In The News

David Sables, CEO, and the Sentinel Team appear regularly on and in various media, commentating and giving insight on industry issues. David is a regular columnist within ‘the Grocer’ magazine, as well as being a contributor to Forbes.

For press enquiries, please contact our UK office. call: +44 (0) 1753 867979 or email press@sentinelmc.com

GSCOP compliance is not under control within our system

By David Sables / December 02, 2014

The Tesco debacle has really brought supplier treatment to the top of the agenda. Me, I've always helped suppliers learn how to deal with it in a savvy yet strategically sound way rather than grumble. If you want to play where the big rewards are then learn how to do it and don't moan if you get it wrong and get burnt. I do believe, though, that supplier treatment and... Read More

Podcast - Tesco Trouble at the Top

By David Sables / November 13, 2014

Tesco is under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office over an alleged black hole in its accounts. Simon Cox tells the story of Tesco's biggest crisis to date. Download Podcast (right click & "save target as / link as") Read More

How to Sell - Help the big four to reduce their stock and create differentiation

By David Sables / November 01, 2014

Coverage of the Tesco scandal has oscillated between accounting misdemeanour and supplier treatment. Either way, this story is of great interest and distaste to the British public. A public whose spending loyalties the retailers compete for - and now a public with another reason to turn away from big retailers. As well as being uncompetitive, undifferentiated and financially challenged, the retailers are so mean! . The Tesco scandal is all... Read More

TescoGate - Supermarket is rudderless and 'fighting fires' in wake of suspensions

By Gemma McKenna / October 23, 2014

The suspension of Dan Jago, head of wine, and seven other directors at Tesco has left the retailer rudderless and “fighting fires” as it heads into Christmas and the busiest trading period of the year. Read More Read More

The hidden world of supplying a supermarket

By BBC News / October 22, 2014

Stack it and sell it. What could be more simple when it comes to the world of the supermarkets? But in this multi billion pound industry, there's a complex relationship between the retailers and the companies who supply the many products they sell. The accounting scandal at Tesco brought the issue into the limelight, and highlighted just how reliant it, and the other big supermarkets, are on supplier income. Read... Read More

Tesco's fall from grace compounded by accounting error

By Christ Warmoll / October 17, 2014

TESCO has come a long way since its modest birth in 1919 on a wind-swept Homerton market stall deep in the heart of London's East End. So too has its share price. But of late not in a way that has mirrored the upward trajectory of founder Jack Cohen's old - and rapidly gentrifying - Hackney neighbourhood. Read More Read More

Tesco suspensions add to chaos at top

By Andrew Clark / October 15, 2014

An investigation into Tesco’s £250 million accounting crisis has prompted the suspension of a further three executives, stoking concern about disruption to its preparations for the crucial Christmas shopping season. Tesco has sent home Dan Jago, its category director for beers, wines and spirits; Sean McCurley, who is responsible for convenience food; and William Linnane, who looks after impulse purchases such as confectionery. Read More Read More

How Tesco put the squeeze on suppliers

By Oliver Shah / October 12, 2014

A year ago, Tesco received an eccentric complaint. Gary Davies, a wedding photographer from Essex, sent the supermarket an open letter bemoaning the disappearance of Branston baked beans from its shelves. “Dear Tesco,” Davies wrote, “Yet again you’ve attempted to ruin my health and happiness through your blatant attempt at sabotaging, distorting and undermining the free market for baked beans. All I see is a wall of Heinz, supplemented with... Read More

Clubcard may buy new boss an escape route at Tesco

By Dominic O’Connell / October 05, 2014

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Hidden fees fuel a third of supermarket profits - Suppliers charged £80,000 just to get new products on store shelves

By Neil Craven / October 04, 2014

Supermarkets are making as much as a third of their profits from suppliers by demanding the type of charges that have led to the accounting scandal at Tesco, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. The sums include penalty charges for late or incomplete shipments, bonuses for hitting sales targets, refunds for promotional discounts and one-off payments for a multitude of reasons such as launching new products. The fees are lumped... Read More