Donie's news Ireland daily BLOG

Aldi Supermarket market share in Ireland now higher than Lidl

‘Dunnes remain 2nd largest’

  

Dunnes boosts market share to remain second largest grocer

ALDI pulled away from Lidl to become the fourth biggest supermarket in Ireland by sales whileDunnes also boosted its market share to secure its position as the country’s second largest grocery retailer, according to figures from Kantar Worldpanel.

The new figures, which reflect sales during the crucial Christmas period, show that Dunnes increased its share of the market in the 12 weeks before Christmas to 24.3pc from 23.9pc as sales expanded 1.9pc or almost six times more than the market average.

The surge in Dunnes sales comes after a period of relative decline which saw rivals such as Aldi and Lidl eat away at the company’s market share.

“The strong performance of Dunnes comes after a prolonged period of under-performance, with market share hitting a low point of 21.4pc in September,” said Kantar Worldpanel commercial director David Berry. “The boost in share over Christmas has regained some of this lost ground and places the retailer in a more competitive position for 2013.”

Growth across the grocery sector remains subdued at just 0.3pc despite food inflation running at 5pc. The poor harvest has halved potato crops in some parts of Europe and led to the worst harvest of wheat in a generation.

“One of the biggest factors influencing the price of groceries is the poor growing conditions seen during the summer of 2012,” Mr Berry said. “Vegetables are an important part of the grocery basket, particularly in the run-up to Christmas, and we have seen some sharp price increases.

“With an extra €17m spent on Christmas ‘must haves’ like sprouts and potatoes, there has been less of the household budget available for ‘treat’ groceries such as soft drinks and confectionery.”

Aldi has been pulling away from fellow German discount supermarket Lidl in recent months and experienced growth of around 30pc in 2012.

The two were ranked as equal last time a survey was done but Aldi has been growing at a faster clip than any rival for sometime – something that is causing consternation within the sector and leading market research companies to stop customers leaving stores and examine receipts to try and analyse what they are buying.

That surge allowed the company to overtake Lidl for the first time, becoming the fourth ranked grocery retailer in the state.

Traditional

While the two German discounters accounted for one in nine euro spent on groceries in the State in October, the latest survey suggests shoppers turned to traditional stores over the Christmas period to push down the German stores’ combined market share to 11.9pc.

Elsewhere, Tesco and SuperValu have both performed broadly in line with the market, with Tesco holding market share at 27.8pc and SuperValu – which is owned by the Cork-based Musgrave group – dipping marginally to 19.5pc.

Superquinn, which is also owned by Musgraves, and has been losing market share for some time, continued to lose market share although the pace slowed which resulted in a better Christmas for the retailer compared with 2009 to 2011.

Recent failures in Ireland has signalled a crisis in British retailing

  

British chains have been the victim of a series of high-profile collapses since the demise of Woolworths in 2008.

The biggest failure of recent months was consumer electronics chain Comet, resulting in the loss of 6,900 jobs after administrator Deloitte closed all the stores without finding a buyer.

Others to go into administration in recent months have included sports retailer JJB Sports, the outdoor retail chain Blacks – later rescued by JD Sports Fashion for €24m – and budget fashion chain Peacocks, which saw 388 of around 600 stores saved in a deal with Edinburgh Woollen Mill.

Gift retailer Past Times was another to go under in a new year rush of failures at the start of 2012. The post-Christmas period has been even worse this year after camera retailer Jessops also closed last week.

According to recent figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC), more than one in 10 shops were empty in October.

The BRC said the UK town centre vacancy rate of 11.3pc was the worst figure since its survey began in July 2011, with Northern Ireland, Wales and the North & Yorkshire region seeing record numbers of empty shops.

As well as structural issues such as competition from internet retailers and supermarkets, the failure of chains such as HMV and Comet also highlights the pressure on shoppers from higher energy bills and fuel costs.

In the case of Comet, it was knocked by the lack of first-time home buyers, who had been key customers for the electricals business.

And as banks have become more cautious over debt-for-equity deals since the financial crisis, many firms saddled with debts from past private equity takeovers have been left to fail despite underlying good trading.

Recent failures have included:

JJB (October)

The failure of the sports retail chain caused around 2,200 staff to lose their jobs after administrators were only able to secure a sale of 20 stores. More than 130 stores were shut after KPMG failed to find a rescue buyer for the entire business. Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct International bought 20 stores, the brand and its website. But the deal was only able to protect 550 jobs and also spelt the end of the JJB brand on the high street, with the Sports Direct group planning to convert all stores. KPMG said the cash and restructuring needed to save the business was too much risk for potential buyers. Once the UK’s biggest sports retailer, JJB’s demise sent shockwaves through the high street and came after numerous efforts to save the business.

Clinton Cards

Clinton Cards was one of last year’s major high street victims, with nearly 3,000 full and part-time staff left without jobs after administrators Zolfo Cooper announced the closure of 350 stores. But there was some good news for the chain after Ohio-based American Greetings bought 397 stores and saved 4,500 jobs. The rescue deal also secured the Clinton Cards brand, which was founded by chairman Don Lewin in Epping, Essex, in 1968. Clinton had made losses of €156m million since 2004 and was hurt by a slump in retail spending, as well as increased competition in the greetings cards market.

Game Group

Video games retailer Game Group was hit by falling sales and a refusal by suppliers to stock the business. The group, which traded as Game and Gamestation, appointed PwC at the end of March, triggering the immediate closure of 277 stores in the UK and Ireland – leaving 2,104 staff without a job. But Game was given a second chance when the brand and remaining 333 shops were bought out of administration by turnaround specialist OpCapita, saving nearly 3,200 jobs. While electricals chain Comet did not fare so well under OpCapita’s wing, Game appears to be turning the corner.

Jessops

Jessops was the first high-profile retail casualty of 2013 after suffering from online competition and a boom in camera phones in recent years, which hit demand for digital cameras. Administrators from Pricewaterhouse Coopers closed all shops in the chain with the loss of 1,370 jobs. Jessops had struggled since 2007, when it underwent a major overhaul with a swathe of store closures. It came close to collapse two years later before being rescued by its main lender HSBC in a controversial debt-for-equity swap that saw it taken off the stock market.

Comet

Deloitte, which was appointed to run the electricals retailer in November, closed the final stores just before Christmas, having failed to find a buyer for any of the 235-strong estate. The collapse cost a total of 6,895 jobs. With insufficient funds raised from the winding down of the chain, the British Government will have to pick up the tab for €28m of outstanding redundancy pay, accrued holiday pay and pay in lieu of notice. And a further €32m has been lost in unpaid tax to HM Revenue & Customs. A report from Deloitte showed the investment vehicle put together by American Henry Jackson of OpCapita, which raised funding from unnamed investors for Comet’s takeover from Kesa Electricals, was expected to recoup just under €60m as a secured creditor.

Property tax may be deducted from social welfare payments

  

Olivia Mitchell said Dublin house owners will pay up to six times as much as other people

The Local Property Tax may be deducted at source from payments made to those in receipt of social welfare, according to the terms of a note brought to Cabinet.

Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton confirmed to her colleagues that deduction at source will be one option for property owners.

However, if another option is chosen and payment is not made, the Revenue Commissioners, who will administer the charge, can move to insist deductions are made directly.

Revenue will have the same powers in relation to those in receipt of agriculture grants and payments.

Meanwhile, Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams has said his party is launching a campaign to repeal the property tax legislation.

Mr Adams said a campaign to repeal the law is the only effective way to oppose the measure.

He described calls on people not to register for the tax as a “gimmick”.

The tax comes into effect this July.

Earlier, a Fine Gael TD said there is a “huge inequity” in the way the tax is being calculated.

Speaking on RTÉ’s News at One, Olivia Mitchell said that while she supports the idea of a property tax, her constituents “bitterly resent” the method for calculating it, and do not regard it as fair or reasonable.

The South Dublin TD claimed that the owner of a house in Dublin will pay up to six times more than would be paid on an identical house in another local authority area.

Earlier on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Environment Minister Phil Hogan admitted that the money that is raised by the tax is going to come predominantly from people on the east coast of Ireland and in major urban areas.

He said the principle of equalisation had always been used in taxation – for example, the majority of cars are on the east coast and the majority of motor tax comes from that region.

He said properties in areas that are closer to amenities and services have a higher market value and that is taken into account.

Wrap up your nose as well as your face to avoid colds and flu’s

  

The old saying to “wrap up in winter, don’t get chills” is true if you want to reduce your chances of getting a cold. But don’t forget your nose.

We naturally put on a jumper, winter coat or thick socks to protect the body – but our noses can remain exposed to the cold.

Research shows that becoming chilled can increase the incidence of colds by causing a constriction of the nose’s blood vessels, which provide white cells that fight viruses.

So, if it’s a particularly bitter winter day keep your nose warm with a scarf to protect against the cold and flu virus.

Children in primary school get between seven and 10 colds a year, and women of child-bearing age also tend to suffer more because of their exposure to children.

Between the ages of 30 and 60 years we have experienced most colds and flu viruses and the incidences tend to fall off, said Prof Ron Eccles, Director of the Common Cold Centre at Cardiff University.

However, he said grandparents can suffer another peak in colds because of their contact with children. When people reach their 80s or 90s, the immune and respiratory systems decline so colds can often be the sequel to serious respiratory infections which require treatment with antibiotics, he told ‘Healthy’ magazine.

Diet is important in reducing the risk of cold and flu viruses and in speeding recovery, and a balanced diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables maintains the immune system.

He recommends garlic, which has anti-viral and antibacterial properties and can aid the prevention and treatment of flu.

Moderate exercise, three or four times a week, can help the immune system by moving the immune cells around the body.

Chimpanzees have peoples sense of fairness

 

Chimpanzees have a similar sense of fairness to people, say scientists.

It is the first time the characteristic has been identified in man’s closest relation, suggesting it has a long evolutionary history in primates.

Researchers used a “fairness” game on 20 children aged two to seven years old and six adult chimpanzees and found their responses both resembled those previously documented among people

“We used the Ultimatum Game because it is the gold standard to determine the human sense of fairness,” said Dr Darby Proctor, of Yerkes National Primate Research Centre at Emory University in Atlanta.

“In the game, one individual needs to propose a reward division to another individual and then have that individual accept the proposition before both can obtain the rewards.

“Humans typically offer generous portions, such as 50 percent of the reward, to their partners – and that’s exactly what we recorded in our study with chimpanzees.”

She said that it showed that chimpanzees “will divide their resources in an equitable manner”.

The game’s rules stipulate without the partner’s consent to the split neither of the two players receive the reward.

Two sets of experiments were carried out on the US children and then the chimps based on the game in which a reward could be variously split between a player and a partner.

Both the chimps and the children split the reward equally, says the study published online in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

However in a modified version of the game in which the partner’s consent was not required for reward distribution both the chimps and the children mostly exercised a selfish option – allotting most of the reward to themselves.

According to the researchers, the findings might help uncover the evolutionary origin of the human tendency for fairness.

Study co-author Dr Frans de Waal added: “Until our study the behavioural economics community assumed the Ultimatum Game could not be played with animals or that animals would choose only the most selfish option while playing.

“We’ve concluded chimpanzees not only get very close to the human sense of fairness but the animals may actually have exactly the same preferences as our own species.”

In the study one individual chose between two differently coloured tokens that with their partner’s co-operation could be exchanged for rewards – food for chimpanzees and stickers for children.

One token offered equal rewards to both players whereas the other favoured the individual making the choice at the expense of his or her partner.

The chooser then needed to hand the token to the partner who needed to exchange it with the experimenter for food. This way both individuals needed to be in agreement.

Both the chimpanzees and the children responded like adult humans typically do. If the partner’s co-operation was required the chimpanzees and children split the rewards equally.

However with a passive partner, who had no chance to reject the offer, chimpanzees and children chose the selfish option.

Chimpanzees – who are highly co-operative in the wild – likely need to be sensitive to reward distributions in order to reap the benefits of cooperation.

The researchers said the study opens the door for further explorations into the mechanisms behind this human-like behaviour.

90% of Internet passwords are vulnerable to hacking

   

Even passwords that are considered strong are vulnerable because users can’t remember them, new research says.

Global consultancy Deloitte claimed that over 90per cent of user-generated passwords, even those considered strong by IT departments, will be vulnerable to hacking in 2013.

Jolyon Barker, global lead for Deloitte’s technology, media and telecommunications industry, said “Whilst moving to stronger, longer passwords means greater levels of security, people understandably find these harder to remember.”

He added that so-called ‘two-factor authetication’, using additional methods, could improve security. “Instead an additional bit of identification can be used. It could be a password sent to a cell phone or smartphone, a physical device that plugs into a USB slot, or possibly be a biometric feature of the user,” Mr Barker said.

Deloitte said inadequate password protection may result in billions of dollars of losses, declining confidence in internet transactions and significant damage to the reputations of the companies compromised by attacks. As the value of the information protected by passwords continues to grow, attracting more hack attempts, high-value sites will likely require additional forms of authentication.

In June last year, however, a survey found that ‘Password’ topped the list of the 25 worst web passwords people commonly use to login into sites, leaving them more vulnerable.

The second most common password was ‘123456’, another easy code for hackers to guess when trying to access people’s email or Facebook accounts. Other passwords to make the list, generated by Splash Data, an American password management data application, include: ‘abc123’, ‘iloveyou’ and ‘monkey’.

Facebook admitted that hackers are breaking into hundreds of thousands of Facebook accounts every day. Out of more than a billion logins to the website every 24 hours, 600,000 are impostors attempting to access users’ messages, photos and other personal information Facebook said. Last year 6.5million LinkedIn passwords were leaked online.

Deloitte also predicted that more than 80pc of internet traffic measured in bits will continue to come from traditional personal computers reflecting an age of PC plus, rather than a post PC era dominated by tablets such as the iPad. ”More than 70pc of the hours we spend on computing devices, including smartphones and tablets will be on a PC,” said Mr Barker.

The research further suggested that new gesture-based methods to control TVs will continue to lose out to the traditional remote control, while crowdfunding schemes such as Kick Starter will continue to rise.