The supermarket price war intensified today as Asda unveiled what it claimed were its biggest price cuts in a decade.

It has cut the price of 3,600 items by an average of 13 per cent, increasing the pressure on Tesco, which publishes a trading update next Wednesday.

Tesco announced what it said amounted to £280 million of price cuts last week.

Supermarkets have reacted aggressively to falling food inflation.

The reduced or stabilising cost of goods puts more pressure on supermarkets’ costs bases and cuts the sales growth figures that the listed grocers report to the City.

Asda accused supermarkets of using promotions that mislead customers and warned that “the industry risks being tarred with the same brush as the banks”.

Darren Blackhurst, Asda’s chief merchandising officer, said: “People are sick and tired of being tricked and deceived by dodgy claims and bogus bogofs [buy one get one free offers].

“Unlike our rivals, we’re lowering prices on a more permanent basis on the products people want to buy, not just products we want to sell them. We also want people to check our prices every time they shop.“

J Sainsbury reports its Christmas trading figures on Thursday, becoming the first supermarket to update the market this year.

View the latest FMCG sales jobs with Simply Sales Jobs.

Source : The Times

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The recent cold snap boosted sales at Next amid mounting evidence that retailers enjoyed a buoyant Christmas – but the retailer warned that the public deficit threatened the recovery.

The fashion chain this morning posted better than expected sales figures for the key Christmas period.

Like-for-like sales rose 3.2 per cent, while total sales, including Next directory, rose 5.2 per cent in the 22 weeks to Christmas Eve.

Next, led by Simon Wolfson, the chief executive, edged up its profit guidance from £490 million to £500 million for the full year. It entered the sale period with 12 per cent less stock than last year, which will help preserve margins.

It follows John Lewis in reporting strong sales during the Christmas period.

The company said in a statement this morning: “Sales in the run up to Christmas were better than expected and were markedly stronger in the final two weeks as the weather turned colder.”

But Next remains cautious on the prospect of a consumer-led recovery this year.

In its statement, Next said: “We do not necessarily expect the year ahead to be as good as the previous six months, partly because the fall in interest rates will annualise in the first quarter.

“More importantly the scale of the public sector deficit poses a real threat to recovery.”

It is forecasting like-for-like retail sales growth, excluding directory sales, to be between 1 per cent and minus 3 per cent – compared with 1.6 per cent for the 22 weeks to Christmas Eve.

Mr Wolfson is regarded as an ally of David Cameron, the Conservative leader.

Philip Dorgan, retail analyst at Abrian, said: “While management make some cautious noises about 2010 and guidance suggests lower growth than we are forecasting, we believe that they will continue to do better than expectations.”

Meanwhile, Shop Direct Group, the home-shopping retailer that owns Littlewoods, said this morning that sales rose 6.3 per cent over the six weeks to January 1.

Links of London, the luxury jeweller, added that sales had risen more than 28 per cent in 2009.

Source : The Times

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Traditionally, most of us have been used to looking out for ‘buying signals’ in our sales interactions, but they are probably something of a misnomer: a so-called buying signal is not necessarily a sign that the customer is ready to sign on the dotted line.

By all means look for these important signs that the customer is starting to accept your ideas and solutions, but use them as opportunities to understand the customer’s interest and level of engagement. They offer a signpost to help you explore the customers’ real intent and issues and what may actually lie behind their conversation and behaviour, so you can take the sale in the appropriate direction.

Source : CIM / Modern Selling.

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