Alexon: giving itself the boot?

Alexon has lost half of its market value since April, meaning it could be ripe for a takeover bid. Alexon is believed to want a full company sale, but the limited synergies between the footwear and fashion arms of the business is likely to result in the business being split anyway.

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Asda: focus on value drives growth

Asda delivered an impressive 12th successive quarter of market out-performance in Q1 2009, with like-for-like sales increasing by 8.4%. While Asda's strong price proposition is attractive to the current frugal consumer, therefore boosting growth, the retailer must continue to improve its quality perception to ensure that this performance is maintained in the long term.

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Australia: Woolworths launches credit card

Woolworths has become the first Australian company to launch a credit card with a sophisticated loyalty program, capable of collating data regarding consumer purchases. This data will eventually be utilized in Woolworths' marketing efforts, and is seen as even more important than the financial aspect of the card.

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Cadbury/Experentis: promoting South American stimulants

The launch of two new guarana chocolate bars for UK clubbers highlights the increasing use of trend-spotting in product development. But while giant Cadbury relies on traditional advertising, newcomer Experentis will use experiential and event marketing to target its core audience more precisely. The smaller firm's approach could well pay off.

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eCommerce: the Priceline isn't right

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Game Group: had the gain, now for the pain

Fears of a major slump in the previously buoyant video games market have been realized by a trading update from market leader Game Group. The highly cyclical nature of the sector has been highlighted by the dual release of Game's figures for the 53 weeks to January 31, 2009, in which total UK and Ireland sales were up 25.7%, and for the 11 weeks to April 18, 2009, in which they were down 2.4%.

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Gap looks to Australia to boost sales

US clothing retailer Gap has opened its first store in Australia in a bid to capitalize on the market's potential, stating that it intends to focus its brand positioning on product quality rather than discounting. However, as Australian consumers are continuing to be driven by value, Gap will have to offer a compelling proposition in order to gain favor among the growing legion of bargain hunters.

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Inditex to enter Australia and South Africa in 2011

After entering a number of new markets this year, Inditex is poised to enter the Australian and South African markets in 2011. Its plans for expansion, which include introducing global online retail platforms, will ensure that it keeps one step ahead of its international rivals, and will provide an opportunity for rejuvenation in the local clothing markets.

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Metro Group and BP: Polish launch for loyalty card lends a competitive edge

European retail giant Metro Group has launched its multi-brand Payback loyalty card in Poland. The card will be accepted at Metro's hypermarket chain Real and BP service stations, as well as by other companies. The move is expected to be a success: the loyalty card is attractive to consumers and provides companies with additional insight not available from a single-brand loyalty scheme.

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Mobile payments in Russia take another step forward but hurdles remain

Smart card manufacturer Giesecke & Devrient and Sitronics Smart Technologies are partnering with Russia's largest mobile operator, Mobile TeleSystems, and Russia's second largest oil company, Lukoil, to launch contactless mobile payments systems at petrol stations, highlighting the growing inroads the sector is making in the Russian market.

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