threshers to Wine Rack retailer that went into administration in October last year. The global drinks giant, which owns brands such as Smirnoff and Guinness, was owed more than £1.9m by First Quench when it collapsed, according to documents filed by KPMG, the administrator. Some £1.35m of that was owed to Percy Fox, one of Diageo’s wine wholesaling subsidiaries.Wine shippers make up the list of top three creditors, with Hatch Mansfield Agencies – a joint-venture between the Louis Jadot, Errazuriz and Villa Maria wineries – owed £805,623, and Mentzendorff, a 150 year-old London-based company, owed £490,760. Full article here.
The city is no longer awash with Champagne as people are more inclined to have a sandwich.Richard Balls, managing director of the family-run wine bar chain Balls Brothers, said: “This year, a lot of people who still have jobs have had a lot less time. That’s affected lunches – people are staying at their desks more.” Mr Balls, who has been topping up glasses in the City and Mayfair for the past 30 years, said: “Things like long liquid lunches, which have been drifting down for 20 years, will keep on doing so.”
Twenty-five thousand new supermarket jobs will be blocked over the next decade if the Government’s proposed Competition Test goes ahead, the industry has warned.The controversial planning test – which is designed to stop any supermarket from becoming too dominant in any area – would also have prevented 5,000 jobs from being created between 2006 and 2008 if it had been in place.Some 2,800 of those 5,000 jobs would have been at supermarkets other than Tesco, whose significant market share the test is presumed to be aimed at hobbling, according to industry research. Full article here.
Ocado saw sales rise 49pc in the week leading up to Christmas, as the online supermarket delivered 3.5m items to almost 42,000 customers.The strong trading period is likely to spark renewed speculation about a possible flotation this year. Observers believe the group could float within months.Andrew Bracey, chief financial officer of Ocado, said: “In a tough retail environment we have seen growth and improvement in all the key metrics for our business. Sales in the four weeks to Christmas were up 30pc.” Full article here.
The Sunday Times
Marks & Spencer is expected to deliver its first Christmas sales growth for two years when it unveils its third-quarter trading update on Wednesday.The high-street bellwether is tipped to report that like-for-like sales, including food and clothing, were about 1% higher than last year, when sales slumped by 7%.The small single-digit rise will still be regarded as lacklustre by the City given that it comes on the back of two years of falling sales. But M&S is expected to point out that last year it held two “mega-days” offering big discounts that were not repeated this year.It will also inevitably draw attention to the fact that its figures, which cover the 13-week period to December 26, do not include the post-Christmas sales. They do, however, include online sales made on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Full article here.
Supermarkets and department stores across the country say that their customers have been battling for bargains.If Christmas 2009 was meant to be blighted by the credit crunch, somebody forgot to tell Selfridges, the department store chain. The privately owned retailer emerged as a clear winner, amid a mixed picture across the high street. The group, owned by the Canadian billionaire Galen Weston, will reveal this week that sales were up a whopping 16% over Christmas compared with 2008, boosted by big-spending British day-trippers heading to its London, Birmingham and Manchester stores.Overall, the British Retail Consortium expects Christmas spending to be only slightly higher across the high street than last year as customers remained cautious due to fears of tax rises and more job losses. Full article here.
The Observer
John Lewis will this week reveal a stellar Christmas trading performance, with takings in the past week up 30% on last year. Bumper sales of widescreen televisions, white goods and beds have eclipsed last year’s figures, proving shoppers have shrugged off dire economic warnings and hit the sales in increasing numbers. The number of shoppers visiting Britain’s malls on New Year’s Day was up 9% on 2009. Full article here.
The Independent on Sunday
DX Group, the postal services company, is considering plans that would allow 90 per cent of the population to collect online purchases at nearby petrol stations and shopping centres 24 hours a day. The move would mean that online orders would be delivered to parcel exchanges, where the goods would be stored in locked boxes until the customer comes to pick them up.DX already operates 350 exchanges in the UK, but they are used mainly for business needs, such as services engineers collecting tools necessary to complete maintenance work. The division is currently worth £16m to DX, less than 10 per cent of group revenue, but this would grow rapidly if John Coghlan, its chief executive, signs off plans to increase the number of exchanges to between 1,500 and 2,000. Full article here.
The Mail on Sunday
Retailers are braced for a spate of bankruptcies amid fears that High Street spending is poised to drop sharply. Experts are warning that rising consumer debt and the increase in the VAT rate will prompt shoppers to begin to rein in spending this week.Sales have jumped over the past few days with the rush to beat the tax increase and to snap up discounted products, with shopper footfall rising nine per cent on January 1. But footfall to Christmas Eve was down 0.7 per cent, according to data produced by Experian for Financial Mail.’Many retailers have had a bad Christmas but so far that remains hidden. From mid-January onwards we are expecting a spending lull to set in that will test the resilience of some of the weaker retailers,’ said Experian retail director Jonathan De Mello. Full article here.
Preparing for the Upturn – Hear from leading retailers at the Retail HR Summit 2010
Senior HR personnel from ASDA, Morrisons, Best Buy, Co-op, Carphone Warehouse, Clinton Cards, Pets at Home, Punch Taverns and Dell will share valuable insights at the 3rd Retail HR & Work Force Management Summit 2010
Despite the inevitable redundancies and cost cutting measures imposed by the recession, recent research has shown that demand for goods and services in the UK is now increasing causing retail HR executives to re-evaluate their strategies.Many retailers who were streamlining their operations in the last 18 months are now implementing new initiatives to with fresh approaches to recruitment, motivation, adding customer value, succession planning, retention and flexible working practices.
With and increased amount of talent now looking for new job opportunities, eager to prove themsleves in an insecure job market; the smarter retailers are viewing the economic climate as an opportunity to maintain competitive advantage and market share through creating a leaner, motivated, highly skilled and adaptable workforce that is well placed to capitalise on the upturn.Following on from success of our last 2 Retail HR Summits, The Retail Bulletin is delighted to announce that this popular event returns at our new ‘retreat’ venue, The Reigate Hill Golf Club & Conference Centre on 9th February 2010
This summit, sponsored by Torex and RetailChoice.com will enable Retail HR executives to benchmark their HR strategies and share ideas in a relaxed environment. The programme will enable delegates to build improved recruitment, retention, development and engagement strategies that focus on delivery of bottom line results so they will be well placed to capitalise on the economic upturn. This interactive summit has been designed to allow a focused peer group of UK retail executives the opportunity to network and discuss best practices of Retail HR.
With regular networking opportunities throughout the day you’ll learn how to:
• Attract real talent and strengthen your workforce to cater for an improving economy
• Build a training, learning and development strategy that enables your business to capitalise on the upturn
• Establish best practices of maximising engagement and retention during a period of substantial change
• Boost employee motivation and commitment in challenging times through targeted, cost effective employee engagement strategies
• Maximise market share through cost effective, flexible retention strategies
• Identify and develop leaders that create competitive advantage for your company and engage your workforce
• Prepare for the upswing through cost effective, tailored retail HR strategies
“With demand for goods and services increasing together with a large pool of quality talent eager to prove themselves and an insecure job market; retail HR executives are now refocusing their strategies towards creating a leaner, more motivated, highly skilled and adaptable workforce that is well placed to capitalise on the upturn” said the event’s producer Carl Goodman.
Mark Higgins, Editor of The Retail Bulletin said “After a challenging 18 months, UK retailers are now recruiting staff again as they prepare for the upturn with a higher quality of personnel. With that in mind, we are delighted to have Best Buy’s Head of Retail HR, Anne McCafferty presenting our recruitment keynote”
After taking over 50% of Carphone Warehouse, BestBuy; the largest consumer electronics retailer in the world with over 1300 locations and 155,000 employees world-wide; have recently strated a recruitment drive for the first of 8,000 jobs it hopes to create in the UK over the next five years.
Speakers already confirmed for the event include:
Anne McCafferty, Head of Retail HR, Best Buy Europe/The Carphone Warehouse Group PLC
Annette Middlebrook, Group Human Resources Director, Clinton Cards
Karen Caddick, Group Director of HR, Punch Taverns
Owen Hickey, Head of Colleague Engagement, ASDA (Personnel Today Award Winner 2009 for Innovation in Recruitment & Retention)
Ryan Cheyne, Head of HR, Pets at Home Ltd (winner of the 2008 Employer of the Year Award at the People in Retail Awards and nominated for The Reward & Recognition Award at The 2009 Personnel Today Awards)
Liz Bramley, Head of Employee Engagement & Diversity, The Co-operative Group (one of The Great Place to Work Institute’s 50 Great Places to Work 2009)
Rachel Howard, EMEA Consumer HR Business Partner, Dell
Nick Rowe, Group Head of Learning and Development, Punch Taverns
Naomi Hewitt, HR Director, The Net-a-Porter Group (one of Times Online’s Top 100 companies to work for 2009)
Rowena Cooper, Retail Recruitment Manager, WM. Morrison Supermarkets PLC
Anita Douglas, HR Director, Peter Vardy (one of Times Online’s Top 100 companies to work for 2009)
Delegates can expect to network with like-minded UK retail HR executives as well as a select group of product and service providers and exhibitors.
If you or one of your colleagues would like to attend this crucial event, please visit
http://www.retailbulletinconferences.com/
To exhibit at the event please contact Ian Sprange on 01737 647100 or email ians@theretailbulletin.com
