All news articles – Page 3923

News
Opinion

2003-07-26T00:00:00Z

In 1943, the chairman of IBM proclaimed: "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." In 1958, a grocers' association meeting in Manchester was assured the share held by self-service stores would never top 30%. So much for...
News
Opinion

2003-07-26T00:00:00Z

If the City experts are to be believed drivers, smokers and those with a penchant for an increasingly popular tipple are in for a rough time next week. For when the Chancellor strides up to the despatch box on Tuesday we are, according to current...
News
Opinion

2003-07-26T00:00:00Z

Retailing survival is firmly back in the spotlight with the news that five of the biggest players will next week unveil a strategy for protecting and promoting Britain's high streets. Their move is timely. On Monday, property consultant Healey...
News
Opinion

2003-07-26T00:00:00Z

Retailers' efforts to gain ground in the relentless battle for high street share - a subject rarely out of the media spotlight these days have been given renewed emphasis by trading results from two of the best known players. The week began with...
News
Opinion

2003-07-26T00:00:00Z

The problem about Resale Price Maintenance is that there is always an overwhelming argument for doing away with it. Persuading a customer that he or she should pay a higher price is not an easy task. But there are downsides: free-for-all competition...
News
Opinion

2003-07-26T00:00:00Z

Here we go again! Mothers-to-be, and mothers everywhere in the UK have learned a new word, in spite of the difficulty in spelling it: phthalates. It sounds terrifying, particularly when linked to rats with impaired fertility. This did not deter a...
News
Opinion

2003-07-26T00:00:00Z

"The Brits are coming." Just a few years ago that was the sombre warning to retailers in high streets across Ireland. Nowadays, the Englishness' of the store fascias in the Republic's major shopping areas in particular is as familiar as the...
News
Opinion

2003-07-26T00:00:00Z

Assurances this week from Agriculture Minister Douglas Hogg that his "overriding and paramount obligation" is to the community as a whole to ensure that British food is safe, did nothing to dissuade the promoters of an independent Food Standards...
News
Opinion

2003-07-26T00:00:00Z

It is good sense for the industry to co-operate towards greater efficiency, although the full reasons will not be spelt out, perhaps because they might suggest that competition is becoming too organised, if not stifled. Britain's multiples have...
News
Opinion

2003-07-26T00:00:00Z

In the wake of the Wirral fiasco and with the General Election campaign in full swing, there was never any doubt the Tories would enjoy a morale-raising speech when Chancellor Ken Clarke sang for his supper in London's Park Lane on Tuesday night. ...
News
Opinion

2003-07-26T00:00:00Z

It may be stating the obvious to emphasise the need for independent c-store operators to constantly review trading formulae. But as another multiple jumps into bed with a petrol giant and a bouncing forecourt baby is conceived, the warning has...
News
Opinion

2003-07-26T00:00:00Z

That the food safety issue would return to haunt the Government during the General Election campaign was never in doubt. The only question was when. Thus publication this week of Professor Hugh Pennington's report into the E.coli outbreak has...
News
Opinion

2003-07-26T00:00:00Z

The world of databases and information is expanding, and while knowledge may be power it also has a price. And that could become an increasing burden on those who have to buy it. The essential reason for the success and efficiency of the multiple...
News
Opinion

2003-07-26T00:00:00Z

It's not been a good week for Luddites. Two reports in this issue of The Grocer are further testimony to the industry's eagerness to tread the technology route in the quest to maximise efficiency. Twenty five years ago it would have been nigh on...
News
Opinion

2003-07-26T00:00:00Z

Most of us have difficulty finding constitutional significance in a kilo of brisket. Some Euro parliamentarians do not. If we see as a decent meal what to Strasbourg MEPs is a political icon, the scope for constructive discussion must be limited....
News
Opinion

2003-07-26T00:00:00Z

In 1943, the chairman of IBM proclaimed: "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." In 1958, a grocers' association meeting in Manchester was assured the share held by self-service stores would never top 30%. So much for...
News
Opinion

2003-07-26T00:00:00Z

In 1943, the chairman of IBM proclaimed: "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." In 1958, a grocers' association meeting in Manchester was assured the share held by self-service stores would never top 30%. So much for...
News
Opinion

2003-07-26T00:00:00Z

Britain's role within the EU is highlighted on two fronts this weekend as the Referendum Party stages its first and probably last conference in Brighton, and the food industry sends another eager expeditionary force to France. As one-time...
News
Opinion

2003-07-26T00:00:00Z

Tory party policymakers who had harboured hopes of packing themselves off for carefree annual holidays, had better think again. Their breaks in the sun in the high summer of 1996 are certain to be overshadowed by increased pressure on the Government...
News
Opinion

2003-07-26T00:00:00Z

Tuesday's matinee at the alternative Whitehall theatre is unlikely to have convinced enough in the great British audience that John Major and his band of players should not be replaced by a new cast next spring. Thus some well rehearsed virtuoso...