NEWS DIGEST
THIS WEEK’S NEWS FOR ALL THE LATEST NEWS, HEAD TO WWW.SLRMAG.CO.UK/CATEGORY/NEWS/
M&S £87.6M LOSS
TRADE SHOWS
of £87.6m in the 26 weeks
BLAKEMORE LOOKS TO NEW OPPORTUNITIES
to 26 September 2020. The
SPAR WHOLESALER BLAKEMORE USED ITS FIRST VIRTUAL TRADE
retailer said this represents
SHOW YESTERDAY TO ASSURE RETAILERS THAT IT HAS ALL THE
a “better than expected”
INDUSTRY-LEADING INITIATIVES RETAILERS NEED TO MAKE THE
performance, having predicted
MOST OF NEW OPPORTUNITIES.
M&S has suffered a 15.8% fall in revenue and a pre-tax loss
a 22.8% drop in sales for this period.
SGF GOLF DAY The Scottish Grocers’ Federation is to host its annual golf day on 2 June 2021 at Turnberry King Robert The Bruce Golf Course. The event includes breakfast, evening drinks and dinner in addition to use of the golf facilities and participation in the tournament.
Spar wholesaler AF Blakemore held its first ever virtual trade show yesterday with over 1,000 guests attending. Free to all Blakemore retailers, the show was themed around New Opportunities and the wholesaler told retailers that it has everything they need to thrive and exploit the new opportunities that are springing up at the moment. The main message from Group Commercial Managing Director Jerry Marwood to retailers was one of
continuous investment and backing from AF Blakemore. He said: “It is important that we keep building our businesses to support you, and you keep building your businesses to give customers what they want.”
Anyone interested in attending should contact the Federation’s Irati Ugarte.
OCADO PROFITS Ocado says its joint venture with M&S has remained strong throughout the fourth quarter of its current financial year and consequently has revised its full year EBITDA up from £40m to £60m.The company will also acquire two US robotic companies for a total of around $287m to exploit the opportunities it sees in robotic manipulation solutions.
BESTWAY ADDS ‘SOCIAL PROOFING’ TECH Bestway Wholesale has invested in new innovation and technology to enhance the customer experience with the introduction of Taggstar, a tool for ‘social proof messaging’ which has been added to the Bestway website and functions as a virtual sales assistant, helping customers navigate around the site and offering support and advice as they go, optimising individual search requirements. Bestway MD Dawood Pervez said: “This is just one of the many tools that we are looking to bring on board to drive the digital experience further
6 I SLRMAG.CO.UK / ISSUE 29 / WEDNESDAY 4TH NOVEMBER 2020
in line with our customers’ changing buying needs. “We know how important social proofing is to our retailers and initial feedback is 100% positive. Customers are receiving insights into each category as they shop, which is influencing and informing their purchase decisions.” Furthermore, the new functionality of the Bestway Wholesale site means that customers can now choose alternative SKUs when products are not in stock – or opt to receive an email as soon as the product becomes available at the depot.
