Breakfast briefing: Retail news on Morrisons, BHS and more

Morrisons hikes shelf price of Marmite

Morrisons has raised the shelf price of Marmite 12.5%, The Guardian reported.

The supermarket chain gave into Unilever’s demands and is charging £2.64 for a 250g jar of Marmite, up from £2.35 previously.

A spokesperson for Morrisons said: “Sometimes we have to increase prices as a result of costs rising, although we do our best to avoid this.”

According to The Grocer, prices for 92 of 228 Unilever food lines have gone up, while only 19 have been reduced in the past two weeks.

Sources said that the supermarket chain had no choice but to pass on the prices to customers.

Paul Sutton accuses Chappell of 'bleeding BHS dry'

Paul Sutton, who tried to buy BHS before Dominic Chappell, has accused him of changing the team and taking millions of pounds from the department store chain, The Guardian reported.

Sutton said the serial bankrupt Chappell had done “incredible” damage, and after being sold for £1, BHS could still have been saved.

Sir Philip Green had halted talks with Sutton following a string of allegations against him, following which Chappell stepped in and continued negotiations to buy BHS.

Ian Taylor promoted as retail director of Spar

Convenience store retailer Spar has promoted Ian Taylor to the position of retail director.

He will remain in charge of growing the grocer’s national accounts business.

He will also define the format plans of Spar’s More Together strategy.

Spar UK managing director Debbie Robinson said: “Since joining Spar in 2012, Ian has worked incredibly hard and brought his passion and expertise in format development to the business.

“Thanks to his dedication and talent, the face of our stores has changed significantly. Our retailers have won a huge number of awards around the UK, having adopted his recommendations in store format development.”

Smartphones to boost ecommerce sales in UK

UK retail ecommerce sales are expected to rise to an estimated £16.9bn from November to December, eMarketer reported.

This will represent around one-fifth of total Christmas shopping sales this year, compared with 17.8% a year ago.

eMarketer predicts the increase in smartphone buying may account for 36.4% of total retail ecommerce sales in the UK in 2016.

Senior analyst Bill Fisher said: “Retail ecommerce sales during the festive season look set to shine this year, despite the wider economic conditions in the UK.”