Opinion – Page 343
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Opinion
Can the food discounters steal shoppers this Christmas?
Speak to any chief executive at the moment and they will all say that Christmas will be tough.
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Opinion
Sainsbury’s will ride this storm
Feed your Family for a Fiver seems not just to be a Sainsbury’s promotional campaign but a whole new way of grocery shopping.
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Opinion
Adversity presents opportunities for retail
The popular translation for the Chinese word for crisis – weiji, “danger plus opportunity” – was quoted by PricewaterhouseCoopers global head of retail and consumer Carrie Yu at our Business School in Paris this month.
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Opinion
Quality and value can co-exist
Cash-strapped shoppers might be chasing after value, but they can still appreciate quality.
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Opinion
Westfield will lift London retail
Writing on Wednesday about a shopping centre that was due to open on Thursday for a magazine that comes out on Friday is a hazardous business, particularly when a colleague who visited Westfield London on Tuesday was far from convinced it would open on time.
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Opinion
Ethical retailing: in celebration of Left-field London
In a far-flung corner of west London, the 43 acre Mecca to mass consumerism that is Westfield London opened today, with thousands of eager shoppers expected to descend upon it. But earlier this week an event with a very different flavour took place closer to what has been the capital’s ...
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Opinion
The internet alters consumers' minds
Using the internet can actually change the way your brain works, but retailers will do well by continuing to offer their customers a mixture of digital interaction and a human touch.
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Opinion
Property comment: Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner
More than a decade of talking comes to an end on Thursday with the opening of Westfield London, and I for one am excited.
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Opinion
Store design: frugality today, excess tomorrow
The decision by DIY retailer Focus to launch a value-based range last week is symptomatic of a wider trend in retailing at the moment: it’s good to be frugal.
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Opinion
Asda’s George growth bodes well for Christmas
Anthony Thompson, managing director of Asda’s clothing brand George, said this week that Christmas was going to be “tough, late, and a bit of a rollercoaster”.
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Opinion
Tim Danaher: Resilient retailers are fighting hard
It was a big week for non-food retail, with lower profits from Arcadia, Debenhams and Home Retail bringing out the prophets of doom.
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Opinion
George MacDonald: Playing the equity card
The old maxim that cash is king has never been more true as debt fears and covenant concerns drag down sentiment and valuations.
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Opinion
Forget the recession and get retailing
As Gordon Brown and Mervyn King finally uttered the R-word this week, it looked like they had unavoidably twisted the knife for retailers.
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Opinion
Sean Murray: Question enough and you’ll find the answer
I never underestimate the importance of asking questions.
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Opinion
Mark Newton-Jones: Online loyalty won’t come cheap
Securing shoppers’ custom online is not just about value; good service means everything too.
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Opinion
Co-op and Morrisons: the IT challenge
The Co-op has finally got the go ahead from the Office of Fair Trading for its acquisition of Somerfield. It will be interesting to see what happens to the two companies’ IT strategies in response.
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Opinion
Property comment: Recession? What recession?
You could be forgiven for thinking that there’s not much to be optimistic about in UK retail at the moment. But maybe the foreign retailers still flooding into the UK have seen something we haven’t?
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Opinion
Do low prices really have to mean poor store design?
What in-store experience can we hope for at the lower end of the price spectrum and do we have any right to expect it?
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Opinion
Iceland’s motivational culture stands it in good stead
The spotlight is firmly on discounters because of their market-beating growth in the food sector. Yet it should also be noted that frozen food retailer Iceland is outperforming the market, too.
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Opinion
Hats off to Baugur's retail leaders
The tangled web that surrounds Baugur’s future is unravelling by the minute.