Can Coke's new CEO put fizz back in beverage giant?
Coca-Cola Co.’s former president and chief operating officer, Muhtar Kent, took the reins as chief executive officer last week just as the beverage market is losing some of its fizz.
Marks & Spencer revisited
M&S unveils brand strategy
There is a move on brand statergy from the troubled Marks & Spencers. After all, food is at the root of its problems. To put the 4.5% first quarter like-for-like decline that it revealed this week into context, here are the most recent like-for-like figures (excluding fuel) reported by the other quoted grocers: Sainsburys plus 3.4%, Tesco plus 3.5%, Morrisons plus 7%. M&S's nearest rival Waitrose reported that total sales were up 5.8% on a little-changed store base in the first 22 weeks of its financial year.
So how has it gone quite so wrong? Sir Stuart Rose attributed 40% of the blame to the company and 60% to the market. You don't underperform a market so badly without good reason and Rose identified availability and price as key areas where the business will have to sharpen up its act.
Thus one hundred and forty of the UK's biggest consumer brands go on the shelves of Marks & Spencer's food stores next week as the struggling retailer attempts to put a halt to falling sales.
The move marks a huge change in strategy for M&S, which has always refused to stock branded goods and has built its upmarket food entirely around its own label.
