Food for thought
Not much time to blog this morning. The days when there isn't an obvious choice for the main story tend to be much busier.
But we think we've got a good one. . The inflation figures earlier this week showed the overall cost of goods and services is still way above the target set by the Government. But there was a hint that food prices might start easing off soon. The Â鶹Éç asked a firm of retail analysts to examine this in more detail - we'll bring you their conclusions. It's a bit of good news if your budget is stretched.
We'll also hear from the man who runs Waitrose - he's our special guest today.
He's got a bit of a strategic puzzle. Waitrose has a very specific place in the food market - it styles itself as a seller of top quality, locally-sourced food, and charges more than the average for it. But can you keep that position when commodity prices are rising and family budgets are being squeezed?
There must be a temptation to cut prices or introduce a discount range, just to remain competitive. But if you do that, do you then weaken your overall reputation and damage your brand?
It will be an interesting discussion.
Oh, as you'll know when you see him - he's a real foodie. He's decided to make it a real working lunch by bringing in his own picnic. You'll not be so silly as to let that change your shopping habits, will you? I thought not.
See you at 1230.
Comment number 1.
At 19th Oct 2008, malfranks wrote:The cost of food shopping has definitely increased over the past year, though that's as much to do with M&S opening a Simply Food between my workplace and the Iceland and Tesco stores combined with bone idleness!
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