Tesco has announced that its recently appointed UK and Ireland boss, Charles Wilson, is to step down after being diagnosed with cancer in recent months. Wilson is the former ceo of wholesaler Booker, bought by Tesco earlier this year. He took on the Tesco job five months ago. The new ceo of the UK and Republic of Ireland business is now Jason Tarry, who will…

A producer has brought out a “boozy blend of cold-brewed tea infused with a matching spirit” to tap into the interest in both tea and gin. Noveltea has ready-to-drink teas infused with spirits in two flavours: The Tale of Earl Grey, which is an infusion of black tea with British gin and botanicals, and also The Tale of Tangier, which is an infusion of Moroccan…

Amazon finished top of the pile as retailers completed a clean sweep in a survey designed to find the UK’s top brands for customer service. John Lewis was second, followed by Marks & Spencer, Tesco and Sainsbury’s in Engine’s fourth annual customer experience awards. Joe Heapy, co-founder at Engine, a service design consultancy firm, said: “Amazon is taking the customer experience to a whole new…

Nicolas Feuillatte has launched a new limited edition floral sleeve at John Lewis for its Brut Reserve Champagne. The Champagne, which is priced £28, will be available through John Lewis until stocks last throughout summer 2017. The Brut Reserve is described as a delicate, structured Champagne offering “boundless elegance and finesse”. On the nose it has fresh white fruit aromas of pear, apple and peach…

Waitrose will be expanding its ‘try before you buy’ strategy by investing in more wine bars within its stores. The company has decided not to expand as it planned in terms of store numbers. Instead it will invest in its existing estate, which will include new wine bars and bakeries in store. Initial stores planned for this revamp include shops at Barbican, Chandlers Ford and…

Majestic’s new strategy is focused on growing customer numbers, increasing the percentage
 of exclusive lines it stocks, improving its multichannel offering, bringing older stores up to scratch and retaining its staff. It has undergone major changes of late and the focus 
is now on putting customers first rather than expanding store numbers and chasing the supermarkets, according to new managing director John Colley. The firm…

Tesco has reported a return to profit and its first quarterly sales growth for three years. The retailer, which is Britain’s biggest supermarket, reported an annual pre-tax profit of £162m for the year to 27 February, with UK like-for-like sales up 0.9% in the fourth quarter. The figure includes a strong performance over the six-week festive period, when sales rose by 1.3%. The results follow…