Opinion – Page 348
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Opinion
Woolies’ wonder can be restored
If Woolworths didn’t exist, would you invent it? If it wasn’t on the high street, would you miss it? Those questions have become clichés. Equally clichéd is the answer so commonly given – no.
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Opinion
Tata and Tesco tie-up is ideal
Tesco this week finally secured a long-awaited deal enabling it to enter what many believe is the most exciting and potentially lucrative market in the world – India.
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OpinionReal retail leaders
In some rare good news for UK retailers it has been revealed that they come out on top of other industries when it comes to customer experience.
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Opinion
Westgate – a taste of things to come?
Buried in Liberty International’s interim results last week was a phrase that nobody wanted to hear. The innocuous-looking statement “on hold”, next to the property giant’s Westgate scheme in Oxford, should not be underestimated.
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Opinion
Woolworths: reasons to be fearful
The wonder of good old Woolies is that it’s still here. Why on earth would you go into one of these shops? Visit an average Woolworths store and the experience is likely to be along these lines: arrive at the threshold and observe two things.
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Opinion
Cheap and cheerful?
Back to school used to involve a few sacred things – making sure you had a new pencil case to fit your protractor and compass, having your feet sized in Clarks for your new shoes and going to the specialist school uniform shop to get kitted out.
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Opinion
China in your hands
It's one day before the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Olympics and it’s not just the eyes of the sporting world that are trained on China.
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Opinion
Retail needs team players
“Commission returns in bid to boost sales” was Retail Week’s first ever front page headline. “In an abrupt reversal of recent trends, retailers are bringing back commission as a way of generating extra sales,” the story read.
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Opinion
One year on the crunch still bites
August is the quietest month in the retail calendar, with most store chiefs taking well-earned holidays. Yet last August those chief execs – and indeed the world – were hit with something that made them put down their cocktails and dust off their blackberries.
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Opinion
Recession would be different this time
However we term the downturn, we are entering poorly chartered territory with out-of-date maps.
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Opinion
Stick to what you are good at
Drastic quick fixes to drive sales may be tempting, but you risk alienating core customers.
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Opinion
Foreign threat goes virtual
Eastern European criminal gangs are already the scourge of UK retailers because of their prolific shoplifting activity.
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Opinion
Bonkers Boris
Landlords and retailers may be at loggerheads over the issue of monthly rent payments, but a bizarre proposal from London Mayor Boris Johnson last week should unite both groups.
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Opinion
Sometimes it’s best not to sell out
It’s funny how quickly things change. Just over a year ago, Gap unveiled a store that was intended to be edgier and marginally more industrial-looking, which was to take the brand back to its denim-based roots.
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Opinion
Cash rich, time poor
Grocers talk about shoppers trading down out of restaurants to snap up ready meals in their stores to treat themselves at home. And for the likes of Waitrose and Marks & Spencer, plus the big four grocers, this may well be the case.
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Opinion
The Retail Week – August 1, 2008
Ian Cheshire has wasted no time in getting to grips with the mammoth task ahead of him at Kingfisher.
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Opinion
The White Stuff
So has White Stuff got the right stuff? Undoubtedly the answer is yes. But this week the lifestyle fashion retailer announced that it had called off its search for a minority investor.
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Opinion
Woolies' future lies in small shops
Few retail experiences are more depressing than Retail Week’s local Woolworths in Camden Town. A visit on Wednesday revealed big gaps on the shelves, a range that could only be described as eccentric and a store that hadn’t been touched for years. On the high street outside, rivals from Game ...
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Opinion
Tesco can bank on its canny deal
Tesco boss Sir Terry Leahy has been a banker as well as a shopkeeper for 11 years, so the retailer’s decision to take full control of its personal finance business was not a shock.
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Opinion
Squeeze puts synergies back on agenda
Those of us old enough to have lived through retail downturns know that they present opportunity for the strong and fleet of foot, even as they spell oblivion for the weak and overstretched. How will the industry change during this downturn? There are several trends to watch out for.