Breakfast briefing: Retail news on the big four's market share and Jack Wills

Tesco outperforms its main supermarket grocers

Tesco sales dropped 1% year on year in the 12 weeks to May 22, according to Kantar Worldpanel, showing signs of stabilisation for Britain's biggest supermarket chain amid a tough market for the big four grocers.

Tesco outperformed its main rivals, with sales at Sainsbury's falling 1.2%, while Asda suffered a 5.1% fall and Morrisons dropped 2.1%.

All four companies are being squeezed by the march of the discounters in Britain, led by Aldi, which increased sales by 11.4%, and Lidl, up 14.2%

"The big four continue to be under pressure, with sales declining at each retailer this period," Kantar said.

"Tesco saw signs of stabilising in comparison to historic declines over the past two years."

Jack Wills banned from promoting sexualised advert

Teenage clothing retailer Jack Wills has been banned from promoting a recent advert which uses sexualised imagery and inappropriate messages.

Jack Wills' spring catalogue was sent directly to customers in February. The ad campaign featured images of male and female models dancing and drinking on a bed in their underwear. Text underneath these stated "Whatever your choice, you can be sure it's what's underneath that counts" and larger text naming the collection of shots as "Midnight mischief".

The British retailer defended the campaign noting that the brand aims to target 18 to 24 year old university students and not younger teens and that the images were not sexualised or sexually provocative in any way.

The business added that the mailed catalogue was sealed in an opaque envelope and the website restricted under 18s from signing up to its mailing list.

"Because we understood that younger teenagers could have both direct and indirect access to the catalogue, and because we considered the images and text were sufficiently sexualised to be inappropriate for that audience, we concluded that the ad was irresponsible and that it breached the code," The Advertising Standards Authority explained.

"We told Jack Wills not to use sexualised images and text that were inappropriate for younger teenagers in ads to which those teenagers could have both direct and indirect access."