Top stories in the papers this week 17 – 23 September 2011
Questions raised over Tesco eligibility for intern scheme; Tesco declares war on rivals with £500m price cutting offensive; Grocery market suffers first dip
Print23 September 2011
1. Questions raised over Tesco eligibility for intern scheme
The Department of Social Protection has “sought clarification” on the eligibility of Tesco’s application for over 200 interns through the government’s JobBridge scheme. The Irish Times reports Mandate raised concerns about the “customer assistant” internships due to take place over Christmas; the busiest trading period. However Tesco insisted the internships were “not designed to fill any gaps in our workforce.”
2. Tesco declares war on rivals with £500m price cutting offensive
Tesco has declared a major price cutting offensive in the UK. UK boss Richard Brasher said that the supermarket will put £500m into price cuts of up to 30% on more than 3,000 everyday foodstuffs. The Guardian reports he said the move was not a phoney price war. However rivals said the decision to axe its double Clubcard points promotion in a month’s time would enable it to claw back most of this investment.
3. Grocery market suffers first dip
Ireland’s grocery market has contracted for the first time since August 2010. The Irish Examiner reports Kantar Worldpanel’s latest grocery market figures in Ireland, show that the grocery market has fallen in value by 0.5% when compared to the same period last year. However Aldi and Lidl continue to record significant quarterly gains, with Aldi increasing its market share by 25% and Lidl up by 6.5%.
4. BWG to invest €1.2m in store project
BWG Foods has agreed an exclusive partnership with retail data analyst Talysis. The Sunday Business Post reports the agreement will see BWG invest €1.2 m over two years to roll out category management initiative CatManCanDo. BWG and Talysis have trialled the project in selected Mace, Spar and Eurospar outlets, where they said sales in selected dairy and impulse mineral categories rose by 5.5% in eight weeks.
5. Council to earn €7m from parking income
The county council in Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin – where dozens of shops have closed and retail rents have collapsed by up to 60% – is set to collect around €7m in parking fees and fines this year, according to figures seen by the Sunday Independent. While traders say the parking regime is strangling the town centre, the paper reports this income is helping to support hefty salaries of up to €90,000 for council employees.
Also:
A bunch of grape gripes (Irish Times)
-A look at half-price wine offers in the multiples
Asda and Sainsbury’s slam Tesco’s big price drop (Marketing Week)
Tesco sees value overseas, weak at home (Businessworld.ie)
‘Upward rents’ review welcomed (Carlow People)
Attractive yields touted to entice regional buyers (Irish Independent)
Dundrum Town Centre fails to hurt local rival owned by Johnny Ronan (Irish Independent)
New opportunties for Dublin retail outlets (Irish Independent)
Ocado report sales dip as it improves service (Belfast Telegraph)
Sainsbury’s boss criticises retail red tape (Belfast Telegraph)
"Affects of increasing fuel prices must be addressed" – Molloy (Sinn Fein.ie)
Farmers, shopkeepers, zookeepers and restaurateurs (Irish Times)
N.Ireland – Tesco working with farmers and processors (Meat Trade News Daily)
Retailers urged to be vigilant following limerick city till thefts (Live 95 FM)
The kiosk – once the most expensive piece of land in Ireland (Irish Independent)
57 food businesses ordered to close in 2010 (Irish Health.com)
Call to quickly resolve rents issue (Irish Examiner)
Teagasc: Record crop yields reflect good harvest for grain growers (Irish Examiner)
Raiders may have missed larger sum (Irish Times)
500 apply for 35 toy store jobs (Irish Times)
Living off the land? Not exactly (Irish Times)
-Beef and sheep farmers tell the Irish Times’ Kathy Sheridan that there is money in the food business, but it’s the factories and processors that are making it
A degree of stability revealed in job figures (Irish Times)
JobBridge: a scheme with a job to do (Irish Times)
-Misuse by some employers has heaped negative publicity on the government’s internship scheme. Una Mullaly examines whether the criticism is justified.
Tesco’s price war threat sends supermarket shares plunging (Irish Times)
‘Tesco tax’ sets Scottish government on course for collision with supermarkets (Irish Times)
Tesco slips on talk of a new price offensive, as it floats off Thai properties (Guardian)
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