nickshanagher

The FT headline spoke volumes in saying "Vouchers flatter Christmas at Tesco" as the UK's top supermarket chain was forced to come clean on the impact that issuing £100m of money-off vouchers to Clubcard members had on its growth. Taking away the £34m extra spend covered by vouchers, its like-for-like growth dropped to 4.1 per cent and behind that achieved by Sainsbury. One analyst told the FT, the fact that less than half of the extra vouchers were used looks disappointing to us. For local shops, the small print needs careful scrutiny. That £34m is money invested by Tesco itself in winning shoppers. It is on top of the extra promotional funds that it has secured from suppliers of big brands. It is on top of the margin it has squeezed out of many suppliers. (One service supplier I spoke to at Christmas said that he had to do 20% more work for Tesco last year to make the same money as the year before!) The PR war from the big supermarkets is being backed up with serio...

Local news retailers in the UK accept a huge numbers of vouchers for newspapers and magazines yet the industry still fails to observe clear standards on how to produce them. As a result, for many local retailers vouchers look like risk rather than cash. Four out of 10 refuse to handle them. For publishers, the purpose of vouchers is to win greater sales. However, independent retailers argue that supermarkets don't care what they redeem vouchers against and have the market muscle to force publishers to pay. If publishers are paying for shoppers to buy other products in multiple outlets, that further damages their investment in the independent channel. Surely it makes sense for publishers to set standards for vouchers that encourage independent retailers to accept them? says Hinkley retailer Mike Hopkins.