Marks and Spencer will shut seven stores for the final time as part of a wider restructuring May 4, 2019 Marks and Spencer will shut down seven more stores today as part of its long-term plan to close 100 by 2022. It will bring the total number of stores closed to 47 as the high street retailer adapts to consumer's changing habits. The department store chain is ending its association with town centres across the UK and [...]
Is it time for Mike Coupe to check out as Sainsbury’s boss? May 1, 2019 Mike Coupe was met with rapturous applause from his fellow directors when he stepped up to the microphone this morning, as he hailed the coming of an era in Sainsbury’s history that would see it thrive having merged with long-time rival, Asda. Coupe spoke boldly about price cuts and cost savings, and finished with a [...]
Ofcom complaints league table reveals worst phone and broadband providers February 4, 2019 Virgin Media and Vodafone have topped the league table for the most telecoms and broadband complaints in the third quarter last year, according to regulator Ofcom. Virgin received the most complaints for both pay-monthly mobile and pay-TV services, while Vodafone was the most bemoaned provider for broadband and landline. Read more: Which mobile operators offer London's [...]
Vegan burger startup Beyond Meat hits triple its IPO price as it eyes up European expansion May 28, 2019 Vegan burger startup Beyond Meat’s share price jumped today as it said it's mulling a move to cater directly to European customers with a new production site opening in the Netherlands. However, concerns that this expansion might be too much too soon have left investors divided. Read more: DEBATE: At $1.5bn, is plant burger firm Beyond Meat [...]
Shopping spree: Aldi and Lidl gain market share at expense of big three supermarkets October 16, 2018 The UK's biggest supermarkets lost ground to their budget rivals in the three months into the start of October, as the return of chilly weather marked the end of a bumper summer of growth. Tesco, Sainsbury's and Asda all lost market share to Aldi and Lidl, with Tesco shedding 0.6 percentage points and Sainsbury's losing 0.4 percentage points [...]
Hotels stump up for new business rate bills April 7, 2019 Some of London’s most iconic hotels are facing renewed pressure from rising property taxes, according to business rate experts who fear that the sector could be hit by the latest round of bills. Real estate services firm Colliers found that 93 London hotels have been charged with a combined total rates bill of £12.2m this [...]
Retail’s Super Thursday: The good, the bad and the ugly January 10, 2019 Today's so-called Super Thursday delivered a very mixed shopping basket of retail results, from some fresh bargains ready to be snapped up to others in danger of being labelled as out of date. Tesco, John Lewis, DFS, Debenhams and more released their results on a day dubbed Super Thursday, but which coincided with a dire [...]
Retail round up: What’s happening on the high street? January 11, 2019 Not as bad as it could have been. That’s the general feeling about high street performance over Christmas after major retailers and the supermarkets published their festive figures this week. The British Retail Consortium says that 2018 was the worst Christmas for retails for 10 years but, as ever, the figures show there are winners [...]
Here’s how retailers can enhance the customer experience in-store in 2019 January 24, 2019 The pressure on Britain’s high street is intensifying with shopkeepers preparing themselves for yet another year of declining footfall, driven by low consumer confidence and the growth of online competitors. Against this backdrop, we’re seeing a number of high street retailers revamping their customer experience in-store and trialling new creative strategies to encourage shoppers back [...]
Trolley wars: Drastic Dave’s no-frills move must hit the Jackpot for shareholders September 20, 2018 Tesco took a cheap shot at budget retailers Aldi and Lidl yesterday, launching its own discounter chain, Jack’s. Chief executive Dave Lewis opened the first store in a mothballed former Tesco outlet in the small Cambridgeshire town of Chatteris yesterday, with another 10 to 15 launches in the pipeline. The chain is named after Tesco founder [...]