This week's retail news 'you may have missed'.....
At mdj2, we’re passionate about retail and always looking to share our news, views and insights. With so much information out there, we wanted to share just a small selection of articles from last week that we found interesting…..
Iceland boss Richard Walker warns that he has been forced to shelve new store openings after his latest energy bill rose by ￡20m
The boss of frozen-foods chain?Iceland?has warned that he has been forced to shelve new store openings after his latest energy bill rose by ￡20million, more than doubling the total.?
Richard Walker?said his group was 'fighting to keep the lights on' and called for an energy price cap for British businesses. The staggering increase in bills has left many retailers concerned about their ability to stay open beyond winter.?
Walker said Iceland was bearing the brunt of soaring prices more than other supermarkets because of its reliance on storing food in fridges and freezers. He told?The Mail on Sunday: 'We've got to make decisions because we have got this unmanageable volatility. In some instances, it might just be easier to mothball shops or temporarily close them because the energy costs are just completely unsustainable.'?
Walker, who took over from his father, Malcolm, in 2018, said soaring energy prices, wage inflation and labour shortages had left Iceland facing its worst crisis in more than half a century.
He said businesses normally try to lock in new contracts to insulate against future rises, but that was impossible with prices soaring. He said Iceland is facing the prospect of a cliff edge as his firm's energy remains hedged for just the next ten weeks. 'We are good at selling frozen peas,' said Walker. 'We are not electricity traders.?
'If you look at the spiralling energy markets, then you know it won't stop there. We've got the winter coming and nothing is being done about it. Consumers rightly need to be supported, but business needs to be supported as well.'?
He said many of his small and mid-sized suppliers were warning of collapse. 'Iceland is going to be large and strong enough to ride out this storm,' he said, but he added that suppliers were at a 'real risk of going bust', threatening thousands of jobs.?
He said the next Prime Minister will need to 'sort out our completely broken energy markets' in the longer term.
Iceland rolls out Uber Eats delivery to another 675 stores
Iceland?has rolled out?Uber Eats?delivery to an additional 675 stores, taking it to 890 across the UK, including branches of?The Food Warehouse.
The on-demand delivery service, which Iceland first began offering from a single London store during the pandemic in 2020, allows customers to shop from over 4,400 grocery products on the Uber Eats app.
As well as frozen food, the range includes fresh fruit & veg. Orders are picked by Iceland staff and collected and delivered by an Uber Eats courier in about 30 minutes.
“Since the partnership between Iceland and Uber Eats began, it has continued to exceed our expectations,” said?Justin Addison, Iceland & The Food Warehouse international & wholesaler director.
“We’re certain there will be more to come from this partnership in the future.”
Uber Eats head of commerce Alex Troughton?said: “We are delighted to be expanding our partnership with Iceland across the whole of the UK. We know that more and more customers are using our platform to order all their grocery needs, including the weekly shop, and with this partnership with Iceland, even more will be able to at the touch of a button.”
The news follows an announcement last week of a partnership between?Co-op and Uber Eats, which is set to see the courier platform deliver groceries from 1,000 of the convenience retailer’s stores by the end of the year. Co-op also partners with Uber Eats’ rival?Deliveroo?from over 1,000 stores.
That news came after?Asda?struck a deal with Deliveroo earlier this month to offer on-demand grocery delivery from 300 stores by the end of the year, having worked with Uber Eats since 2020. The two services are running alongside each other, with some Asda stores on both platforms.
Iceland also offers its own scheduled delivery service from stores across the UK.
Waitrose admits it signed deals with landlords to block rivals from opening nearby stores
Waitrose?has admitted to signing deals with landlords halting other supermarkets from opening nearby for a decade, following a probe by the UK competition watchdog.
The supermarket, which is owned by the?John Lewis Partnership, has said it has re-written property deals for numerous sites to allay competition concerns.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)?said it found the land agreements breached competition laws between 2010 and 2019.
It came after an investigation by the regulator which found in 2020 that?Tesco “unlawfully” leaned on landlords to not rent nearby sites to rivals. Tesco admitted that internal processes were not correctly followed.
Following the probe, the CMA wrote to?Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons, M&S?and the?Co-op?to demand proof they had not committed similar breaches.
Waitrose confirmed breaches of the rules relating to its stores at Bromsgrove, Rustington, Swindon, Daventry, Chester, Notting Hill Gate and Market Harborough from its portfolio of 331 sites.
Adam Land, senior director of remedies at the CMA, said: “It’s disappointing that Waitrose has acted against the interests of shoppers, despite these rules having been in place for over 10 years.
“Families across the UK are facing the rising cost of living. Preventing other supermarkets from opening new stores could stop people saving on their weekly shop.
“Waitrose is now putting this right so that everyone gets a fair deal.
“We will continue to take action when our rules are broken, and we have asked all supermarkets to show us their land deals comply with the order.”
A Waitrose spokesman said: “We’ve identified and addressed a small number of historic errors, but don’t believe we’ve enforced these to stop new shops opening.
“All of these branches are closely surrounded by other supermarkets, offering plenty of choice for customers.
“We’ve worked closely with the CMA and have now strengthened our internal processes.”
Asda buys 132 convenience stores from The Co-op
Asda?has agreed to acquire 132 sites from?The Co-operative Group?in a transaction with a cash value of €507m (￡438m), as part of its growth strategy to move into the convenience market and bring Asda value to more local communities. The purchase includes 129 established, high-quality sites with a grocery retail store of between 1,500 and 3,000ft2 and attached petrol filling station, and three development sites.?
领英推荐
They are located nationwide and will create a new and distinct format for Asda in the convenience market. The circa 2,300 employees currently working in the Co-op stores will transfer to Asda’s employment under TUPE transfer following completion and after a transition period.
?Mohsin Issa, Co-owner of Asda, said: “We have always been clear in our ambition to grow Asda and are hugely excited to create this new and distinct part of our business, giving us the opportunity to bring Asda value in fuel and groceries to even more customers and communities across the UK.”
“We see convenience as a significant growth opportunity for the business. This acquisition accelerates our strategy in this area and forms part of our long-term ambition to become the UK’s second-largest supermarket. We look forward to welcoming the Co-op colleagues to this new part of our business after we complete the transaction and due processes in the coming months.”
Asda agrees ￡600m deal to buy Co-operative Group’s 129 petrol forecourts
Asda?has agreed to buy the 129 petrol forecourts owned by?The Co-operative Group?in a ￡600m deal.
The transaction, which will include a cash consideration of ￡438m and includes lease liabilities of approximately ￡162m, is expected to complete in the final quarter of this year.
The addition of the Co-op sites could take Asda’s total number of forecourts to 450, if it is allowed to keep them all.
This is still less than its rival?Tesco, which has 512, but well ahead of?Morrisons and Sainsbury’s?with 340 and 315 respectively.
However, when?EG Group’s owners Mohsin and Zuber Issa?and their private equity backers?TDR Capital?bought Asda last year they were forced to sell some EG sites to allay concerns expressed by the?Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
The CMA identified 36 local areas where it believed competition in the road fuels market could be damaged if EG Group’s owners bought Asda, and EG Group agreed to sell 27 sites.
It remains to be seen whether the latest deal will result in CMA action.
Shirine?Khoury-Haq, chief executive at the Co-op, commented: “This transaction is in line with our strategy to move away from operating petrol forecourts and supports our vision of co-operating for a fairer world while building our core leading convenience business.
“I would like to thank our incredible colleagues in these stores, and we will work closely with Asda to ensure a smooth transition.”
Asda co-owner Mohsin Issa?said: “We have always been clear in our ambition to grow Asda and are hugely excited to create this new and distinct part of our business, giving us the opportunity to bring Asda value in fuel and groceries to even more customers and communities across the UK.
“We see convenience as a significant growth opportunity for the business.
“This acquisition accelerates our strategy in this area and forms part of our long-term ambition to become the UK’s second-largest supermarket.”
Tesco workers wearing body cams to deter abusive customers
Tesco?workers in Ipswich and across Suffolk have been issued body-worn cameras in a bid to reduce abusive behaviour from customers.?
The nationwide scheme has seen the safety equipment rolled out to shop floor staff, security officers and duty managers as a result of an increase in anti-social behaviour over the last two years.
The supermarket says the cameras have helped lead to a 12% reduction in physical assaults on colleagues.?
Paddy Lillis, general secretary for the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers, who represent a large number of Tesco employees, said: "Too often shop workers are confronted with violence, threats and abuse as a part of their daily working lives.
"Life on the frontline of retail can be pretty tough for many of our members.
"There is no doubt that body-worn cameras do have a deterrent effect and we are supportive of such measures aimed at reducing violence, threats and abuse at work.
"Staff wearing cameras need to be properly trained and the public must be fully aware they are in use, to act as a deterrent to would-be attackers.”
Cameras will not be used unless an employee feels a situation is escalating.?
The worker must then inform the person or people involved and anyone close by that they are using the equipment, with that statement alone often being enough to de-escalate tension.
The cameras are used to give a more accurate visual than instore CCTV systems, meaning they are more effective in the face ID process when helping to identify individuals.
"Usdaw’s?latest survey results clearly show the scale of the problem, with almost 90% of shop workers suffering abuse, two-thirds threatened and over one in ten assaulted", added Mr Lillis.
"Retail workers, their friends, family and loved ones, are saying loud and clear that enough is enough, abuse should never be just a part of the job.
"Retail staff are an important part of our communities, their role must be valued, respected and protected.”
Body-worn cameras have been rolled out to staff in both Tesco stores and petrol stations.
Boots rolls out body-worn video cameras to a further 225 stores
Boots?has invested in staff safety by rolling out body-worn video cameras to an additional 225 UK stores.
The move follows an initial pilot in 83 shops that resulted in a reduction in the number of incidents involving violence and aggression towards store staff.
It is also part of a wider effort from Boots to support team members and attempts to prevent retail crime. The health and beauty retailer has also introduced additional panic alarms, a state-of-the-art CCTV monitoring centre unit, and headsets for team members to allow faster communication across its largest stores
Iona Blake, security and incident manager at Boots, said: “We’re pleased that introducing body-worn cameras is helping to make our stores a safer place to work and shop. Stores that consistently wear their devices have seen around a 45% reduction in incidents, but what’s even more compelling is hearing how much safer and more confident our team members feel when wearing them.”