
Bryan Roberts
Bryan Roberts is global retail lead at IGD.
- Opinion
‘Amazon needs more than a Tesco price match to win grocery market share’
With Amazon launching a Tesco Clubcard Price Match scheme, IGD’s Bryan Roberts examines whether it will be enough to help the online giant regain momentum.
- Opinion
‘After yet another fire, Ocado’s international partners will be worried’
After a third fire at one of its automated distribution centres over the weekend, Ocado’s international partners must be looking on with a deal of concern.
- Opinion
‘The pandemic has torn down the line between foodservice and retail’
As well as looking at retailers’ financial results, it’s always worth looking at the results and investor relations outputs from suppliers too.
- Opinion
Bryan Roberts: Tesco’s Asian windfall would be better spent on stores
The ongoing unravelling of the great retail globalisation myth has taken its latest step with the news that Tesco has completed its withdrawal from Asia, through the proposed sale of its operations in Thailand and Malaysia.
- Opinion
Opinion: Aldi’s Leader Price takeover will step up discounter push in Europe
Compared to other parts of the food retail business, the discounters are not renowned for their track record in mergers and acquisitions.
- Opinion
Bryan Roberts: Clubcard and Nectar won’t lure Aldi and Lidl shoppers
Perhaps overshadowed by the exits of Dave Lewis and John Rogers, the big reveal of supercharged loyalty schemes from Tesco and Sainsbury’s did not receive the amount of fanfare that the retailers had been anticipating.
- Opinion
Bryan Roberts: Tesco isn’t putting Jack’s back in the box
The British can sometimes take a degree of pleasure seeing the mighty stumble.
- Video
Watch: Has Waitrose lost its battle with Ocado before it’s begun?
As Waitrose cuts ties with Ocado replacement TDP just four months after joining forces, the team - along with special guest Bryan Roberts - debate if the grocer made an error in hiring an unknown partner in the first place and whether it can stick to its goal of “trebling the size of its online grocery business to £1bn over the next three years”.
- Opinion
Bryan Roberts: Sainsbury’s stores still a mixed bag
Against a backdrop of relentless discounters, a resurgent Tesco and a recovering Asda, Sainsbury’s put out its first-quarter update this morning, putting a brave face on what might be considered a tepid set of numbers.
- Video
Watch: Are consumers losers from Sainsbury's-Asda verdict?
After the competition watchdog vetoed the Sainsbury’s-Asda merger, TCC Global insights director Bryan Roberts joins the team to discuss whether the decision will do more harm than good for consumers.
- Opinion
Opinion: Grocers are making real progress in the war on plastic
It can often be difficult, for a cynic such as myself, to differentiate between an outbreak of opportunistic bandwagon jumping and a genuine sea change in corporate behaviour.
- Opinion
Opinion: The CMA has got it very wrong on Sainsbury's-Asda
So, it’s been yet another week when the elite in power are stubbornly refusing to bend, ignoring common sense and seemingly intent on delivering an inferior outcome for the people of the UK.
- Video
Watch: Is it curtains for Coupe after CMA findings?
Sainsbury’s £13bn mega-merger with Asda was thrown into serious doubt this week after the CMA’s scathing provisional findings.
- Opinion
Sainsbury's-Asda merger: How will Walmart react to CMA probe?
Today’s bafflingly onerous verdict from the Competition and Markets Authority on the planned Sainsbury’s-Asda merger is clearly a body blow for Sainsbury’s.
- Opinion
Bryan Roberts: What's in next year's grocery trolley?
Super Thursday has come to pass and we therefore have a bit more clarity on supermarket performance over the key Yuletide period.
- Opinion
Bryan Roberts: Which grocers will have a cracking Christmas?
So we’ve had all the ads, we’ve got through the Black Friday nonsense and now we hurtle headlong into the cup final that is the festive trading period.
- Opinion
Bryan Roberts: As rivals up their food game, so must M&S
Another day, another set of Marks & Spencer results that have more than a whiff of déjà vu.
- Opinion
Retailers putting plastic genie back in its bottle
That Sir David Attenborough is a living legend is beyond any reasonable doubt. But I think everyone has perhaps been a little surprised by the long-lasting impact of Blue Planet, which documented the damage inflicted by plastics on the oceans and its inhabitants.
- Opinion
Opinion: Tesco is picking its battles by closing Direct
Thanks to the recent amazing interviews with various ex-Tesco senior directors by George MacDonald of this parish, we learned there is clearly little love lost between ex-boss Phil Clarke and a number of his former colleagues.
- Video
The Retail Week: Has Tesco finally turned the corner?
The team are joined by TCC Global insights director Bryan Roberts to discuss Tesco’s turnaround progress and assess whether it has finally turned the corner.