Carlyle invests $250m in third-party reseller Pharmapacks November 12, 2020 Private equity giant Carlyle has invested $250m in US e-commerce firm Pharmapacks, one of Amazon’s largest third-party resellers. Launched initially as a pharmacy shop in 2010, Pharmapacks has grown into an online retailer focused on health, personal care and beauty products. The investment, which values Pharmapacks at approximately $1.1bn, came from Carlyle Partners VII, a [...]
First digital-only Black Friday set for bumper year as Covid-19 moves shoppers online November 27, 2020 England’s first ever digital-only Black Friday will not deter customers, with figures suggesting sales could be as much as 43 per cent higher than in 2019, with customers now familiar with the convenience of shopping online thanks to coronavirus. Figures from IMRG, the UK’s industry association for online retail, found this year’s Black Friday sales [...]
Lidl bomb: Three injured in explosion at supermarket’s headquarters February 17, 2021 Three people have been airlifted to hospital after a letter bomb exploded at Lidl’s headquarters in Germany. A further 100 employees were evacuated from the building in the German city of Heilbronn after the package blew up at 3pm, according to local media. A bomb squad has been deployed to the supermarket’s HQ and police [...]
Consumers expect free delivery amid online shopping boom October 6, 2020 Consumers expect free delivery when buying items online, new research has shown, amid a surge in internet shopping due to the coronavirus pandemic. A survey of 2,000 UK adults found that delivery services have risen up shoppers’ agenda since the outbreak of the pandemic, with Amazon Prime the standard to which other retailers are held. [...]
Dowden defends Channel 4 privatisation push as ‘needed’ to fend off streaming giants September 15, 2021 UK culture secretary Oliver Dowden has restated his view that changing Channel 4’s ownership is the best path for the channel, in the latest sign that the government intends to push forward with plans to privatise the state-owned broadcaster. Speaking publicly for the first time since the government launched a consultation on the future of [...]
Nadine Dorries plays hard ball tactics with the big freeze of the BBC licence January 18, 2022 When Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries tweeted over the weekend that the next announcement about the BBC licence fee would be the last, social media erupted and a ticking time bomb was set off.
Morrisons offers lockdown entrepreneurs chance to sell products in stores May 13, 2021 Morrisons has launched a scheme to offer UK entrepreneurs the chance to sell their products in store and online as more consumers look to support small and local businesses. A record number of new businesses were set up last year – rising 13.25 per cent to 772,002 – as budding entrepreneurs used lockdown to focus [...]
Back to basics: Why Tesla is not like Google and Apple, and it will never be November 5, 2021 Tesla’s market value broke the $1tn mark on 25th October, turning the car-maker into the sixth company to join that exclusive club together with Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and briefly Facebook. But it is so easy to get caught up in the hype that we sometimes forget basic economics. Many commentaries have been outlining “Tesla’s [...]
FTSE 100 rebounds as easyJet nosedives September 13, 2021 London’s FTSE 100 index has climbed by 0.64 per cent today, up 45 points higher than the previous close at 7,074.07, after being boosted by financial stocks. Banking giants saw strong gains today with Lloyd’s Group up 2.6 per cent, Standard Chartered Bank lifted by 2.4 per cent and Barclays PLC climbing 2.2 per cent. Meanwhile, investment [...]
AI is growing: How do we create fair technology we can trust in, and minimise the risks of gender bias? May 7, 2021 This year marks 20 years since Spielberg’s sci-fi / drama movie came to our screens: A.I. Artificial Intelligence – and in 2021, AI is no longer the work of science fiction. In the last 20 years, AI uses have been explored for human benefits in numerous industries. AI has played a key role in developing vaccines against [...]