If we ignore the “administration news” about the likes of USC, Adams, Zavvi and Woolworths for a minute, where’s the good news?
Well in the traditional approach to retailing we have Morrisons. Led by Marc Bolland, Morrisons are focusing on their fresh offering (fruit and veg is 6-18 hours fresher than competitors’) and have picked up 700,000 new customers and sales up 8%. All this without an online operation and no loyalty card. What’s more, as Morrisons are embarking on a major systems refresh using Retalix and Oracle Retail, it is good news for the retail technology industry as well.
According to IMRG online sales on “Mega Monday” (8th December) were up 18% in volume, only 14% by value – still it is enough to make the high street jealous.
And the final bit of good news – my New Year resolution is to be much more regular at blogging! I got a bit lazy towards the end of this year.
Posted by Rachel Maclean 