This week last year: Sainsbury's steps up non-food offer

This week last year, Sainsbury's started competing with retailers such as Currys by offering white goods on a dedicated part of its Web site. The retailer introduced 4,000 products onto the site in an effort to match Tesco's performance in the non-food sector. This year, Tesco has launched another drive into the non-food arena by extending its computer games offer to a total of 600 stores by the end of the year, seriously challenging niche players in the market, such as Game.

Last year, Sir Ken Morrison romped home with two coveted Retail Week awards. The Morrisons boss won Retailer of the Year and Retail Personality of the Year. This year, the Oscars of the retail world will be held on March 17 to a sell-out audience.

Finally, Luc Vandevelde, who last year held the post of Marks & Spencer chairman, was being tipped to move to the chairmanship of Carrefour by April last year. This year, ten months after leaving M&S, Vandevelde assumed the role of president of the supervisory board of Carrefour, effectively landing him in strategic control of the French retail giant.