Ireland news

March 2014 marks the third anniversary since Philip Clarke took over the helm of Britain's largest grocery chain. We examine what has happened in this time and what the future may hold for Tesco. A hard act to follow... After years of successful growth under Sir Terry Leahy, Clarke has had to deal with significant change both outside and inside the organisation over the past three years. So...

Poundland has confirmed that it will launch a trial online later this year but that this would not necessarily lead to a permanent website. Trial will feature limited range Poundland's trial will not include all products available in-store. Instead, there will be a limited product range which excludes bulky items, for example, bleach. In keeping with the discounter's fixed price model, on...

SuperValu reaches a major milestone as it completes Superquinn conversions and also strengthens its multichannel offer with a new "Drive Through" shopping service . SuperValu bids farewell to Superquinn brand February 13th marked the official rebranding of Superquinn stores to SuperValu. This comes three years after Musgrave purchased all 24 Superquinn stores from Select Retail Holdings. Comme...

Centra, the Musgrave controlled symbol group, has announced a 3.5% increase in sales to €1.48bn sales in 2013, lifting its overall market share in the Irish convenience market. Own brand instrumental to Centra’s achievement Announcing the results at its National Retailer Conference, Martin Kelleher, Managing Director of Centra concluded that the retailer's success was down to the sales of it...

New market share data reveals SuperValu and the discounters were the only retailers to grow sales in a declining Irish market at Christmas. 12 weeks to 06 January 2013 (% share) 12 weeks to 05 January 2014 (% share) Sales growth (Y-o-Y %) Tesco 27.8 26.2 -6.2 Dunnes 24.1 23.9 -0.9 SuperValu 19.8 20.1 1.3 Superquinn 5.5 ...

Iceland's international director, Paul Foley, has stepped down from his role following the retailer's decision to scale back international expansion plans.  Iceland to scale back new markets push Former managing director of Aldi UK, Paul Foley, has resigned from his role as international director at frozen food specialist Iceland. Foley joined the company in April 2012 as a consultant and...

Tesco has released its Christmas trading results for the six weeks to 4 January 2014, with group sales down 0.6% inc. VAT exc. fuel (-1.1% at actual exchange rates). Increasingly multichannel Christmas but UK challenges persist In the UK sales over Christmas declined 0.6% (inc. VAT exc. fuel), with LFL sales slowing compared to the performance in Q3, down 2.4% (exc. VAT, exc. fuel). Tes...

To stimulate your thinking for 2014, six of our analysts have selected their favourite small stores of the past year. 7-Eleven (Jakarta, Indonesia): mixing convenience and leisure Laura May, Business Analyst – Asia In this exciting grocery market 7-Eleven has expertly tailored its format to suit the needs of Jakarta’s busy, young and digitally switched on shoppers. Foodservice is centra...

Tesco has reported its Q3 trading results with group sales +0.2% (inc VAT exc. fuel) at constant exchange rates and +0.6% at actual exchange rates, for the 13 weeks until 23 November 2013. Ongoing pressures in the UK In the UK sales grew 0.9% (inc. VAT, exc. fuel) with LFL growth recorded at -1.5% (exc. VAT exc. fuel), a worsening performance versus the first two quarters of the yea...

As Ireland becomes the first Eurozone country to exit its bailout programme, we report back with five trends from Dublin on how Irish retailing has adapted to austerity and become a world leader in foodservice / convenience fusion concepts. 1. Value remains paramount While the economy is improving, consumer confidence currently remains at a low ebb. With one in three homeowners in negative equ...