Retailers all over mobile phones like a rash

It seems retailers still can’t get enough of mobile phones. Despite many of the UK’s high streets absolutely saturated with outlets from Phones 4u, Carphone Warehouse and the networks Orange, Vodafone and O2 etcetera, non-specialists are still keen to flog the devices and their accessories. Don’t like yours on the left In only the past week we’ve seen Tesco Mobile…

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Ocado frenzy overshadows under-valued Tesco

Much has been made of the Ocado valuation in recent weeks but in stark contrast little has been made of the valuation of the sector’s 60lb gorilla that could no doubt squash Ocado if it liked. Actually, Waitrose could probably squash Ocado if it liked. Outlandish Ocado valuation has not helped Tesco yet. What’s happened to…

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Ocado surprises nobody with IPO price cut

The least surprising event this week was the lowering of the price range for the flotation of Ocado to 180p-200p. At Retailinsider.com we’ve long been sceptical about this whole IPO process at the initial £1 billion valuation. (See previous post in May)   The only real surprise is that the cut wasn’t greater – from its…

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Amazon grocery not a dog’s dinner

When online behemoth Amazon recently launched its grocery offer it added to the general merriment in the food retailing community. [Here’s the Retail week editor’s blog on the matter]. It was almost as laughable as the valuation placed on Ocado. Certainly its regular customers thought it equally entertaining, judging by level of puns used in…

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Innovative ways to cut bank charges

There is an excellent restaurant in North London called Mosaica at the Chololate Factory run by the entrepreneurial Johnnie Mountain who does the odd bit of telly work so you might have seen is face on Great British Menu etcetera. What you won’t have seen though is the innovative initiative he has introduced at his restaurant to cut…

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Things really are tough at Argos

Trading is much tougher at Argos than I had imagined. Spotted in the Financial Times last week is the story that Argos is looking to drill for oil in the Falklands. Things clearly are getting desperate if the company is looking for black gold to support the trading at its stores. Argos: clearly on a diversification path that takes it…

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Part one of a new series on payments rip-offs

He knows the banking industry but they don’t want to know him Did you know that retailers are charged at least 20% more by the banks and card schemes to accept a transaction online compared with in-store? This is especially puzzling when you consider that online transactions are so much easier to process for the banks…

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Who is doing real multi-channel retailing?

Over the past few weeks I’ve been undertaking a bit of research to find those individuals in the retail sector who are doing a superior job of helping their employers deliver a truly multi-channel proposition to the customer. Many retailers are precariously juggling channels What I’ve so far found is that there are a modest number…

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Taking an axe to the retail sector

Tax increases and spending cuts are beginning to hit the sector hard. Yes, since the downturn first hit in 2008 many retailers have taken lots of medicine and reduced their terminal stock levels, cut costs, and now have a tighter than ever control on their inventory, but the fact is they face yet more problems ahead. Just…

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