Britain’s major supermarkets are forecast to report lacklustre Christmas sales this week, reflecting weak economic growth and comparisons with generally solid festive results in 2018.

Tesco will next week become the first major British supermarket group to offer a subscription customer loyalty scheme, the latest weapon in its fight to stem the market share gains of German-owned discounters.

It’s being proven again and again that a most effective way to train people to do something is to show how they can save money, however small the amount, by co-operating.

Asda, the British supermarket arm of US retail giant Walmart (WMT N), said uncertainty surrounding Brexit was affecting its customers as it eked out a small rise in second quarter sales, helped by the later timing of Easter this year.

The fortunes of supermarkets are diverging on either side of the Irish Sea, with UK grocers posting their first fall in sales since June three years ago and Irish supermarkets adding sales and increasing prices.

The new flavour be available in all major Irish supermarkets from later this week, retailing at €4.09.

A batch of Cow & Gate baby food has been recalled from Boots after some jars were found to contain pieces of a rubber glove.

Sainsbury’s, reeling from last week’s decision by the UK regulator to block its takeover of rival Asda, was alone among Britain’s big four supermarket groups in seeing sales fall in the latest 12-week period, industry data has shown.

Britain’s competition regulator has blocked Sainsbury’s proposed £7.3bn (€8.4bn) takeover of Walmart-owned Asda — a huge blow to the supermarket groups who wanted to combine to overtake market leader Tesco.

Tesco has reported a 5% rise in annual revenues for its Irish operations to just under €2.7bn.

Sainsbury has lost its status as the UK’s No. 2 supermarket group by market share to its takeover target Asda for the first time in four years, industry data showed.

UK supermarket Sainsbury’s and its takeover target Asda have committed to deliver £1bn (€1.1bn) of lower prices annually by the third year after completion of their proposed €8.5bn deal.

Sainsbury’s sales fell in the latest 12-week period, industry data showed, as the group continued to underperform Britain’s other big four supermarket chains, including planned merger partner Asda.

Marks & Spencer and Ocado are discussing a joint venture that could expand the retailer’s home-delivery operations and further shake up the rattled UK grocery sector.

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The Musgrave Group is planning a number of new in-store retail brands, some of which may also be expanded into standalone ‘high street’ brands at a later date.

Irish stores will not be affected by Marks & Spencer’s plan to close more than 100 of its clothing and home stores in the next five years, the company has said.

Vodafone is nearing a transformational deal to buy continental European assets from cable giant John Malone’s Liberty Global and could announce an agreement next week, according to sources.

Sainsbury’s and Asda are in talks to create Britain’s biggest supermarket group, a combination which would surpass Tesco’s grocery market share and be worth up to £15bn (€17bn).

UK retailer, John Lewis Partnership, said the weak pound and higher costs will squeeze its profit this year, in the latest sign of the deepening crisis on Britain’s shopping streets.

More than 450 jobs at Marks & Spencer are at risk in the UK after the retailer announced plans to close 14 stores as part of a restructuring programme.

Gluten-free foods contain more fat, salt, and sugar than their gluten-containing equivalents, and are more than twice as expensive, a study has found.

Major supermarkets in the UK are selling plastic-packaged fruit and vegetables for less than customers can buy them loose, an investigation has found.

Tesco shares struggled — rising gradually after being down for most of the day — despite data showing that the supermarket giant probably outperformed its smaller UK rivals during the festive season.

The flimsy nature of our squad is beginning to make itself evident with a number of laboured performances.

The battle of the Christmas ads has officially begun.

Being on a computer, tablet, games console or mobile phone is now a child's favourite way to play, according to a survey in the UK.

Shoppers have continued to spend more at supermarket tills even with an easing in price reductions, new figures show.

Each of the "big four" grocers lost customer share in the last quarter despite increasing sales as Aldi and Lidl collectively accounted for half of the entire market's overall growth, figures show.

Lidl has leapfrogged upmarket supermarket Waitrose in the UK’s competitive food retail market, industry data showed yesterday, a sign that cash-strapped UK shoppers are still having to count their pennies.

Four UK supermarkets have taken products off their shelves in the wake of the egg contamination scare - as the Food Standards Agency says the scale of the problem is higher than previously thought.

UK supermarket Sainsbury is struggling to keep up with supermarket rivals and discounters in a British grocery market under pressure from a Brexit-induced fall in the value of sterling.

The British economy’s strong finish to 2016 looks likely to prove a high watermark as Brexit gets under way, according to a range of indicators yesterday which pointed to a growing squeeze on consumers.

UK grocery prices rose slightly from November to December, according to data from tracking website www.mySupermarket.com

Tomorrow, bargain hunters will be in seventh heaven with some stores opening at 6am for a pre-Christmas shopping phenomenon.

Barclays said it is working to fix a problem that has caused duplicate payments across an undisclosed number of customer accounts in the UK.