Breakfast briefing: Retail news on AO.com, Tesco and French Connection

AO.com insists it is not benefitting from ‘dot com bubble’

AO.com founder John Roberts has denied the white goods etailer is benefitting from a ‘dot com bubble’ as its shares spurred almost 45% on its market debut yesterday, The Telegraph reported. Roberts claimed that the buoyant float process had not been ‘over revved’ in spite of the company’s value popping by 44.65% at one stage.

Tesco under fire from farmers for buying less British beef

The National Farmers Union (NFU) has accused Britain’s largest supermarket Tesco of reducing the amount of British beef it bought last year despite promising to source closer to home in the wake of the horsemeat scandal, The Guardian reported. The grocer purchased nearly 8% less British beef in November 2013 than it did the previous year in spite of taking out full-page advertisements 12 months ago claiming: “We know that the more we work with British farmers the better.”.

Tesco was the most criticised supermarket in the NFU report, with seven areas of improvement compared with two each for Morrisons and the Co-op, five for Asda and four for Sainsbury’s. The supermarket was subject to particular scrutiny after its chief executive Philip Clarke promised farmers a much closer relationship at last year’s NFU conference.

French Connection appoints media agency

French Connection has hired 7thingsmedia to manage a global digital campaign for the UK and US, The Drum reported. The agency will manage the paid digital media channels for the two regions.