January, 2009

It makes a refreshing change to hear of success in a time of failure. In the midst of the reports of Wedgwood folding, Woolworths folding, M&S cutting jobs, Currys on the rocks, Adams on the brink etc.etc, it was great to see that at least somebody seems to have got it right.

In the 13 weeks up until 3^rd January sales (excluding petrol) at Sainsbury's were actually up by 4.5% on the previous year! It was their best Christmas ever! Not surprisingly, with the ever increasing number of people struggling to make ends meet and having to seek debt advice or debt help, things were helped by an incredible 40% increase in demand for their own brand ‘basics' range. 23^rd December was their busiest day ever and, across the board, sales were up 5.3% on the same period last year. Online sales rose by 27% in the same quarter.

In spite of this joyful news Sainsbury's Chief Executive Justin King remains cautious as he is well aware that the economy is still, in his words, ‘particularly challenging'.

Well, whatever you are doing Justin, it certainly seems to be working so forget Sainsbury's catchphrase ‘try something new today' and just carry on as you are!

As Jamie Oliver would no doubt say, ‘Pukka Jules!'

et another household name has joined the list of fatalities caused by the recession.

The news that Wedgwood is calling in the administrators came as a bit of a surprise. Whoever would have thought that the producers of Wedgwood Pottery, Royal Doulton Pottery and Waterford Crystal could come to such a sorry pass? It just goes to show that no-one, from the man in the street struggling with unsecured debt to giant household names like Woolworth and Wedgwood, is safe in these perilous times.

Seems odd, doesn't it though, to say that Wedgwood, of all people, don't have the proverbial pot to pee in?

Every cloud has a silver lining, even in a Recession.

2009 is forecast to be a traumatic time with experts predicting that 1600 more shops will fold, following in the footsteps of Woolworths and MFI, which is a 20% increase on 2008. Competition out there will be fiercer than ever and in the inevitable price war that will follow only the strong will survive.

ASDA have kick started the year by slashing the prices of 1000 products to £1 so it will be interesting to see if this will provoke the likes of Tesco and Sainsburys to follow suit. In fact Tesco have already started their own price war by cutting the cost of petrol to its lowest level for 4 years. They are charging 82.9p a litre for unleaded and 94.9p a litre for diesel. Shell have already vowed to match this, and Total have cut their price on unleaded to 85.9p, so it will be interesting to see if Asda and Sainsburys will feel obliged to lower their fuel prices too.

JD Wetherspoon have also kicked off the New Year with some welcome cuts, Greene King IPA which, on average, costs £2.75 a pint has been reduced to just 99p! Not only that, bottles of San Miguel, the Spanish Nectar, will also be under £1 – how good is that?!

So the scene is set for what looks to be an interesting ride as a recession fuelled by greed results in tumbling prices, much to the relief of the many thousands of people who are struggling to make ends meet because of the weight of their unsecured debt.