LONDON, January 8, 2026, 09:29 GMT
- Claire’s and The Original Factory Shop enter administration, putting about 2,550 jobs at risk.
- Tesco lifts its profit outlook after Christmas sales rose, even as competition stays fierce.
- Analysts expect Tesco and Sainsbury’s to extend market share gains, with price wars still biting.
Claire’s and The Original Factory Shop have been put into administration — a UK insolvency process — putting about 2,550 jobs at risk across almost 300 stores, days into the new year. “This was a cautious Christmas,” said Catherine Shuttleworth, chief executive of digital marketing agency Savvy. 1
The early failures are landing just as Britain’s listed retailers start posting Christmas trading updates, a blunt check on whether consumers actually loosened their grip. The picture so far looks uneven: food held up better than non-food, while costs and weak confidence still hang over the high street.
Tesco and J Sainsbury are expected to show they were among the winners again, according to analysts at Citi and Deutsche Bank, helped by strength in “premium own-label” lines — higher-end supermarket branded products. Citi pencilled in about 4.2% like-for-like UK sales growth for Tesco’s quarter, and forecast Sainsbury’s grocery sales growth of 5.3%, while Deutsche Bank flagged Sainsbury’s Argos business as a drag outside food. 2
Tesco on Thursday said it now expects full-year adjusted operating profit at the top end of its 2.9 billion to 3.1 billion pound range after a 3.2% rise in underlying UK sales over the six-week festive period to Jan. 3. Chief executive Ken Murphy said, “Competition is as intense as ever and we know value remains a priority for customers,” pointing to fresh-food growth and investment in service. 3
Industry data earlier in the week showed why the fight is so bruising: grocery sales in the four weeks to Dec. 28 rose 3.8% to 13.8 billion pounds, but volumes fell once inflation of 4.3% was taken into account. Lidl led bricks-and-mortar growth, while Asda’s sales fell 4.2% and its market share slid to 11.4%, underlining the pressure on mid-market players. 4
Marks & Spencer offered another split-screen update: like-for-like food sales rose 5.6% in the quarter to Dec. 27, while fashion, home and beauty sales fell 2.9% as the retailer still worked through disruption from last year’s cyber hack. Chief executive Stuart Machin said, “Food sales were strong,” while AJ Bell’s Dan Coatsworth said it was “telling” M&S ran a bigger-than-usual sale to clear stock. 5
More broadly, recent updates suggest Britons prioritised festive food but thought twice on clothing and gifts, leaving non-food retailers more exposed to swings in confidence and footfall. Tesco’s Murphy said some shoppers were “counting every penny”, and Next has warned that employment pressures could weigh on spending as 2026 progresses. 6
The risk now is that heavier promotions — already intense in December, analysts said — squeeze margins just as retailers absorb higher costs and softer volumes. A wobble in jobs or inflation could turn “cautious” into outright pullback, and the January insolvency queue could lengthen.
