22 Shop Talk S
ainsbury’s has seen a fall in sales for the 10 weeks to 14 March this year. Fourth quarter total sales declined by 0.3%, while like-for-like sales were down by 1.9%. It is the fifth consecutive quarter that the firm has reported a fall in like-for-like sales.
Mike Coupe, chief
executive, said: “We expect the market to remain challenging for the foreseeable future. Food deflation is likely to persist for the rest of this calendar year and competitive pressures on price will continue.”
Tesco has regained sole ownership of 21 superstores in a transaction with British Land.
The 21 superstores and associated debt were part of a joint venture between Tesco and British Land and were all subject to RPI-indexed rent increases.
In exchange for the superstores, British Land will take over Tesco’s stake in three shopping centres, three retail parks and three standalone stores which are held in two joint ventures between the firms.
Tesco will continue to lease the stores at these sites. As part of the deal, Tesco will also receive £96m from British Land.
Chief executive Dave Lewis said: “Last year we identified the opportunity to increase the proportion of our stores we own as freehold. This transaction with British Land allows us to increase our ownership and thereby insulate more of our businesses from indexed rent reviews.”
SHOP TALK
A round-up of supermarket news and gossip
Marks & Spencer has completed the installation of the UK’s largest single roof mounted solar panel array on its East Midlands distribution centre in Castle Donington, Derbyshire. The solar PV array will span the site’s 900,000sqft roof and will generate over 5,000MWh of electricity a year. The 24,272 PV panel structure will lower the company’s carbon footprint by 48,000 tonnes over 20 years. The energy generated will provide nearly 25% of the energy required for the fully automated distribution centre, which is big enough to hold 11 football pitches.
Sainsbury’s is rolling out a new service to give customers a quick and convenient option to pick up shopping ordered online from store.
The first collection service was introduced at the Water Lane store in Farnham, Surrey, and a further 20 are now also live. 100 stores are
in the pipeline to deliver the service by the end of the year. Customers shopping online in catchment areas where a collection service is available will soon be given a new option where they can then choose a participating store and collection time to pick up their shopping from a refrigerated van parked in the store’s car park – manned and supported by Sainsbury’s staff.
According to reports in the national press, Asda is set to open two smaller format high street stores in London – in Deptford and Wealdstone – in July this year, as it continues to expand in the south of England.
It is also planning to open new superstores in Chatham Docks and Hayes.
Morrisons has stopped using the Intelligent Queue Management (iQM) system in its stores. The system was used to determine how many
checkouts to keep open at Morrisons supermarkets using infrared sensors that determine how many customers are flowing through the store. Now checkout teams will be asked to use their eye and experience to meet their customer needs.
This response comes after Morrisons’ retail team and new chief executive David Potts listened to colleagues and customers to understand how to make the checkout experience better for customers and for staff. They concluded that Morrisons’ checkout teams would make better and more balanced decisions compared to the iQM computer system.
Argos and Sainsbury’s have teamed up to open 10 new Argos digital stores within existing Sainsbury’s supermarkets.
The new format Argos digital stores will provide customers with a choice of over 20,000 non-grocery products which they can either buy instantly in store using tablets or reserve online for collection.
The Argos digital stores in Sainsbury’s will range in size from around 1,000sqft to over 5,000sqft and will open by this summer.
Mike Coupe, Sainbury’s chief executive, said: “These 10 Argos stores will complement our supermarket offer, giving customers the opportunity to shop for an extended range of non- food items. They will bring something new and different to our customers, and fit well with our strategy of making our supermarkets more convenient.”
Smith Brothers ACR News May 2015 Visit ACR News online at
www.acr-news.com
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