Supermarkets should drop their “dodgy discounts and misleading multi-buys” and be more open with consumers who are increasingly worried about rising food prices, according to consumer watchdog Which?
Food and drink shoppers are to undergo brain scanning, under lab conditions, to test their reactions to promotions and special offers as part of a new project by the University of Bangor and shopper research firm SBXL.
Tesco has moved to crack down on food waste as it emerged it is lagging behind other grocery retailers in the crucial area of bagged salads, according to its own data.
Chilled food manufacturer Bakkavör Group plans to create 200 jobs at its Wingland Foods salad factory at Sutton Bridge, Spalding, in Lincolnshire, prompted by increased business with supermarket chain Waitrose.
Britain’s biggest supermarket Tesco has received planning permission this week for an internet food shopping distribution centre in Oxfordshire that will create up to 750 jobs.
Asda is stepping up its social media programme by attaching real social media comments to its Chosen By You own-label food range, while – in an unrelated move – Scottish food businesses have been invited to a free social media workshop at a local festival.
The independent Groceries Code Adjudicator Christine Tacon has called on suppliers to share information with her on potentially unfair practices by their big retailer customers so that she can identify priorities for investigation.
Premier Foods is reportedly following the lead set by some multiple retailers in seeking to reduce costs by cutting the numbers of its suppliers while recouping cash from those that continue to supply it.
Ocado plans to develop as a grocery retailer not a logistics firm for hire, insisted its boss, as the firm reported bigger losses in the first half of this year.
UK retail sales for May underline the growing importance of online sales, which “saved retailers’ bacon”, last month, according to consultancy firm KPMG.
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Supermarket Morrisons has agreed a partnership with the online distribution business Ocado – including the acquisition of its distribution centre – in a deal that will see deliveries to customers start by January 2014.
Northern Ireland food manufacturer Linden Foods has invested £5M to create 179 new, mainly production, roles in response to demand from the convenience food sector.
The new Groceries Code Adjudicator, tasked with policing the multiple retailers, has pledged to clean up illegal “kickback” practices, whereby suppliers are forced to use third-party suppliers favoured by the supermarkets, rather than choosing their own.
Shoppers want supermarkets to stock more world foods – particularly Chinese, Italian and Indian, according to new research commissioned by the grocery think-tank IGD.
The biggest short-term priority for the new Groceries Supply Code of Practice adjudicator is preventing needless breaches to the code by ensuring people understand the law.
Morrisons’ latest results reveal Britain’s fourth largest supermarket is still “in a difficult place”, as it grapples with three specific challenges, according to City analyst Investec.
The appointment of Christine Tacon as the UK’s first groceries code adjudicator is “an important step in the battle to ensure fairness across the supply chain”, according to the National Farmers Union (NFU) and others.
Bristol couple Ian and Ruth Yard sold their food retail outlet and invested the £250,000 in setting up their first factory manufacturing Ooh! Chocolata chocolate bars.
News that the Groceries Code Adjudicator will have power to fine supermarkets if they break the Groceries Code of Practice has been welcomed by the food manufacturers, farmers and poverty campaigners.
Support for a groceries code adjudicator with the power to impose fines seems to be gaining ground in Parliament, according to the National Farmers Union (NFU).
Renewed calls for the government to give the supermarket watchdog sharp teeth came today (November 19) from anti-poverty agency ActionAid, as the Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill enters its second reading in the House of Commons.
It is "inevitable" that the Department of Health (DoH) will recommend a single hybrid front-of-pack labelling system that combines guideline daily amounts (GDAs) and traffic light labelling, which will serve a massive blow to the industry.
A Yorkshire firm that supplies local food and drink made by small manufacturers to the major supermarkets is expanding to cover the whole of northern England.
Supermarket promotions look set to be an increasingly contentious subject over the autumn and in the run-up to the busy Christmas grocery trading period.
The British Heart Foundation (BHF) has welcomed Tesco’s plan to launch a hybrid food labelling system, which combines its existing Guideline Daily Amounts (GDA) with the ‘traffic light’ colour coding system.
A family cheese maker’s David-and-Goliath struggle to fight its delisting by Morrisons gathered pace this week as thousands of shoppers supported its Facebook campaign.
The UK food industry is entering a new era with power shifting from the retailers to the manufacturers, for the first time in 30 years, according to a leading city analyst.
Food manufacturers are helping consumers to make significant cuts in the £12bn worth of food they waste each year, according to new research from the government-funded Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP).
Online food sales are a “very big opportunity” for Marks & Spencer (M&S) but realising that potential may be several years off, warns financial specialists Shore Capital.