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NEWS

18 OCTOBER 2024 ASIAN TRADER 7

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Households in the UK have

weathered the worst of the

cost-of-living crisis and can

now expect to see their

disposable income continue

to rise this year, states a new

report.

According to new figures

from Asda’s Income Tracker,

disposable income increased

by 12% year-on-year in

August, the fifth consecutive

month of double-digit

growth. After taxes and

essential spending, the

average UK household had a

disposable income of £247

per week last month,

surpassing the pre cost-of-liv-

ing crisis peak of £246 per

week achieved in March 2021.

While inflation levels have

remained unchanged since

July, inflation on food and

drink slowed to 1.3%. With

prices for essential groceries

continuing to drop, house-

holds can now expect their

spending power to continue

to improve heading towards

Christmas.

However, the data

suggests that the lowest-in-

come households are recover-

ing more slowly and will

continue to feel the impact of

the cost-of-living crisis for a

little longer.

‘Household disposable

income to continue to rise’

Lighting the way

ark times such as the world is currently enduring,

require illumination – and as we look at all the

trouble-spots of the world, it is comforting that

in this country at least, so many people of so many

different origins and beliefs can live together with a truly

amazing degree of harmony.

Diwali, whose influence and engagement spreads

wider every year in the UK, is the perfect example of how

a festival associated with one particular belief can

welcome to its table guests from other backgrounds and

religions, to take part in the spiritual uplift of its celebra-

tions. This is also true of other occasions such as Rama-

dan, Christmas, Vaisakhi or Yom Kippur – each is open in

its imagery and rituals to visitors from other faiths and

traditions, who can join in fellowship and commensality

with worshippers who share space in their communities.

2024 is special in this respect, as it demonstrates

precisely how two different traditions intersect and

come together in a new formulation of meaning and

purpose. By chance, the first day of this year’s Diwali falls

on the same date as the traditional Christian (previously

pagan) festival of All Hallow’s Eve, which is popularly

known as Halloween. Not only that, but the five days of

Diwali end just when another younger but still tradition-

al British celebration – Bonfire Night – explodes onto the

scene.

We need hardly highlight the commercial possibilities

of this cross-selling opportunity for independent retail-

ers, and merely direct you to the Diwali feature in this

celebration issue of Asian Trader to discover all the tips

and ideas you will need to boost holiday sales; and to the

Halloween and Bonfire Night feature to make the most of

those two “book-ending” opportunities.

We hope you enjoy this bumper Diwali issue, which

over time has developed its own tradition of running

several interviews with all sorts of people involved in the

sector – in this issue many areas of experience and insight

are represented, from Nick Wallis, who has been champi-

oning the cause of the sub postmasters for 15 years, to the

wholesale world with Jamie Davison, Director of Retail at

Bestway and Victoria Lockie the new Retail Director at

Unitas, to Kieran Hemsworth, the CEO of industry

charity GroceryAid, which has recently held another

huge and hugely successful D&I in Grocery LIVE! Event in

London.

The clocks go back in a very short time, and this feels

very much like the gateway to winter – not a soggy

miserable winter, however, but more of a sparkling,

snowy winter bonanza of retail colour and sales – let’s

hope that the Autumn Budget Statement, which falls

somewhat ominously on October 30, just one day before

Halloween, has no scary surprises within it.

Many in the industry, such as Helen Dickinson, CEO of

the British Retail Consortium are becoming cautiously

optimistic following a recent uptick in autumn footfall.

It could be that consumers are ready to let their hair down

and reward themselves with some good times this

coming festive season – so let’s do all we can to help them.

Booker, under Tesco, has

integrated a further 397 net

new retail partners in the

ﬁ rst half of this year.

Booker retail partners

now total 7,787 outlets

across Premier, Londis,

Budgens and Family

Shopper.

Operating proﬁ t at the

company, which also owns the

Booker cash and carry business,

rose 13 per cent to £1.61 billion

in the six months to the end of

August, up from £1.43 million

over the same period last year.

Sales across the group grew

by 3.5% over the period to £31.5

billion and like-for-like sales

rose by 2.9%. However, Booker

LFL sales dropped a little (1.9%),

reﬂ ecting a decline in the

tobacco market.

Tesco said it had lowered

prices across its everyday

grocery lines as inﬂ ation

continued to ease.

Commenting on the

numbers, Tesco CEO Ken

Murphy said, “We’ve been

working really hard to of er our

customers the best possible

value, quality, and service and

they are shopping more at Tesco

as a result. We have lowered

prices on thousands of lines,

launched or improved over 860

products in partnership with

our suppliers and growers, and

our customer satisfaction scores

continue to improve across a

broad range of measures.

“The combination of price,

quality and innovation means

we are as competitive as we have

ever been, and we have been the

cheapest full-line grocer for

nearly two years.

“As we approach the

Christmas season, we are

looking forward to sharing the

quality of our festive food with

customers and can’t wait for

them to taste it.

Record numbers recoded for Booker’s ‘Fab Four’

symbol groups

Booker adds 397 new retailers

as Tesco reports healthy results

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