Neil Old

📢 Marks and Spencer appoints a new CPO Marks & Spencer has appointed former Asda executive Hayley Tatum MBE, as its new Chief People Officer. Tatum will join the executive committee in October and begin her induction working alongside M&S colleagues in stores and distribution centres. Tatum brings a wealth of retail experience, having spent 14 years at Asda in senior people leadership roles and over two decades at Tesco in operational and HR positions. CEO Stuart Machin praised her hands-on, collaborative approach, noting her track record in building strong colleague engagement. Describing her appointment as a “pinch me” moment, Tatum said she was thrilled to join “the most trusted brand in the UK” and is eager to learn directly from M&S teams as the retailer continues its transformation journey. #News #Retail #MarksandSpencers #Executive #CPO

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Primark launches new standalone homeware store in Manchester "Primark has opened its first standalone homeware store in Great Britain at Manchester’s Trafford Palazzo. Spanning nearly 12,000 square feet across two floors, the store offers products such as bedding, throws, decorative items and storage solutions. The shop also has a mezzanine floor offering travel items including luggage, packing cubes and travel-friendly accessories." by The Retail Bulletin Primark Ceara Doyle Leandra Dwyer Peel Retail And Leisure #retailnews #storeopening #primarkhome https://lnkd.in/ehbMSBku

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What’s been happening in retail this week? · John Lewis & Partners has partnered with TOPSHOP TOPMAN to launch Topshop in 32 stores and online from Feb 2026, with Topman in six locations. Great collab! · Aldi UK rolled out InPost UK parcel lockers across 536 UK stores, enabling customers to collect and return parcels, with plans to cover 600 locations by the end of the year. · Amazon has launched its first UK sale focused on returned and refurbished items, with discounts of up to 70% across tech, gaming, home, beauty, fitness and more. · eBay has expanded its authenticity guarantee to apparel, shoes and accessories in the UK, offering a “head-to-toe” service for pre-loved fashion. · Poundland is simplifying grocery pricing nationwide, returning to three clear price points – £1, £2, £3 – as part of efforts to streamline ranges and refocus the brand. · SHEIN will host a 2nd London pop-up on Oxford Street from 26 to 28 Sep, showcasing its autumn-winter collection. · Primark opened its first standalone homeware store in GB, spanning a 12,000 sq ft in Manchester. · Holland & Barrett trialled a revamped beauty category in six stores between June and August, reporting a 7% sales uplift versus control sites. The format mixes topical products, ingestible supplements and expert advice, with rollout to larger city stores planned for 2026. · FatFace launched in Germany using Zalando’s platform. Early trading in Germany is said to have been “positive”, as the retailer eyes further European expansion. · John Lewis Partnership appointed former Tesco executive Tom Denyard as managing director of Waitrose & Partners, replacing James Bailey. Tina Mitchell will act as interim MD from late September until Denyard takes over in January. · Currys plc announced a £50m share buyback after posting a 3% rise in like-for-like sales in UK & Ireland during the 17 weeks to 30 August. Growth was driven by B2B, gaming, AI computing and services. · Sweaty Betty returned to profit with a £1.5m pre-tax profit in 2024 versus a £13.4m loss the year before. Sales slipped from £144.2m to £140.4m, with UK and US under pressure, but rest-of-world sales grew. · H&M has named Karen O’Rourke as UK & Ireland MD. With 25+ years at the retailer, she steps up to lead over 200 stores. · Mulberry England has appointed Tom Burrow (ex-End Clothing) as chief customer & digital officer to drive digital and omnichannel growth. 💥 💥 💥 We're delighted to launch our latest thought leadership research in partnership with beBettor, exploring how retailers can fix customer segmentation. We reveal that whilst retailers see customer segmentation as their most valuable dataset, they rate their level of sophistication at only 60% exposing a critical "segmentation gap". The report reveals that most segmentation frameworks still rely solely on internal datasets, leaving information such as customer spending power invisible to most retailers. Download now ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/eC7Ucrwy

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Asda Tasks Blackhurst With Persuading Major Suppliers To Make Significant Price Cuts Asda is reportedly asking major manufacturers to make big price cuts as part of its strategy to win back customers. According to The Telegraph, Asda is in talks with some of its key suppliers as they resist pressure for aggressive cuts. Asda is said to be calling on manufacturers to “share the load” in its price war . Grocery sources told the newspaper that meetings are due to be held in the coming weeks in an effort to broker agreements with those firms holding out. Retail veteran Darren Blackhurst was recently re-hired by Asda as Chief Commercial Officer and is expected to lead the negotiations when he takes up the post at the end of this month. He spent four years in the same role up until 2010 and has now been tasked with persuading suppliers that have so far refused to concede. Chairman Allan Leighton wants Asda to be at least 10% cheaper than its traditional supermarket rivals under its Rollback price-cutting scheme. However, The Telegraph noted that some of the UK’s biggest food producers have so far been reluctant to support the retailer. An industry source is quoted as saying: “The idea behind Rollback is that you get the volume moving first, and then you get suppliers to invest further. “But what’s happened is that Asda has invested in Rollback, and the volumes haven’t come through. The suppliers are holding back investment because they aren’t getting the guaranteed volumes they will need. “There has to be something in it for them. If they are putting their money into Tesco and Sainsbury’s, then they are getting a return. If they are putting their money into Asda, then there is no guaranteed return. It is high risk.” Asda recently suggested that its sales performance has turned a corner, with it now hoping that Blackhurst can accelerate growth by getting more suppliers to lower prices. His impending arrival this month is said to have sparked concerns among some brands. NamNews Implications: * For some branded suppliers, it is not about investing money without an adequate return… * …but rather managing the risk of conceding on price to Asda. * And having to extend the same concession to other retailers… * …and carry the resulting cost, whatever the result in Asda. * Suppliers will probably weigh up the impact of possible delisting in Asda * ...vs. the extent to which other mults will benefit by picking up sales that would have gone elsewhere. * All else is detail… #AsdaPriceWar

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Specsavers has announced plans to invest £5m at its site in Kidderminster, boosting production capacity and supporting future growth. The site produces prescription lenses for more than 900 Specsavers stores, and the expansion will see production increase incrementally from 140,000 to more than 200,000 lenses per week upon completion. Read more here ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eQbr4tzu (📸 Specsavers) #UKmfg #Manufacturing #Production #Growth

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