Pizza Express tycoon eyes £300m Homebase takeover
Businessman Hugh Osmond is reportedly preparing a £300 million takeover approach for Homebase, the DIY chain revived from the brink of collapse just three years ago. Osmond is assembling a £300m takeover bid for Homebase as he joins the line-up of interested buyers, Sky News reported. His investment vehicle, Osmond Capital, had emerged as a serious bidder for Homebase, which is owned by Hilco Capital. Osmond is not thought to be in exclusive talks to buy Homebase. Hilco is thought to have weighed a stock market flotation of the business. Homebase has been on the market since November when Hilco announced plans to sell or list. Hilco hired investment bank Lazard to sell Homebase as it aimed to benefit from the surge in demand. Osmond took control of restaurant chain Pizza Express in 1993 with Luke Johnson, another businessman who went on to transform the fortunes of a series of high street dining chains. The duo, who paid £20 million for the business and took Pizza Express public. Should Osmond proceed with a takeover of Homebase, it would be implemented through Osmond Capital. Homebase said it is looking at “a number of options to further accelerate our growth plans, and this process is still ongoing”.
John Lewis launches new value range
John Lewis has released an own brand which ensures “quality and style at everyday prices” as it prepares to reopen stores in England on Monday. The new Anyday brand, which will also be sold online, will be John Lewis’ “most affordable” range yet. The collection comprises of 2400 products and includes homewares, technology, baby care and baby clothing. A further 1000 products will be added this autumn when the brand is extended to other categories. John Lewis said Anyday prices are on average, 20 per cent lower than existing own-brand prices, while some are 40 per cent cheaper. The department store chain is seeking to drive appeal from a wider range of shoppers in the wake of various lockdowns. Anyday is designed to cater for “a broader group of shoppers and their wide range of needs” by delivering “enhanced value in the products we know our customers love and need for daily life while maintaining the John Lewis promise of quality and trust”. “The Anyday range signals a step-change in the modernising of our brand and offers customers John Lewis quality at prices they wouldn’t expect,” John Lewis executive director Pippa Wicks said. “We want to challenge value perceptions of John Lewis and attract a broader group of shoppers who want to combine style and value. “This range has been specifically designed around how our customers live today. Whatever they need, we will have a product that suits their budget. “This launch is a return to our commitment to offer great value for money but it’s also an exciting opportunity to build on our own-brand strengths and supercharge them for the future.”
Hammerson to sell retail parks to Canadian firm for £350m
Hammerson has signed a deal to sell its retail parks to Canadian private equity firm Brookfield as it attempts to revive its fortunes. Brookfield is set to pay around £350 million for seven of Hammerson’s retail parks, raising funds for the struggling property giant. Hammerson wrote down the value of its portfolio by almost a quarter to £6.3 billion last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic leading to lockdowns. Hammerson chief executive Rita-Rose Gagne is seeking to clear some of the company’s £2.2 billion debts. In the first quarter, Hammerson collected 64 per cent of the rent due at retail parks compared with 36 per cent at UK shopping centres. The portfolio comprises retail parks in Falkirk, Didcot, Middlesbrough, St Helens, Telford, Merthyr Tydfil and Rugby. Hammerson has been battling to avoid the same fate as its rival Intu, which collapsed in June. It has raised £552 million through an emergency rights issue, priced at a 95 per cent discount, and a further £274 million through the sale of its stake in European business VIA Outlets. Hammerson has brought in restructuring experts from EY.
Homebase opens shop-in-shops in Next
Homebase has launched a new partnership with fashion retailer Next, which will see its garden centres open inside six Next stores from today. The move comes just as non-essential retailers in England and Wales prepare to reopen from today. The home & DIY chain has occupied space at Next’s shops in Bristol, Sheffield, Ipswich, Warrington, Camberley and Shoreham. The Homebase shop-in-shops will sell pots, plants and garden tools, while staff will also be on hand to offer customers advice on their gardening projects. Homebase will also launch more of its smaller format high street stores today. The retailer will open its latest Decorate by Homebase store, as well as first small-format Homebase shop and a dual-branded Kitchens by Homebase and Bathstore concept on the high street in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey. The openings will bring Homebase’s portfolio of small-format stores to six across Guildford, Cheadle and Sutton. “We’re delighted to be joining forces with Next and bringing our garden products and expertise to its stores,” Homebase chief executive Damian McGloughlin said. “It’s all part of our wider commitment to make shopping with us easier and provide even more inspiration and expert advice. “The launch of these new garden centres means we’re able to offer more gardeners, both experienced and those just starting out, Homebase products in more locations across the country.”
Cake Box to expand with 52 new stores as sales rise defy lockdowns
Cake Box has said it is eyeing the opening of 52 new shops as it expects to deliver a jump in sales for the past year despite the pandemic. The egg-free cream cake retailer said it is set to post revenue growth of about 16 per cent for the year to the end of March after it was buoyed by new stores. It told shareholders this morning that it also saw like-for-like sales grow by 14.7 per cent over the 40 weeks from June to March after sites reopened following the first lockdown. Total stores were strengthened by the opening of 24 franchise stores during the year, taking its estate to 157 across the UK at the end of last month. This included 17 openings in the past six months as it accelerated its opening programme following the onset of the pandemic. Cake Box said it has also taken deposits for 52 potential new stores and is also trialling five kiosks at a national supermarket chain with “very encouraging” initial results. “I am very pleased with the strong trading momentum in the second half, continuing the recovery we saw as our shops began to reopen from May last year,” Cake Box co-founder Sukh Chamdal said. “Customer appetite for our products has continued to grow, with good traction across our expanded online and delivery services. “Despite continued uncertainty in the operating environment, our unique proposition for customers and new and existing franchisees remains highly attractive and we are confident of making continued progress in the years ahead.”
Boohoo buys London office for £72m
Boohoo has acquired a new London office situated in the West End in a £72 million deal. The new Soho office will act as a base for the group’s London-based brands. “Since acquiring the Karen Millen and Coast brands in 2019, the Group’s presence in London has grown significantly through organic means and more recently through the acquisitions of the Oasis, Warehouse, Debenhams, Dorothy Perkins, Burton and Wallis brands,” Boohoo said. “The new office is intended to become home for all London-based product, marketing, technology and central support teams, offering flexible working for approximately 600 of our colleagues.” Last week, Boohoo announced that it had exchanged contracts for a long-term lease on a new warehouse in Daventry that became available on the collapse of Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia Group. Earlier reports suggested that JD Sports had been in exclusive talks to acquire the warehouse, located in Daventry, Northamptonshire, but it now appears that Boohoo Group beat them in the race. Amazon and Ebay had also expressed an interest in buying the warehouse.
Nike to start selling used and refurbished shoes at a discount
Nike is set to start refurbishing used trainers returned by shoppers and reselling them at cheaper prices in its latest sustainability push.
Nike Refurbished is set to launch across 15 US Nike stores by the end of April, forming part of the sportswear giant’s wider Nike Move to Zero circularity initiative.
Shoes returned to Nike within a 60-day return window will be inspected and refurbished by hand, then resold at a discount based on their condition.
The initiative will sort returned footwear into three categories, “like new”, “gently worn” or “cosmetically flawed”.
Nike’s team will reportedly use a number of different tools and products to return the shoes to as close to new as possible.
Customers can then access information about the refurbished shoes, including their condition grade, by scanning QR codes on boxes before committing to a purchase, while each pair will be covered by Nike’s 60-day wear test.
Returned shoes which are not able to be refurbished will either be donated via Nike’s community partner or recycled into ‘Nike Grind’, a mesh of scrap materials used to manufacture new products.
According to Nike its Refurbished programme will expand across more US stores throughout the year.
JD Sports retains record profitability despite lockdown store closures
JD Sports has faced “unprecedented challenges” over the last year but has “retained substantially all of its record profitability”. The sportswear retailer reported full-year profits well ahead of market expectations as trading proved resilient despite the impact of store closures. JD Sports recorded pre-tax profit before exceptional items of £421.3 million in the year to January 30 – down from £438.8 million the previous year. JD Sports’ sales were just ahead of the previous year’s, at £6.17 billion. The company said its UK division, which includes JD and Size, retained roughly 70 per cent of revenues after shifting online during the initial lockdown in spring. This increased to 100 per cent when stores were closed again in November. JD Sports also recorded “exceptional trading” in the US, which it said was partly due to increased consumer demand caused by government stimulus. The company launched its first flagship store in New York, while a further 37 former Finish Line stores were converted to JD outlets over the year. It made further acquisitions of California-based Shoe Palace, as well as DTLR after the year end. In the UK, the CMA is now reassessing JD Sports’ merger with Footasylum after its initial decision to block the deal was quashed on appeal. JD Sports warned there was uncertainty over whether footfall to Footasylum would return to pre-pandemic levels and booked a £55.6 million impairment charge as a result. The retailer said it will pay a final dividend of 1.44p per share and forecast 2022 profit before tax of between £475 million and £500 million. “A number of positive themes have been increasingly apparent through the year which gives us confidence that, as we begin to emerge from the worst of the disruption, JD is at the pinnacle of the global sports fashion industry,” JD Sports executive chairman Peter Cowgill said. “We have a market leading multichannel proposition which continues to enhance its relevance to consumers and has the necessary agility to progress in an environment where the retailing of international brands may see permanent global structural change.”
Monsoon launches new boutique store concept
Monsoon has launched a new boutique store concept in London’s Marylebone High Street. The fashion retailer said the shop was part of a “refresh” of Monsoon after the business went into administration last year before being rescued by founder Peter Simon through his Adena Brands business. Monsoon’s new concept store is the first in a series of 30 new boutiques planned in locations across the UK and Ireland. The retailer said the architecture and colour palette of the concept store takes inspiration from its heritage designs and long relationship with India. The Marylebone store offers customers a curated collection of Monsoon’s womenswear, childrenswear and selected homeware products. The store also showcases Monsoon’s new sustainable Artisan Studio collection and a guest capsule range from womenswear label East. “This has been a difficult year for everyone, but difficult times can inspire creativity, and that has certainly been true for us: this store is a bold new expression of Monsoon, taking us back to our roots and celebrating the joy and colour that is so rich in our heritage,” Monsoon founder Peter Simon said. “This project has been a bright light for us over the past year and represents all the energy and passion that we put into our product and shows the direction for the brand. “We are committed to retail, the experience and joy it can bring, and are really excited to see stores reopen, to welcome our customers back and to introduce them to our new boutique.” The store will also highlight and support Monsoon’s charitable work through The Monsoon Accessorize Trust, with 10 per cent of the first month’s profits will be donated to the trust, which supports people from disadvantaged communities across Asia.
McArthurGlen opens brand new West Midlands outlet centre
McArthurGlen has officially opened the first phase of its brand new designer outlet centre in the West Midlands. Located 30 minutes north of Birmingham, the new McArthurGlen Designer Outlet West Midlands is a £160 million fashion destination that is poised to be the only stand-alone shopping centre to open in the UK this year. McArthurGlen Designer Outlet West Midlands also marks the group’s first UK opening in over 20 years and its seventh designer outlet in the country, and 26th globally. “This opening represents not only a huge milestone for McArthurGlen as we continue to grow our European footprint, but a defining moment for brick-and-mortar retail as the only stand-alone shopping centre to open in the UK this year,” McArthurGlen co-chief executive Susie McCabe said. “As we emerge into a new consumer landscape, we know customers still crave the extraordinary day-out shopping experiences and moments of magic that only physical retail can offer, and we remain extremely confident that West Midlands will deliver this.” The first phase of McArthurGlen Designer Outlet West Midlands offers customers up to 80 fashion brands, including Coach, Kate Spade, Hugo Boss, Levi’s, Lacoste, Tommy Hilfiger, Guess, Calvin Klein, Ted Baker, Reiss, Kurt Geiger, Gant, Radley and Joules. Spanning 285,000sq ft in total over two phases, the centre will create 1000 new retail jobs for the community, supporting around £20 million of employment income each year. To help reduce its impact on the environment, the centre also features around 400 newly planted trees, along with solar panels, on-site beehives, a wormery, electric car charging points and bicycle parking. McArthurGlen Designer Outlet West Midlands is a joint venture between McArthurGlen, Aviva Investors and The Richardson Family.
British Land looks to retail parks as rent remains hit by Covid
One of the UK’s biggest commercial landlords has signalled a shift towards retail parks as it managed to collect just over half the retail rent it was owed for the last three months. British Land said that it had collected 54 per cent of rent from its retail customers that was owed for the period to the end of March. The low rate was offset somewhat by its office estate, where 96 per cent of renters paid what they owed, taking the average to 76 per cent for the quarter. It means that over the last year, British Land has only collected 82 per cent of its rent, mainly because of the retail estate. The hit to the retail sector over the last year has put some companies in dire financial straits, and spawned a slight shift at British Land. Retail parks outside cities have been quicker to recover from the depths of the pandemic. It has meant that retail parks have been able to hold firm on their valuations, if not increase slightly, according to analysts from Liberum. “We see a value opportunity in out of town retail, reflecting increased yields and a more stable occupational market, driven by affordability and stronger demand from retailers who recognise the important role that retail parks can play in supporting an omnichannel strategy,” British Land said. It has therefore recently bought a £49 million site in Bedfordshire, which already counts Marks & Spencer, Next and Boots among its customers. Liberum analyst Tom Musson said: “The acquisition of retail parks is a further indicator of interest in the subsector, particularly for smaller lot size assets.” While British Land has not struggled to attract businesses to its retail sites – having more square metres filled than a year ago – it has been forced to lower rents in order to do so. Deals are currently being struck around 20 per cent below previous levels, British Land said. Separately, Great Portland Estates revealed on Wednesday that it had collected 78 per cent of the rent due in March, including just 44 per cent from retail, hospitality and leisure customers.
Sainsbury's could soon be bought by private investors
Sainsbury’s could be the next major UK supermarket be bought out in a private takeover deal after a leading investor bought £300 million in shares.
Speculation surrounding a possible takeover bid for Sainsbury’s has been ignited after Daniel Kretinsky, billionaire owner of Vesa Equity Investments, increased his company’s stake in the grocer to 9.99 per cent.
Kretinksy, a major retail investor who owns 40 per cent in German wholesaler Metro, purchased £300 million worth of shares in Sainsbury’s from Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund.
The raid on Sainsbury’s stock, which has made Kretinsky Sainsbury’s second largest shareholder, has sparked debate among analysts and investors that its three major stakeholders could launch a “take-private” deal.
Takeover speculation first surfaced in January, as Sainsbury’s rival Asda was nearing the end of a £6.8 billion private takeover deal by the Issa brothers.
It’s stocks hit a 12-month high in January as many saw Asda’s private acquisition as a potential new trend in retail, citing Sainsbury’s as low hanging fruit for possible investments.
A spokesman for Kretinsky’s told The Telegraph: “This reaffirms Vesa’s long-term interest in acquiring strategic minority participations in publicly listed companies across the wider food retail distribution segment, where we continue to perceive Sainsbury’s as an attractive investment opportunity.
“We are very pleased to be able to be associated with the strong and reputable brand of Sainsbury’s.”
Any takeover deal would have to be approved by Sainsbury’s founding family, and Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, which now owns around 15 per cent.
However, the success of the Issa brothers’ Asda takeover may have opened the door for similar moves and paths around approval by the UK’s competition and markets authority (CMA).
Tesco profits dive 20% despite surge in grocery sales
Tesco has revealed that its pre-tax profits tumbled by almost 20 per cent to £825 million over the past year, despite unveiling a jump in sales during the pandemic. The grocer stated that Covid-related costs of almost £900 million offset surging sales. Tesco said group sales excluding fuel increased by seven per cent to £53.4 billion for the year to February, driven by soaring online sales. In its core UK and Ireland market, Tesco’s full-year sales grew 8.6 per cent £48.8 billion. Online sales jumped by 77 per cent to £6.3 billion in the UK as the Big 4 grocer doubled delivery capacity to meet rising demand from housebound customers due to lockdowns. “Tesco has shown incredible strength and agility throughout the pandemic,” Tesco chief executive Ken Murphy said. Tesco said this morning that pre-tax profits slid 19.7 per cent to £825 million for the 12 months to February, compared with £1.03 billion recorded the previous year. It said profits were weighed down by £892 million in Covid-related costs and the retailer’s decision to hand £585 million in business rates relief back to the government. The bumper bill of pandemic costs was also driven by hiring staff to cover workers impacted by Covid-19 and investment in safety in stores. Tesco hired almost 50,000 temporary workers during the pandemic, about 20,000 of whom have joined the retailer permanently. “By putting our customers and colleagues first, we have built a stronger business,” Murphy said. “While the pandemic is not yet over, we’re well-placed to build on the momentum in our business. “We have strengthened our brand, increased customer satisfaction and improved value perception." Tesco added that that it pumped significant investment into keeping its prices low in a bid to match its discount rivals, with Tesco launching its Aldi Price Match campaign last year. It said it has made progress in the “value perception” among customers as a result.
TM Lewins & Moss Bros supplier to shutter operations
Menswear supplier Prominent Europe, which owns Chester Barrie and supplies TM Lewin, Moss Bros and more, has proposed an orderly wind-down and closure of its business. The Nottingham based company, owned by Japanese trading company Itochu Corporation, stated the decision was due to “unprecedented” changes in the menswear tailoring market. The supplier, which was founded in 1993, has 40 employees who have now been placed into collective consultation. Prominent Europe wrote to employees and customers last week to inform them of the news. “Our business has been severely impacted by the unprecedented changes seen in the retail clothing market,” the letter read. “After deep consideration and with a heavy heart we have had to announce to our employees a proposal to wind-down and close our business over the next year in an orderly manner whilst satisfying our orders and liabilities. “There will now be a collective consultation period with our employees to discuss the proposals. “We wanted to make you aware of this proposal to keep you informed because we recognise that, as well as being deeply upsetting for those in our business, it will also be concerning for those of you who work with us. “Your support and understanding during this period will be much appreciated.” Former Prominent Europe clients said the closure was a reflection of the challenging menswear tailoring market. The latest results for Prominent Europe show that revenue decreased 6.1 per cent to £128m in the year to March 31, 2019, compared to an increase of 6.6 per cent in the year to March 2018.
The Hut Group books £482m operating loss
The Hut Group has slipped into a full-year operating loss of £481.8 million, despite an almost 42 per cent surge in revenues. The online retail firm said its performance in the year ending December 31 was dragged by nonrecurring costs, like those associated with its IPO listing and the Covid-19-pandemic. The FTSE 250-listed firm said the costs were a £331.6 million non-cash share-based payments charge, a £105.1 million non-cash impact of the impairment on assets held for sale and sale and leaseback charges, £14.3 million cash IPO fees, and £39.2 million in Covid-related costs. The Hut Group said that if it took these costs out of the equation, it would’ve reported a statutory operating profit before adjusted items of £46 million. Nonetheless, statutory pre-tax losses widened to £534,639, compared to a loss of £45,158 in 2019, after it paid out for share option schemes as well as the costs of the IPO. The losses also came despite full-year revenues surging 41.5 per cent year-on-year to £1.6 billion. Meanwhile, The Hut Group’s adjusted underlying earnings came in at £151 million, a 35 per cent increase on the prior year, after absorbing £2.6 million of self-funded furlough costs. Around 10.7 million new customers shopped with The Hut Group in 2020, with the number of beauty box subscribers up 39 per cent year-on-year and the number of orders from its nutrition and beauty arms rising 41 per cent and 58 per cent, respectively. The firm said solid trading had continued into 2021, with sales up 58.2 per cent in the first quarter and that its revenue growth guidance of 30 per cent to 35 per cent remained the same. Separately, The Hut Group’s founder Matthew Moulding pledged to gift £100 million of the firm’s shares to charity and hand all his salary to good causes following its stock market debut seven months ago. Moulding will give the mammoth stake to the Moulding Foundation that was set up by the entrepreneur and his family last year. The move sees him become one of the UK’s biggest philanthropists. The Hut Group said it had already donated £300,000 to charities between last September’s IPO and the end of 2020 instead of paying Moulding and co-director John Gallemore their base salaries.
1200 jobs at risk as Asda scraps in-store bakeries
Asda has entered into consultation with 1200 bakery staff after announcing plans to ditch its in-store bakery model. The grocer said the proposal followed “a notable shift in customer buying behaviours” in recent years, with demand for speciality breads, wraps, bagels and pancakes outstripping traditional loaves. The move to an ambient bakery model using a centralised bakery sparked the start of formal consultations with colleagues potentially impacted by the changes, Asda said. If the proposals were enacted, the priority was to move as many colleagues as possible into alternative roles within the supermarket chain, with redundancy “the last option”. The move would also broaden the range of bakery products offered and fresh products would be baked several times a day, compared with just once a day at present, Asda added. These changes come just over a year after Tesco announced a similar shake-up of its in-store bakeries, with bakery items being part-baked in-store instead of baked from scratch. These latest staff restructuring measures come less than two months after Asda said 5000 jobs were at risk from the closures of two warehouses as its re-geared its business more towards online grocery. “The current in-store bakery model has restricted our ability to respond to changing customer demands and offer them the speciality products and freshly baked goods they want to buy throughout the day,” Asda chief merchandising officer Derek Lawlor said. “The changes we are proposing will deliver a much better and more consistent bakery offering for customers across all our stores. “We know these proposed changes will be unsettling for colleagues and our priority is to support them
AO World bullish despite reopening of rival shops as sales surge 88%
AO World has said it expects to deliver bumper profits over the year ahead despite the reopening of high street rivals as it revealed an 88 per cent surge in UK sales. The online electricals retailer’s performance over its final quarter helped group revenues jump by 62 per cent to £1.66 billion in the year to March 31. AO World now expects annual underlying earnings to surge to between £63 million and £72 million, up from £19.6 million the previous year, despite extra costs relating to the Covid-19 pandemic. AO World founder and chief executive John Roberts insisted the retailer’s rapid growth would continue in spite of increasing competition from bricks-and-mortar rivals after the reopening of non-essential shops in England and Wales this week. “I believe that these market dynamics will stick and, whilst there is inevitable uncertainty, the direction of travel is firmly with AO and the business model we have spent more than 20 years building,” he said. “I expect that we will continue to be a double-digit growth business in the year ahead, even now as we lap the tough comparatives from last year with physical stores open.” The retailer’s German operations also saw strong trading, with full-year revenues up by 77 per cent, and is set to deliver a full-year profit after finally clawing its way out of the red in the third quarter – a milestone for the division, which has been loss-making since its launch in 2014. AO World said UK Government coronavirus support has either been repaid or not claimed. However, the Bolton-based business added that it expected to book a charge of around £15 million due to customers cancelling long-term mobile and warranty contracts as they change their spending behaviour amid the pandemic. It has also faced steep costs from making its operations Covid-19 compliant, particularly for goods returned by customers. Shares in the retailer dropped in January after it warned that these expenses would be “significantly higher”, which overshadowed a record performance over Black Friday and Christmas. In its latest update, AO World reassured investors that its annual earnings remained in line with market expectations despite the extra expenses.
M&S begins legal move against Aldi over Colin the Caterpillar
Marks & Spencer has started legal action against Aldi in an effort to protect its Colin the Caterpillar cake with a claim that its rival’s Cuthbert the Caterpillar product infringes its trademark. M&S, which lodged an intellectual property claim with the High Court this week, is arguing that the similarity of Aldi’s product leads consumers to believe they are of the same standard and “ride on the coat-tails” of M&S’s reputation with the product. M&S wants Aldi to remove the product from sale and agree not to sell anything similar in the future. M&S launched Colin the Caterpillar around 30 years ago and his appearance has been substantially unchanged since around 2004, except for adaptations for events such as Halloween and Christmas, and related products such as Connie the Caterpillar. The product is central to M&S’s partnership with cancer charity Macmillan, and the retailer has created a Colin product for the annual World’s Biggest Coffee Morning fundraising event. The cake is a sponge with milk chocolate and buttercream, topped with chocolate sweets and a smiling white chocolate face. M&S has three trademarks relating to Colin, which the retailer believes means Colin has acquired and retains an enhanced distinctive character and reputation. “Because we know the M&S brand is special to our customers and they expect only the very best from us, love and care goes into every M&S product on our shelves,” a spokesman said. “So we want to protect Colin, Connie and our reputation for freshness, quality, innovation and value.”
Amazon Fresh launches 3rd UK store in White City
Amazon has opened its third physical Amazon Fresh grocery store in the UK since the beginning of March as it continues its rapid roll out across Greater London.
Amazon Fresh has now opened in White City, one of London’s busiest shopping destinations which hosts Europe’s biggest shopping centre Westfield London.
Like its two other Fresh stores in Ealing and Wembley Park, opened on March 4 and March 16 respectively, the new store will feature Amazon’s flagship “Just Walk Out” shopping’ technology.
The 2500sq ft store uses “computer vision, deep learning algorithms and sensor fusion” to automatically detect any items a customer puts in their shopping basket or returns to the shelf.
This allows shoppers to sign in via their Amazon account when entering the store, select their items then simply walk out, paying for items automatically via their accounts when they exit.
According to Amazon, the “store offers customers everything they’d want from their local neighbourhood grocery store”, including a range of items from Amazon’s increasing roster of own-label brands.
Earlier this week it launched a new private label food brand ‘Aplenty’, which is being launched online and in its physical Amazon Fresh grocery stores in the US.
Aplenty will eventually include hundreds of new branded products, Amazon said in an email announcement, ranging from sweets and salty snacks to pantry staples like frozen foods, condiments, sauces, seasonings, and baking mixes over the next year.
It will mark the latest in a string of private food labels from the retailer, which already sells milk, vegetables and spices under its ‘Happy Belly’ brand, baked goods under ‘Amazon Fresh’, ready meals under its ‘Amazon Kitchen’ brand in the US and various food items under ‘By Amazon’ in its UK Fresh stores.
While Amazon has not yet announced the launch of any UK Fresh stores before the day they open, it says it looks “forward to opening more in the Greater London area in the near future”, suggesting more launches could be just weeks away.
Two thirds of adults haven't used cash in over 12 months
Around 64 per cent of adults in the UK haven’t completed a purchase with cash in the last 12 months according to research by www.merchantadviceservice.co.uk.
Up to 61 per cent of adults have also admitted they have adopted a new payment method over the last year, 77 per cent of those made a contactless payment using smart tech for the first time.
The study found that 86 per cent of adults favour contactless payment methods over other options such as chip and pin, with debit or credit cards being the preferred methods.
Smartphone payment followed with 25 per cent of adults preferring to use their phones to pay through services such as Apple Pay, or Google Pay.
Two fifths of adults still have cash in their home that they’re planning to put in the bank or gift as birthday gifts.
The research found that 78 per cent of adults don’t want to be handling cash at the moment as a result of the pandemic.
About 53 per cent don’t want to use ATMs and 33 per cent feel it is more convenient to carry a bank card or a smartphone than a wallet or purse with cash in.
Over half the adults surveyed said they would continue to use contactless payment as their preferred checkout method with non-essential retail reopening this week.
One in five adults claimed they would opt to keep money in the bank and continue with their cashless lifestyle
“Cash has become somewhat redundant since the UK first went into lockdown and most shops, other than supermarkets and essential retail, were forced to close their doors, co-founder of Merchant Advice Service Libby James said.
“Contactless payment methods have been gaining in popularity for many years, but the past year has seen many more trying out the technology as it allows them to reduce contact with others, helping to reduce the chances of an infection or disease, such as Covid-19, being transmitted so easily.”
Primark owner AB Foods expected to unveil £1.1bn sales slump
Associated British Foods (AB Foods) is set to unveil a slump in sales and profits after its Primark fascia was hammered by the latest Covid-19 lockdown. The company is expected to reveal that it missed out on £1.1 billion in sales over the six months to February as a result of further enforced closures to its Primark stores, when it provides an update to investors on Tuesday (April 20). However, many analysts are optimistic that AB Foods will recover ahead of the market. On Tuesday, shareholders will be keen to hear how Primark stores traded in their first week since customers were welcomed to stores again on Monday, April 12 – at least in England and Wales where lockdown has been lifted. Unlike many competitors, Primark has not been able to trade at all in the UK since stores shut as it continues to stand firm on its bricks-and-mortar strategy and avoided ecommerce all together. In February, the retailer said just over one fifth of its stores – 77 sites, primarily in the US – were still able to trade, but the recent reopening of some economies will help spark further sales in the current half-year. AB Foods is expected to reveal sales of around £2.2 billion for the Primark business in the six months to February 27. However, this will represent a stark slump against its £3.7 billion figure it posted for the same period a year earlier. Analysts at Shore Capital said that, although there was still uncertainty surrounding the pandemic, they were positive the Primark format would “bounce back strongly”. The equity experts were also positive about the “positive momentum” seen across AB Food’s food and ingredients businesses. “AB Foods has shown remarkable agility and resilience through the pandemic and its excellent cash generative traits and strong balance sheet leave the Group very well placed for the future,” Shore’s Clive Black and Darren Shirley said. AB Foods told investors in February that its grocery, sugar, agriculture and ingredients arms were expected to see revenues and profits ahead of expectations. Shareholders will be hopeful that the resilience of AB Foods’ other operations will mean it will be able to pay out an interim dividend, having cancelled its last two payouts. Analysts have pencilled in a 36p per share dividend, worth around £285 million, but this may depend on a positive outlook for Primark’s recovery.