It is expensive to rationalise SKU (products) in any retailer; the markdown has to be factored in at the margin, traders don't like it as they have to take a hit. Asda committed the usual cardinal sin when faced with falling sales, alongside an avalanche of retail media, they added more range for various reasons. No doubt back margin was part of it, plus traders trying to grow sales in a retailer that's struggling is never an easy task. Which means short cuts can become very palatable. I am...
15 days ago • 4 min read
It's a definite step change in the market with volumes falling, customers making more shopping trips and inflation touching 5%. Customers react to this, and the sentiment has been weak for some time. The recent NI changes have not been swallowed by the sector (my shock!) but instead are being passed on to customers. For people heavy sectors like hospitality, retail and food production, any cost increase is bad news but the NI changes feel like a spectacular own goal that is only going to hurt...
18 days ago • 3 min read
Just one week after the event; our latest report covering all the execution from the UK market is published. We believe speed must lead, and we're the quickest to market with the most in depth insight, due to our closeness to the stores, where it matters. Buy our 2025 Father's Day Event Report today You can find some sample report pages on the page and you can purchase the full report too on that link. We feature older seasonal event reports, all the way back to 2016, if you want to turn back...
19 days ago • 1 min read
There will be more on B&M for our subscribers this week and next week too as we assess their trading at the moment and what the new CEO faces as he takes charge too. Our subscribers benefit from a fuller report with analysis and further examples from our store visits. Here are a couple of observations that I picked up when touring a store recently. Sauces It's clear that Ambient Grocery is important for B&M; the entire layout is geared up for this, it's the first things customers see....
23 days ago • 3 min read
We have started to utilise Twitter spaces as we enhance the ways that we are able to discuss the market, without the need for you to sit and read through mountains of data. To listen (On Twitter) to my latest thoughts on Kantar data and the changes at Tesco also, please click here. (Twitter link). It's a 30 minute listen! I hope to add a Q&A functionality to this and for our members (details below) I will be adding a quarterly virtual presentation on the market and the events within, too. For...
over 3 years ago • 1 min read
We have started to utilise Twitter spaces as we enhance the ways that we are able to discuss the market, without the need for you to sit and read through mountains of data. To listen (On Twitter) to my latest thoughts on Kantar data and the changes at Tesco also, please click here. (Twitter link). It's a 30 minute listen! I hope to add a Q&A functionality to this and for our members (details below) I will be adding a quarterly virtual presentation on the market and the events within, too. For...
over 3 years ago • 1 min read
Good Afternoon: For December 7th, we have our badvent focus on the practice of hanging planograms on the shelf itself, ahead of relay. There's nothing wrong with it, inherently it makes sense. However; leaving them in situ, sometimes throughout the trading day? No. Take them down please. (Whatever happened to the AM walkaround?) For help with your business challenges in 2022, don't waste time working things out, get our trusted perspective, today.
over 3 years ago • 1 min read
Good Morning, Rather than send over the weekend, we will roll up the advent calendar on a Monday to ensure that you see each day / improvement point. If you follow on Twitter then you'll see these updates anyway, but nonetheless, an email makes things easier because the content is all there for review, rather than having to remember to save the post, or similar. The purpose of #badvent is not to highlight issues, or showcase an image, indeed the imagery is purely for illustrative purposes, we...
over 3 years ago • 1 min read
Good afternoon; Our "Badvent" calendar is now live with the 1st of December marking the start of advent, after all. Last year, you may recall we ran a "Retail's best" advent calendar that focused on the very best from our huge store visit programme and best practice image portal. Wegmans comfortably makes it in to our top 25 stores/retailers. We rolled those up in to 25 of the best stores that we had visited, it was a popular campaign and it was good to showcase the "best of" retail for a...
over 3 years ago • 1 min read