Tag Archives: supermarkets

Supermarkets suffer the same problems as market traders – but on a grander scale. This includes underestimating how long it takes to generate turnover and profit sufficient to cover borrowings. We’ve all seen the enthusiastic but inexperienced start-up who lasts 6 months before the savings run out and he does a midnight flit leaving unpaid rent and suppliers behind. ‘Turnover is for egotists but profits are for realists’ is a classic saying – and a classic argument for cheaper bank loans and more tax breaks. Hopefully George Osborne will consider both now he doesn’t need to worry about re-election.

It took Aldi 25 years to generate enough turnover to become the UK’s sixth largest retailer

It took Aldi 25 years to generate enough turnover to become the UK’s sixth largest retailer. This was confirmed by first-quarter figures showing they’ve secured 5.3% of the retail grocery sector. That puts them ahead of Waitrose (a mere 5.1%) but still a long way short of Tesco at 28%. But every little helps.

What a pity they’re German, not British

At the same time Aldi announced ambitious expansion plans with another nine London stores in 2015 and a nationwide target of 1,000 by 2022. Contrast this with Tesco who ditched 40 + planned openings in the UK plus more abroad before posting a £6.4billion pre-tax loss. The fact that Aldi is both foreign and privately-owned simply rubs salt into the wound. It is not subject to corporate shareholder pressure for increased profits, year-on-year so could take it’s time to understand an overseas market. What a pity they’re German, not British.

It cost Tesco £1.2billion in write-offs when they pulled out in 2013

Asda retained their second place at 17% whilst Sainsbury held on at 16% but is suffering the same fall-out from overseas expansion that characterised Tesco under former Chief Executive Phillip Clarke. Tesco thought the best way to maintain turnover profits was overseas so launched their all-new ‘Fresh ’n Easy’ brand in blue collar USA. But they underestimated just how ‘mature’ US consumers are and that car workers in Detroit don’t understand self-service checkouts. It cost Tesco £1.2billion in write-offs when they pulled out in 2013.

Sainsbury’s venture into the unsophisticated retail economy of Egypt went dramatically wrong

Maybe Sainsbury’s new CEO, Mike Coupe should have considered this last year when he took over from long-standing predecessor Justin King. Sainsbury’s venture into the unsophisticated retail economy of Egypt went dramatically wrong when the Egyptian Courts charged JK with some (admittedly very dubious) allegations of embezzlement. Unfortunately Sainsbury had got into bed with a local developer who then went bust which cost them a modest £111million in write-offs after 18 months. But the ex-partner continued to pursue Sainsbury for alleged embezzlement so when Mike took over he travelled to Egypt to appeal against a guilty verdict. He very sensibly caught the return flight before the outcome of his appeal was announced which was just as well because he was sentenced to two years in Cairo Clink in his absence. There’ll be no more Egyptian sightseeing holidays for Mike unless he wants to do it in handcuffs.

This is not what one expects from a FTSE100 Company

The amazing thing is that investors learnt about this from the media, not from a Shareholder announcement. This is not what one expects from a FTSE100 Company and must rank alongside JK’s 2007 denial of Sainsbury colluding with suppliers to rig dairy product prices. Until two months later that is, when he announced a £26million out of court settlement with The Office of Fair Trading to avoid prosecution. Hmmm…….

Taking your eye off your home turf and forgetting what you do well may be a big mistake.

It seems the bigger you get the more confident you are that size alone will enable you to do a better job than the locals, even if you choose the right partner. Taking your eye off your home turf and forgetting what you do well may be a big mistake. Tom Jones (yes, THAT Tom Jones) was top of the bill in Las Vegas for 40 years before being offered a lucrative partnership in a new Hotel development. He’s no fool when it comes to business and turned it down, saying: ‘What do I know about running Hotels – I’m just a boy from the Valleys who can sing a bit’ which was not unusual.

The ‘Big Four’ Supermarkets are now faced with an inquiry by the Competition and Markets Authority

The fallout of all this is going to get worse says Begbies Traynor, the corporate insolvency practitioners. They suggest 1,400 wholesalers face imminent collapse as price wars escalate and buyers cut out the middlemen and deal direct with producers. After all, someone has to pay for the ‘£1 deals’. More worryingly they predict a bleaker picture still when Aldi and Lidl capture up to 20% of market share as predicted. They point out that: ‘The majority of Aldi and Lidl’s packaged stock is own-brand sourced from overseas, so struggling UK suppliers could find themselves squeezed even further’ – particularly if Sterling continues to strengthen whilst the Euro goes South. To add to Sainsbury problems the ‘Big Four’ Supermarkets are now faced with an inquiry by the Competition and Markets Authority (successor to the OFT and Competition Commission). This was triggered by a so-called ‘super complaint’ lodged by ‘Which?’ magazine alleging they systematically mislead shoppers by reducing pack sizes without reducing prices and make seasonal offers where the ‘previous higher price’ only applied out of season etc etc. I can’t help thinking this will only restate the bleeding obvious and result in a few adjustments to the Pricing guidelines and Groceries code of practice.

Mind you, a bit of adjudication in favour of shorter payment periods for suppliers would be welcome. Tell me about it.

Tesco’s plans to close 43 ‘Express’, ‘Home Plus’, ‘Metro’ and ‘Superstores’ by mid-April has been well publicised, as has their proposal to scrap another 49 NEW stores planned for the UK. The Company has also scrapped plans for 13 new stores in Hungary, but it’s not clear whether the sites will be ‘land banked’ as it’s called or sold-off, and if so on what terms.

He seemed oblivious to the relief of independent retailers in Bilston Market Hall and on the High Street and those locals who’ve stared at this derelict site for the last 14 years

The announcements provoked outcry amongst MP’s protesting at the effect on their constituencies. One of the most strident was Pat McFadden MP (Labour, Wolverhampton South East) indignant at Tesco’s decision to scrap development of the former Royal Hospital site in Wolverhampton. He seemed oblivious to the relief of independent retailers in Bilston Market Hall and on the High Street and those locals who’ve stared at this derelict site for the last 14 years. He proclaimed the news from Tesco was a ‘betrayal’ and proved the Company ‘could not be trusted’. No-one can accuse Pat of jumping to conclusions – he’d taken 14 years to work that out. Nor did the news have the earthshaking effect he’d hoped for amongst dispirited locals. No member of the Hungarian National Assembly was available for comment.

Provided your pockets are deep enough there is nothing to prevent you from buying premises ‘just in case’ and very little to prevent you from leaving it derelict thereafter

But Pat’s comments DID highlight a major flaw in the UK town planning system – how all supermarkets (not just Tesco) ‘land bank’ future development sites, then leave them derelict. This practice has been criticised by the Competition Commission as an underhand means of preventing competitors from expanding into their business – which is of course exactly the intention. Provided your pockets are deep enough there is nothing to prevent you from buying premises ‘just in case’ and very little to prevent you from leaving it derelict thereafter. Effective legislation to prevent land banking does not exist so supermarkets and housebuilders continue to buy-up sites as soon as a new Local Plan is released which zones areas for future development. As the Commission has pointed out, if a developer can snap them up quickly and on the cheap – often by an initial payment plus top-up bonus once it is built-out – then that effectively blocks the competition. Between purchase and build-out the planning authority is largely powerless to prevent the site being left derelict and has to tell anyone applying for a similar use: ‘Sorry – there’s another site already allocated for that use’. That’s why draft Local Plans generate so much interest from developers.

There has been talk about forcing developers to relinquish land-banked sites under threat of Compulsory Purchase Order, or forcing them to put the land to ‘beneficial use’ – but who will pay for it?

This problem has not been helped by the Dept. for Communities and Local Government (DCLG’s) shiny new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) introduced in 2012. Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles MP (Conservative, Brentwood & Ongar) has been widely-criticised for replacing 1500 pages of national planning policy built-up over 40 years with 50 pages devised in 40 months. The new slimline NPPF is accused of being far too pro-development and lacking a means to counter land-banking – frustrating local planning authority efforts to phase development to a rational programme. There has been talk about forcing developers to relinquish land-banked sites under threat of Compulsory Purchase Order, or forcing them to put the land to ‘beneficial use’ – but who will pay for it? Not local government for sure. To compound the problem local planning authorities are under pressure to meet DCLG targets for more homes for our expanding population. Landbanking means green fields are often built-out It will be interesting to see whether Tesco hold onto or sell-off their cancelled development sites. Councillor Roger Lawrence, leader of Wolverhampton City Council, said: ‘The Council has done everything it its power to support Tesco to proceed with their plans, and I and senior council officers will now be seeking urgent discussion with Tesco about how to take forward the development of this key gateway site.’ Well, unless Wolverhampton CC make some outrageously expensive taxpayer-funded concession there’s not a lot they can do to force Tesco into action. And if Tesco do sell-off then you can bet they’ll slap a restrictive covenant on the title deeds to frustrate any competitor from acquiring the site in the future.

A 23% drop in Waitrose operating profits has meant bonuses have been cut for the second consecutive year

Another group which is far from happy are the 94,000 staff who own John Lewis and Waitrose. Traditionally some 45 – 50% of trading profits have been paid-out as bonuses to the ‘partners’ each year but a 23% drop in Waitrose operating profits has meant bonuses have been cut for the second consecutive year, from 15% to 11% of annual salary. This was despite the upmarket grocer increasing like-for-like sales by 1.4% and gaining market share against its rivals. The boss of Waitrose, Mark Price, said the Company is battling against shoppers ‘moving away from a single, weekly out-of-town shop to multiple smaller purchases from convenience stores and online’.

Tesco is trying to rebuild its fraught relationship with suppliers.

Finally, after it’s £260 million false-accounting scandal (booking ‘supplier discounts’ before receipt) Tesco is trying to rebuild its fraught relationship with suppliers. The Company is waving the magic wand of a friendly online Tesco Supplier Network to help 5,000 suppliers communicate with their Buyers and each other – complaints included. Given their rough treatment of suppliers in the past the rumour has it few are likely to let bygones be bygones. The magic wand is seen as a big stick in disguise.

At the risk of sounding London-centric, the changing face of London markets is providing an astonishing example of how good markets successfully adapt to their constraints and circumstances.

Recently, I have been hearing success stories emanating from the East End Chatsworth Road Market in Hackney, London E5 (It used to be Clapton in my day). A traditional street market, the linear High Street includes rows of lock up shops fronted by market stalls, catering for the newly mixed demographic of different ages and ethnicities.

I speak somewhat informatively as from the age of eight, I had to work on my father’s Chatsworth Road stalls every Saturday and during school holidays in what was at the time a largely poor neighbourhood where the most exotic products to be found were Fry’sTurkish Delight bars, more accurately described as FTD – misshapes.

Chatsworth Road was of fundamental importance to the local community, selling everything from live eels to white goods

The market and fronting shops were always exceptionally busy as locals performed their daily shop and I can’t remember there being any form of supermarket back in the late 60’s and early 70’s within walking or bus journey distance. Chatsworth Road was of fundamental importance to the local community, selling everything from live eels to white goods.

If I am honest, I feel more nostalgic now with fond memories of how life used to be and have forgotten the freezing cold winter days: flashing out at six in the morning and sweeping up at six at night, but life was straight-forward and honest and my parents earned a decent living from the market.

It appeared as though the retail core had been sucked clean out of Hackney

During the 80’s I worked as a civil engineer in London and would occasionally take a nostalgic drive to Chatsworth Road and was shocked by the desertification of the area. It appeared as though the retail core had been sucked clean out of Hackney by the supermarkets: shops were boarded up and to all intents and purposes, the market had disappeared. However, the sun now shines once more over Chatsworth Road as it has learned to provide the good folk of E5 with what they want and cannot find in the big five – multi-ethnic variety, professional service, tremendous food, cafe culture and above all, unadulterated honesty, a theme which transcends the generations.

Chatsworth Road is just one example of successful and organically developed market regeneration

Chatsworth Road is just one example of successful and organically developed market regeneration in London, of which there are many more. The notion of delivering what people want will filter through other British towns and cities, further underpinning the great British Market renaissance.

With thanks to I Love Markets for kind permission to use their images in this article.

I Love Markets celebrates London’s markets and all of the wonderful things that can be found within them. We believe that to discover the heart of London, you need to discover London’s Markets. No market is the same and we want to help you discover the unique experiences that each one has to offer. Find the latest news, markets and events at www.ilovemarkets.co.uk

I was having a weekend away in North Yorkshire last week with my family when I found out that there was a ‘local produce market’ on nearby. Now I love to visit a market anytime and see what is on offer especially whilst on holiday, so off I went to see how other people do things and what was on offer.

Great British markets truly are the original supermarkets

The weather was great, the market was packed and some of the products on offer were nothing short of amazing - best of all the market was on a Saturday and had integrated with the regular traders so you could literally get anything you wanted, proving that Great British markets truly are the original supermarkets!

I looked around to see who was manning the stall and I could see a tall lady sat on a stool with a ’50 Shades of Grey’ covering her face.

One of the first stalls I came to was a real ale stall and I put a great order in with a very knowledgeable local brewer. Next up was an art gallery. Now a lot of people would disagree with me when it comes to art as I truly believe that we are all experts in our right. When it comes to art I think that we all have our own tastes, make our own interpretations and of course, ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’. So, as I started to browse I did so with a very open mind and unbiased opinion, not really looking for anything in particular, then I spotted a lovely oil painting of the countryside and lifted it out for a closer look. It really was beautiful and weirdly, seemed very familiar? I looked around to see who was manning the stall and I could see a tall lady sat on a stool with a ’50 Shades of Grey’ hardback book covering her face. I presumed she must be running the stall so I said, “excuse me, are these your paintings?” She lowered her book and replied, “yes” before raising it back up in front of her face! There were no prices in sight and the lady made me literally feel like I was interrupting. So, I walked away and had a look around the other stalls, chatted to traders, soaked up the atmosphere, loving the banter and filling my boots with everything from giant loom band sets for the kids to home-made sausages, spending a good couple of hours enjoying the full shopping experience you can only get on a market.

She still hadn’t mentioned the price which was nowhere to be seen

As I was leaving, I walked back the same way I had come and noticed the lady with the art who had been reading the book was packing away early, so I asked her the question, “quiet day today?” “yes”, she replied, “waste of time really, only sold one, not even took my rent!” I asked her about the landscape picture again and pretty much had to force her into a conversation if I am totally honest. It turned out that she had painted all of the pieces herself and that the one I had liked was of Holm Firth, the home of Last of the Summer Wine and 20 minutes from my home town, although she still hadn’t mentioned the price which was nowhere to be seen! So I asked her, she told me and this master piece now hangs proudly in my kitchen and is probably the best £25 I have ever spent, with a great story behind it.

On her return I was chatting away with customers and had already sold two paintings.

I then asked the trader what her background was and she said she had always worked in admin although was trying to get her dream of being a successful painter off the ground. I asked if she wanted to be a book critic or an artist? She looked confused so I asked her WHY she had bought the book she was reading earlier? She still looked confused although she went on to explain that she saw the book in a book shop, read the summary on the back of the book at which stage the lady in the shop said it was a great read. “THERE YOU GO” I said. Finally, the penny dropped with the lady and after chatting with her I persuaded her to stay a little longer and go and get the brews in whilst I looked after the stall. She was concerned about my knowledge of art as the café was quite far away although I reassured her I would be fine. On her return I was chatting away with customers and had already sold two paintings.

There are no secrets out there, it’s just a case of talking to your customers and letting them know you care!

The lady was so grateful it was unreal and asked “what is your secret?” The truth is, there are no secrets out there, it’s just a case of talking to your customers and letting them know you care!

Of course there are a lot more tips to being good at sales, but talking to people is crucial and a great start. As I said at the beginning of this column, our markets are the original supermarkets and please, please let’s not forget what makes us better than the supermarkets: having great product knowledge and the ability to communicate with our customers!

All good relationships are built on great communication. Happy trading.

Keep in touch,

Adam Corbally

Adam Corbally is a professional guest speaker, motivational coach, and serial entrepreneur, managing a series of successful businesses and brands in the UK.

Adam’s appearances on a number of T.V. shows has helped make him a well-known public figure.

Adam found his own way in life, learning as he went, quickly carving himself out a serious career as a businessman, he is now in the position to pass on that knowledge.

His fun-loving, approachable nature helped make his early venture an instant hit. Eager to build on his commercial knowledge and skills, Adam sought out business leaders and mentors who could help him develop his knowledge.

This training helped Adam realise that, armed with solid business fundamentals, he could apply his positive approach to other walks of life and enjoy similar success. The growth of his wholesale operation, veg-box delivery service, and property business are testament to this philosophy.

Adam’s unconventional route to commercial success is a popular topic at his professional speaking events, conferences, schools, colleges and universities. With Adam, what you see is what you get. He’s the same infectiously positive, open, and unashamedly outspoken.

www.adamcorbally.co.uk

@Theadamcorbally

The start of 2015 saw a very old saying amongst stockbrokers come true: ‘Sell your shares in any company when it buys a company jet or builds a new headquarters’ they say. Companies lose touch with reality as they get bigger and one person who seems to agree is ‘Drastic Dave’ Lewis, the new Chief Exec. of Tesco. He announced the closure of both their Cheshunt HQ and Kansas Transportation Ltd, the Company subsidiary which discreetly operates a fleet of 5 executive jets.

From now on it’s RyanAir only for Tesco directors as they struggle against falling sales and a £260 million accounting scandal

This must come as a disappointment to former CEO Phillip Clarke (currently under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office). It limits the possibility of doing a flit in the £31 million Gulfstream jet delivered last month as part of the £29m cost of flying executives around the world 2005-2012. From now on it’s RyanAir only for Tesco directors as they struggle against falling sales and a £260 million accounting scandal. And now we know who owns all those private jets parked at Luton airport.

The good people of Cheshunt, home to Tesco’s ugly concrete HQ since 1973 were also less than happy about job losses and a move for remaining staff to Welwyn Garden City. ‘I can’t believe it’ Ward Councillor Mike Iszatt told the ‘Hertfordshire Mercury’. ‘I don’t know why they want to move out of the Borough – it’s so convenient for their employees next to the station and we’ve got crossrail coming in the near future. I hope they will reassess their decision’.

The international credit rating agency Moody’s downgraded Tesco’s credit rating to ‘junk’

Apart from that, Drastic Dave suspended yet a ninth executive – Chris Robinson, finance director at food sourcing – and confirmed the closure of the defined benefit pension scheme for staff, 43 convenience stores and cancellation of 49 new store developments. Stockbrokers seemed mildly pleased and shares rose to £2.20, still less than half their pre-scandal level. Nevertheless the international credit rating agency Moody’s downgraded Tesco’s credit rating to ‘junk’, saying “structural changes in the UK grocery retail market will continue to challenge the Company’s operating performance”. Whether that enables suppliers to demand better terms from the retailer is unclear.

The announcement of a new ‘Retail Ombudsman’ has been greeted with mixed feelings

The ‘Kipper season’ is now upon us. It’s always a good time for everyone to have a moan so the announcement of a new ‘Retail Ombudsman’ has been greeted with mixed feelings. The response to this ‘new independent service to resolve disputes with supermarkets, high street brands and online retailers’ has been less then overwhelming. Like several other Ombudsman services it lacks teeth as it is unofficial i.e. not established or vetted by Parliament. Its adjudications are not binding on anyone unless they happen to subscribe to it, but if you do and it does find in your favour don’t feel too smug – the complainant can still take you to court.

So why establish a toothless Ombudsman?

So why establish a toothless Ombudsman? Apparently this is a mainstream retail response to the forthcoming EU ‘Alternative Dispute Resolution directive’ which will take effect in July. This says the retail sector must have an ‘Alternative dispute resolution body’ – but Parliament has already decided the new watchdog must be official i.e. vetted by the Trading Standards Institute. So whilst toothless in the interim it may morph into that in due course but the meantime is funded by subscriptions from 3,000 or so retailers who have signed-up to it. You can offer it as part of your Customer Care Charter which is one way to take pressure off your Customer complaints department. Especially if you run the notorious ‘No-help-whatsoever-desk’ at RyanAir which has an annoying habit of emailing an apology to your mobile and not accepting replies.

Although the new Retail Ombudsman may be a bit of a crock in terms of Consumer protection it’s a different thing if the Ombudsman is regulated e.g. for energy, financial advice, mortgages, insurance and savings. If you receive or want to make a complaint then go to http://www.ombudsmanassociation.org to see if there is a relevant ombudsman and if its findings are binding.

Meanwhile suitably-barmy advocates of ‘Workplace Wellness’ in the USA are hoping 2015 will be the year that ‘Standup Desks’ take off. These have been favoured by great minds such as Leonardo da Vinci and of course Michael O’Leary, the Chief Exec. of RyanAir. He once suggested RyanAir were considering ‘standing-only’ spaces on their flights and charging people to use the loo. Despite criticism from the Guild of Chairmakers, Joe Nafziger, the Californian inventor of Standup desks said “It’s definitely a worldwide thing that’s picking up speed”.

Advocates of ‘Workplace Wellness’ in the USA are hoping 2015 will be the year that ‘Standup Desks’ take off

Joe would love to hear your opinion of whether standing behind a stall all day in January is good for your health.

The UK economy grew by just over one half of one percent in the last quarter.

Great news! The double dip recession has ended! The Office for National Statistics has announced the UK economy grew by just over one half of one percent in the last quarter – largely due to a Scallop War in the English Channel. HM Treasury likes scallops – £70 million pounds’ worth of which are dredged by plucky British trawlermen each year from the English Channel and exported to Paris. But French scallophounds are now bombarding British boats with garlic and onions to drive them away from the French side of the English Channel (or ‘La Manche’ as they sniffily call it).

This is of course highly illegal – not that the French care. The Daily Mail has called on the Royal Navy to protect our brave boys but the Admiralty isn’t keen as they remember being seen-off by two Icelandic rowing boats in the 1972 Cod War.

But it’s not as simple as that – the EU is involved. Brixham has a swanky new £20 million fish market, part-funded by the EU, which needs the business and the EU controls the number of days all scallop boats can fish. Although the French scallop quota is twice the size of the British they only use a quarter of it so French restaurants can’t get enough scallops without importing them from the UK. Our hardworking trawlermen generously offered to stay on the English side of the channel if the EU gave them a bit of the unused French quota but ‘Merde alors: Francois eez not very ‘appy.’ He and his friends are now threatening to blockade Calais to stop the Cross-channel ferries. Now there’s a surprise.

And that, in a scallop shell, is the problem all politicians struggle with: Just how far should Governments intervene in a so-called free market economy? Should they sit back and let things take their natural course, or intervene for the greater good of all?

Their 200-mile ‘Exclusive Economic Zone’ supports a sustainable fishery some forty years on.

The Icelandic government got their intervention right and their 200-mile ‘Exclusive Economic Zone’ supports a sustainable fishery some forty years on. Newfoundland got it wrong and let their once-thriving Grand Banks fishery be overexploited, so it collapsed. British Columbia got it right and took control of their fisheries after years of over-exploitation and built it back into a thriving recreational fishing industry. So, should HM Government be intervening in the scallop industry, or staying out like they’ve done with retailing? And is now the time to reign-in the spread of supermarkets and preserve our Town centres? Fat hope.

I have a lot of respect for the Adam Smith Institute – the independent think tank which promotes free market policies, but not much for Tim Worstall, one of their leading economists. Last month he had a dig at activists who lead campaigns to protect Town centres from supermarkets and accused them of wrongly wrapping themselves in the flag of liberalism to preserve freedom of choice for consumers. He suggested campaigning against a supermarket is nothing of the sort. It is authoritarian – imposing your theory of how society should be on those who don’t agree. Well, that’s a fine academic debating point Tim old boy, but divorced from reality. Ever heard of expressing local democracy? I don’t know what colour the sky is on your planet, but it’s not the same on mine.

The price of food in the UK – scallops included – is cheaper than ever in real terms thanks to government policy which keeps prices down.

Whether its scallops or supermarkets there is only one certainty when a government intervenes – there will be winners and losers. The price of food in the UK – scallops included – is cheaper than ever in real terms thanks to government policy which keeps prices down. Policies which inflate food prices are an electoral suicide note.

The number of independent producers and dairy farmers is a fraction of what it was only twenty years ago thanks to so-called retail consolidation…

…and although Icelandic cod may now be expensive, salmon is as cheap as chips thanks to fish farming. The cost is all the disease it’s introduced to wild stocks which has polished-off recreational fishing on many Scottish rivers.

In British Columbia federal intervention worked but they didn’t have Europe interfering. EU grants are still available for traditional employments like estuary netting but the netsmen then have to be bought-out by riverbank owners keen to preserve dwindling stocks. Trying to get owners to agree a catch policy is like trying to herd cats – and whilst cormorants continue to love salmon rivers like Herons love goldfish ponds no politician is going to take on the RSPB.

Winners and losers? – it’s all about politics. It’s time to take a leaf out of the book of those Icelanders and send in the Royal Navy. Scallops clearly have the potential to lead the UK out of recession.

Just discovered an interesting article by Debbie Davies on thisismoney.co.uk looking to discover if people really can save money on fruit and veg if they buy from their local market – anyone who works with or on markets already knows what the answer will be!

The big four supermarket groups are failing to match street market prices across a range of popular fruit and veg, research conducted by This is Money and MailOnline suggests.

On average shoppers can save 32 per cent buying fruit & veg from market stalls compared to supermarkets, according to research undertaken by one of London’s most popular markets.

We tested the claim – and found that on certain items of produce, the savings were even bigger.