THE HUB RETAIL RECRUITMENT’S WEEKLY NEWS SNIPPETS

It’s Wednesday. Which means it’s THE HUB RETAIL RECRUITMENT’S Weekly News Snippets. We hope you read – and enjoyed – our monthly Newsround last week. There is so much to report on these days. This week, we’re bringing your attention to 3 from the past 7 days: SAINSBURY’S BACK TO BLACK; COULD MIKE ASHLEY BE BHS’s KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOUR?; and DEAL OR NO DEAL.

SAINSBURY’S BACK TO BLACK: Good news for Sainsbury’s – they’re back in the black, in profit by £548m after being in the red by £72m last year. It’s also held its market position, whilst Asda, Morrisons, and Tesco have all lost ground. Aldi’s position is up by 12.5%, and Lidl by 15.4. So the trend to the cheaper discount supermarkets continues. The article below gives more details, and also discusses Sainsbury’s purchase of Argos & Habitat.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/may/04/sainsburys-sales-and-profits-fall-amid-price-cuts

COULD MIKE ASHLEY BE BHS’s KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOUR?: So much has been said about BHS over the last 10 days – and as reported here last week, the pressure on Philip Green to explain his part in its demise continues to mount. The article below reports on Mike Ashley’s interest in buying BHS. Mike Ashley is the owner of Sports Direct and of Newcastle United. With football in the news this week with the ‘zero to hero’ success of Leicester City, some might say its a good time to take a risk. But the article also reports on the criticisms Mr Ashley has attracted – including the way he treats his staff – the word ‘exploit’ is used. There are however other investors interested in BHS. As this period in its history unfolds, we are bound to be reporting more on BHS over the coming months.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-35863847

DEAL OR NO DEAL

So its official. We all suspected that the supermarkets’ deals were misleading, but now the CMA – the Competition and Markets Authority – has confirmed it. Which? put in a complaint to the CMA, and it duly investigated. A few weeks ago we reported that Sainsbury’s had taken the initiative and had stopped the BOGOF ‘deals’ ahead of the CMA’s report being published, whilst Asda in particular has come under fire for its ‘deals’. It’s disappointing that the CMA has to investigate these deals rather than the supermarkets making sure they keep our trust by being fair to us. And another thought – with our changing buying habits changing from the large weekly shop to smaller more frequent shopping, why would we want to have to buy two of something to get a deal? What we want is half price offers surely? Anyway, here’s a summary of the report and the industry’s response to it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36147659

We’ll bring you further top stories of the next 7 days this time next week. So do look out for THE HUB RETAIL RECRUITMENT’S Weekly News Snippets on Wednesday 11 May.