Lidl has attributed a boost in UK sales over Christmas to a surge in new shoppers switching from rivals in search of cheaper options amid the cost of living crunch (The Times £).
Lidl has posted a near-25% increase in UK sales over the festive period as shoppers opted for cheaper food to make up for squeezed budgets (Daily Mail).
Lidl estimated it won £63m of spending from rival supermarkets over the festive period, as inflation drove people to seek out value (Telegraph).
The German-owned chain said the Friday before Christmas was its busiest ever day as sales rose by a quarter compared with the previous year as shoppers switched from other supermarkets in greater numbers (The Guardian).
Aldi has been named as Britain’s cheapest supermarket, with a typical shopping basket costing a third less than at Waitrose. According to a report by consumer group Which?, a shopping basket of 48 groceries cost an average of £81.63 at Aldi in December, while the equivalent shop in Waitrose cost £112.62 – 38% more than at Aldi (Telegraph).
A business editorial in tThe Telegraph says Waitrose was a middle-class favourite, but it now risks becoming irrelevant. “Britain’s poshest supermarket could be a major casualty of runaway inflation.”
The Guardian carries an interview with Sainsbury’s boss Simon Roberts ahead of the supermarket’s Q3 trading update on Wednesday. Roberts says supermarket is ‘thinking differently’ as it seeks new ways to compete with Tesco, Aldi and Lidl.
Christmas sales failed to match the pace of overall UK inflation in December, early data from industry bodies indicated on Tuesday (The Financial Times £).
Retail sales fell in real terms for the ninth month in a row in December, as a 6.9% increase in overall Christmas spending was swallowed up by double-digit inflation (The Times £).
Britain’s retailers benefited from a sales boost in December fuelled by Christmas shopping and the World Cup, despite growing concerns over the impact of the cost of living crisis on the high street (The Guardian).
The High Street enjoyed a dose of Christmas cheer as it defied fears the country’s shops would suffer a festive bloodbath (Daily Mail).
The boss of BrewDog has said he has paid out almost £500,000 to winners of the company’s misleading “solid gold” beer can promotion (BBC News).
Some winners complained to the Advertising Standards Authority after they discovered the cans were not solid gold, but were gold-plated instead. The ASA upheld the complaints in October 2021 and said that three adverts were misleading (The Times £).
In a 2021 promotion, the beer maker hid 50 cans made of what it claimed was solid gold for customers to find, which CEO James Watt said was ‘inspired by Willy Wonka’ (Daily Mail).
James Watt said he got so personally carried away with the Willy Wonka-inspired promotion, which hid 50 gold cans in cases of beer, that he made some “costly mistakes” that misled treasure hunters (The Guardian).
Tens of thousands of businesses will be at risk of collapse after the government cut financial support for their energy costs by 85%, business leaders have warned (The Times £).
The government’s small business commissioner has indicated she would not support business department proposals to fine companies guilty of slow and late payment of suppliers (The Times £).
The Bank of England’s chief economist has warned high rates of UK inflation could persist for longer than expected, despite a fall in wholesale energy prices in recent weeks and the economy on the brink of recession (The Guardian).
Former McDonald’s boss Steve Easterbrook has been banned as a director in US for five years (The Times £).
The former boss of McDonald’s, Steve Easterbrook, has been fined $400,000 (£328,000) by the US regulator for “concealing the extent of his misconduct” over a relationship with an employee (The Guardian).
US securities regulators have charged McDonald’s and its former CEO, Steve Easterbrook, over their termination of the British businessman’s job because of his inappropriate personal relationships with staff (Financial Times £).
McDonald’s and Easterbrook entered a separation agreement in 2019 that concluded his termination was “without cause” – allowing Easterbook to retain a severance package worth tens of millions of dollars (Telegraph).
London and Brussels have secured a breakthrough in the corrosive dispute over Northern Ireland’s post-Brexit trading relations, clearing the way for a new push to resolve the longstanding issue (Financial Times £).
The UK and the EU have reached an agreement on access to a new British database providing real-time information on goods going from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, in the first sign of progress in talks over the controversial Brexit protocol (The Guardian).
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