Archive for April 2012
Pubs should run rings around Olympics
To any overseas visitors coming to these shores for the Olympic Games the organisers of the event would have you believe that the main beers produced in the UK are Heineken and its sister brands John Smith’s and Strongbow. London + Olympics = Heineken! They’d also have you believe that we don’t have anything more…
Read MoreRetailinsider.com Top 25 Drinks Retail Websites
Brought to you by Retailinsider.com and Cookie Reports Welcome to the inaugural Retailinsider.com monthly ‘Drinks Retail Website Index’ that ranks the Top 25 UK websites for drinks retailers, which has been produced exclusively by website testing specialist Sitemorse. The objective is to give a cross-section of the category with the constituents comprising large grocers, pure-play…
Read MoreInnovative Retailers – Poundland
Brought to you by Retailinsider.com and PCMS The Name: PoundlandThe Place: 389 stores in the UK and 10 in the Republic of Ireland.The Story: Founded in 1990 with a store in Burton upon Trent Poundland is said to have brought us the whole concept of price point retailing over from America. Initial scepticism from some…
Read MoreMovers & Shakers Q&A with Simon Russell of John Lewis
Brought to you by Retailinsider.com and K3 Retail Simon Russell, director of retail operations development at John Lewis 1. What is the greatest opportunity for your business? We have a great opportunity to further integrate a very successful department store business and a rapidly growing online business to produce a really compelling omni-channel business. Naturally our…
Read MoreGuest Slot – Alan Giles questions vertical integration
Vertical integration is back in fashion. (we think so, as you can read here). Morrisons recently bought a fish processing plant in Grimsby, having purchased a flower wholesaler last year. Sports Direct’s Mike Ashley has been buying up brands – most recently Firetrap – almost as fast as his football team have been acquiring Premier…
Read MoreRetail Species – The unlikely entreprenuer – Claire Robertson of Wellchester
The Person: Claire Robertson The Company: WellchesterThe Job Title: Manager This is going to be a feel-good column isn’t it? It certainly is a good British story involving pluck, underdogs and pick and mix. Claire Robertson started at high street stalwarts Woolworths as a Saturday girl way back in the day. And eventually rose up…
Read MoreWhy have we got it in for canned beer?
Bottled premium ales are a growing category for the supermarkets and selling through such outlets enables brewers to expose their goods to customers around the country – so long as they swallow the bitter pill of being paid a very ‘competitive’ price. Supermarkets are finding such products very attractive. This is something that Yorkshire-based Black Sheep accepts and now sells…
Read More