Supermarket chains Asda and Morrison’s and oil giant BP have cut the price of petrol to below £1 for the first time since December last year.

They are now selling unleaded petrol at 99.9 pence per litre and also cutting the price of diesel, as the price of oil falls.

BP has said the new price would apply “at a number” of its outlets.

The supermarket group Sainsbury’s has also said it will now cut its forecourt petrol prices on Thursday.

A barrel of oil has fallen from a high of around $147 in July to less than $80, and the firms said they were passing this drop on to customers.

The average price of unleaded petrol in the UK is currently around 117p.

‘Welcome boost’

“We’re taking the lead again in cutting fuel prices and taking unleaded back below a pound a litre,” said Morrisons’ chief executive Marc Bolland.

“This is strong support for the millions of motorists that are served at our forecourts.”

“With the economic situation looking the way it is, I don’t think we have seen the bottom yet” Damien Cox, John Hall Associates

Asda said the move would be a “welcome boost for consumers at a time of economic gloom and high inflation”.

“This reduction will come as a relief to road users,” a spokeswoman said.

BP said the new petrol price would apply at “a number” of its petrol stations, but added it aimed to remain “as competitve as possible”.

Back in July, UK fuel prices hit record highs on the back of crude oil also hitting all-time peaks.

Petrol prices touched 119.7p a litre and diesel went as high as 133.25p.

Last week, Tesco sparked a new round of price cuts after slashing prices by 3p a litre at its 430 forecourts.

But there has been criticism that the petrol retailers have not been quick enough to cut their prices.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said he wants the drop in oil prices to be passed on to consumers “as quickly as possible”.

Regional differences

Analysts expect further price falls at the pump in the coming months.

“With the economic situation looking the way it is, I don’t think we have seen the bottom yet. There’s still a little bit to come out of this,” said Damien Cox, senior analyst at energy adviser John Hall Associates.

RAC motoring strategist Adrian Tink said that the higher prices had seen the average motorist spending £1,300 a year filling their fuel tank.

“At least that figure should start to come down now and motorists will see a significant difference in their wallet when they next visit the forecourt,” Mr Tink said.

He added that there were often “huge” differences in price, depending on region.

“We are calling on all retailers across the country to get their petrol prices under the £1 barrier quickly to help Britain’s beleaguered motorists.”

News reported by The BBC

‘Rebajas’, ‘Gran Liquidacion’, ‘Descuentos’.

It’s hard to find a shop window in Madrid that isn’t littered with signs announcing big sales.

But despite the time of year, this is not a summer sale. This is a retail cool down.

There’s a cold front hitting Spanish shoppers.

With the housing market in a downturn, inflation continuing to rise and unemployment now at its highest rate since 1998, consumer confidence is taking a beating.

And while the Spaniards rein back on their spending, the retailers are battling to stay in business.

Luis Galeote owns a shop selling luggage and shoes in central Madrid. He has seen his sales fall by 25% in a year because people are cutting back on non-essentials.

“What happens is that people pull back on consumption of unimportant things, like in our case suitcases,” he explains.

“We stock shoes which are considered as a necessity but even they are affected.”

Retail sales across Spain have been falling rapidly since December.

First hit were shops selling consumer goods, such as flat-screen televisions and mobile phones. But since then the malaise has spread right across the retail sector to supermarkets and department stores.

Shutting up shop

Walking around Madrid it is not unusual to find streets dominated by boarded-up shops.

Shop owner Luis Galeote has seen sales fall

Wynn Williamson, a real estate analyst for Aguirre Newman, has seen many retailers close down in the neighbourhood where he lives in the city.

He thinks people are spending less because they’ve been hit hard by rising interest rates.

“Eighty percent of Spaniards are home owners and 97% of mortgages are variable rate mortgages. So where people were previously paying 500 euros (£402) a month, that rate could go up to 1000 euros.”

“Basically every person has less money to spend on luxury items, such as lunches and taxis, and that affects the economy all in all.”

Professor Pedro Schwartz of San Pablo University in Madrid thinks that things are going to get worse before they get better.

“What is worrying is that the problems are spreading quickly because of a lack of confidence”.

“We haven’t fallen into negative growth rates yet, but we will have a recession and it’s coming very quickly.”

With the Spanish economy stalling the government has tried to put its foot on the accelerator.

It has introduced a package of measures, including greater investment in public infrastructure and a 6bn-euro programme of tax breaks to try to get people spending again.

Will it be enough to turn the tide?

That will all depend on how much shoppers tighten their belts as the summer turns to winter.

News reported by The BBC

The online auction giant eBay has simplified and slashed its charges on fixed-price items sold on its site, as it seeks to compete more aggressively with its rival Amazon by enticing small businesses and big ticket retailers to its website.

EBay UK said the pricing changes, which comes into effect on 24 September in the UK, mean the “majority of sellers” will see their overall fee reduced, although fees will vary depending on the size of the seller’s offer.

The initiative is an attempt by eBay UK to grab a larger share of booming online retail sales and to change the perception of its site as primarily an auction site for consumers. The UK changes were unveiled on the same day that eBay in the US introduced a different set of cost reductions for listing on its Buy It Now marketplace.

EBay estimates that 178,000 people in the UK earn a primary or secondary living by running a business on the site. Retailers, including the home shopping specialist Shop Direct, formerly Littlewoods, and the mobile phone company Orange, also sell products on the site.

In the UK, a key change is that for identical items, such as an iPod, sellers will pay a flat fee for a single listing, which they can use to sell as many items as they want. EBay will also move fees to the back end so that sellers only pay the auction giant when an item has been sold. An eBay UK spokeswoman said: “Currently a seller could pay as much as £1.30 to list a single fixed-price item for a maximum of 10 days. That will now come down to a flat rate of 40p regardless of the price of the item, and will be on the site for up to 30 days – up from 10.”

For those paying the highest premium anchor shop subscription monthly fee, the listing price will come down to 1p for up to 30 days and there will be no extra charge for limitless items. However, the subscription fee for premium anchor custom-ers will go up to £350 a month.

Nick Gladding, lead analyst at Verdict, said eBay hoped to increase revenues by attracting more retail customers, but said the overall change to the listing fees it receives would “be revenue neutral”. Mr Gladding said: “The main focus is to grow the site to appeal to retailers. At the moment, it is used by very few retailers and eBay sees potential in growing itself as a platform for anyone to buy anything.”

Robin Goad, research director at the online market research company Hitwise, said brand recognition on the internet is becoming more important, which is driving high-street retailers’ online sales. “You cannot afford to ignore eBay, but if you have a well-developed online presence it will probably be not so important [for high-street retailers].”

News reported by The Independent

The world’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart, says it will invest some 1.8bn reais ($1.1bn; £588m) to expand in Brazil.

The firm said it would open between 80 and 90 stores in 2009 in Latin America’s largest country.

Wal-Mart, which opened its first outlet in Brazil in 1995, has 318 stores there and a local workforce of 70,000.

The announcement followed a meeting between the head of the firm’s America division, Craig Herkert, and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Brazil’s economy has expanded in recent months thanks in part to more affordable consumer credit and rising incomes.

Even as retailers are feeling the pinch of a slowdown in the US, many are counting on stronger growth in developing markets in places such as China, Russia and Brazil.

News reported by The BBC