Marks and Spencers & the Superstore Wars
I just heard from one of my rumour monkeys that M&S will be opening in Coleraine soon on the site of the old Iceland. Details are sketchy about whether it's just going to be a food-hall or a more complete store, but the money is on it being purely food.
Lots of people would like to see a better range, with a cafe, clothing, cookware and possibly even toiletries etc... but the store won't be very big and I'm willing to bet it will only use the first floor of the building.
On a less secret note, as everyone probably knows, Tescos are rebuilding their store in Coleraine. This, unlike M&S, is multistorey, with carparks being situated under the store. It looks set to be an interesting development, but since it is being built on the site of the current store, Tescos will be closed for a length of time.
I expect the new store will be open sooner rather than later, as Tescos could stand to lose a lot of customers to other supermarkets during the downtime. Asdas has recently opened and Sainsburys is always nipping at the heels of the supermarket giant. Lidl, meanwhile, has opened their new store in the Riverside Retail Park, replacing their old one on the other side of the river.
The other supermarkets will probably engage in some aggressive price wars to try and pull customers away from Tescos when it shuts temporarily, with Sainsburys and Asda duelling, while Lidl, which has always been a fringe interest, continues its already excellent pricing.
Tesco's customers will probably return to the fold however, but if M&S had any sense, they might hit the town while Tescos is down, possibly pulling their customers away forever.
Of course, nobody can resist visiting a shiny new superstore, so in the long run Tescos will probably gain customers!
Ah well, it doesn't matter to me, since I don't do the shopping! Now, where did I put that cheese and ham sandwich from M&S?...
David
Lots of people would like to see a better range, with a cafe, clothing, cookware and possibly even toiletries etc... but the store won't be very big and I'm willing to bet it will only use the first floor of the building.
On a less secret note, as everyone probably knows, Tescos are rebuilding their store in Coleraine. This, unlike M&S, is multistorey, with carparks being situated under the store. It looks set to be an interesting development, but since it is being built on the site of the current store, Tescos will be closed for a length of time.
I expect the new store will be open sooner rather than later, as Tescos could stand to lose a lot of customers to other supermarkets during the downtime. Asdas has recently opened and Sainsburys is always nipping at the heels of the supermarket giant. Lidl, meanwhile, has opened their new store in the Riverside Retail Park, replacing their old one on the other side of the river.
The other supermarkets will probably engage in some aggressive price wars to try and pull customers away from Tescos when it shuts temporarily, with Sainsburys and Asda duelling, while Lidl, which has always been a fringe interest, continues its already excellent pricing.
Tesco's customers will probably return to the fold however, but if M&S had any sense, they might hit the town while Tescos is down, possibly pulling their customers away forever.
Of course, nobody can resist visiting a shiny new superstore, so in the long run Tescos will probably gain customers!
Ah well, it doesn't matter to me, since I don't do the shopping! Now, where did I put that cheese and ham sandwich from M&S?...
David
posted by theChipmunk at 4:04 pm
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