Opinion – Page 347
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Opinion
What hope for Christmas?
The dog days of August are almost over. Store chiefs and analysts are back from Monaco and Mustique (or Margate, for those whose options are under water). And the countdown has begun to the year’s biggest retail blowout: Christmas.
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Opinion
Supermarkets aren’t so super anymore
Post-war, post-rationing 1950s Britain was an era of possibility and growth and the perfect climate for a new retail concept – the supermarket.
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OpinionSentiment is out of proportion
Consumer confidence might have nosedived, but is this a reflection of facts or scaremongering?
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Opinion
Slim pickings
London Fashion Week will begin in a fortnight and will be overshadowed, if not disgruntled, by the obligatory size zero debate.
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Opinion
Full of eastern promise
For several years, large technology vendors have warned that retailers in the emerging economies would soon be leapfrogging their Western peers when it comes to their use of technology.
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Opinion
Investment market lives on
There aren't many retailers in the nice position of being able to sell a £605 million property portfolio but still own the bulk of their freeholds.
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Opinion
It’s not all greenwash
Heading off from Paddington to Dartmouth, it’s hard not to wonder whether a day trip to Devon’s far west is worth it just to look at a wooden supermarket.
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Opinion
Are discount grocers the new black?
Aldi and Lidl are no longer dirty words for the majority of consumers. In the same way that Primark was once sneered at, discount grocers are becoming fashionable. The question is, how long can it be sustained?
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OpinionWoolies needs to do an Iceland
Downturns seem to suit Malcolm Walker. While most retailers are struggling to get to grips with tougher trading, Walker has steered Iceland to its best performance in a decade and managed to find time to make a bid for Woolworths’ retail business too.
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Opinion
Even food can lose its flavour
In tough times, investors seek refuge in defensive stocks. In retail that usually means food, but how safe a bet are the big grocers?
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Opinion
Spring in Debenhams’ step
Next month, Cortefiel will finally make its much-anticipated entry into the UK market, when its eponymous fascia and young-fashion label Springfield launches in Debenhams.
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Opinion
Will a new rider alter Woolies’ course?
The going was far from good, but Sir Stuart made it over the hurdles to land his dream job of executive chairman at Marks & Spencer.
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Opinion
Aim to be valued, not value
Quality of service, not just product, will protect specialists from the grocers and the web.
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Opinion
Enemy at the gate?
The results of the National Gateway Security Survey released this morning show that securing networks against external attacks is still the top priority for most companies, despite evidence clearly highlighting the continuing risk of internal attacks.
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Opinion
Retailers are landlords too
Whether it be monthly rents or upward-only rent reviews, there are always tensions between landlords and retailers. What tends to be forgotten is that retailers are often landlords too.
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Opinion
Shopfitters are feeling the heat
You know things are not as good as they might be when the questioner becomes the questioned. Speak to almost any design consultancy or shopfitter at present and the question being popped is: “How are other people finding it?”
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Opinion
The grocers shouldn’t rely on price alone
Supermarkets Tesco and Asda will be fighting tooth and nail this weekend to make sure customers choose to visit their stores to do the weekly shop.
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Opinion
Zara power
It has been described as “the most innovative and devastating retailer in the world” by its peers, and now it has taken the crown as the globe’s leading fashion retailer.
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Opinion
Dispute laws were wrong for retailers
Instead of calling someone in and having a word, it was straight to written warnings and formal meetings.
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Opinion
Retailers need to restore faith
During tough times we should be helping our customers, not passing cost hikes on to them.