In the last days of Christmas, Asda gave to me: £4m investment into customer service December 17, 2015 Getting stressed about Christmas shopping? Asda thinks it might have the solution. The Walmart-owned supermarket has just ploughed a further £4m into its customer service department for the last two weeks ahead of the big day, hoping to take the fuss out of the festive season. The company has deployed 8,000 staff as "Go-Getters for Forgetters", [...]
Will it ever end? Southern rail services are axed for the third day this week as commuters vent fury at government December 16, 2016 All Southern rail services have been cancelled for the third day this week, after protests were held last night by fed-up commuters over the crisis. Members of the Aslef train drivers' union had met with the train company yesterday for a second day of talks at conciliation service Acas, but they ended without resolution. So today's [...]
Failure to take off: Delta Air Lines ditches order for 18 Boeing Dreamliner 787s worth around $4bn December 28, 2016 US airline Delta has agreed to cancel an order for 18 Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, which is valued at more than $4bn (£3.2bn) at current list prices. Delta assumed the deal as part of its merger with Northwest Airlines in 2008 (which set it back $2.6bn in shares), though in 2010 it deferred the order [...]
Consumer spending growth was at its second highest since 2011 last month December 6, 2016 Consumer spending received its second highest boost since 2011 last month, even though consumer confidence was flat. Spending growth was 5.1 per cent year-on-year, according to data from Barclaycard. The highest consumer spending growth that Barclaycard recorded (5.5 per cent) was in October. Read more: Black Friday: Customers of this lender are spending £32,000 a [...]
Less than sparkling: Sales dip at Anglo American’s diamond unit De Beers November 15, 2016 Anglo American's diamond unit, De Beers, shone a little less bright this autumn as sales of its rough cut gems dipped ahead of the key Christmas holiday season. Sales reached $470m (£375m) in the ninth "sales cycle" of the year at the predominantly Africa-focused gem group. This was down from $494m in the eighth cycle. De Beers [...]
Jet2 launches New York trips from Birmingham and Belfast among its winter schedule January 24, 2017 Jet2 is taking another bite of the Big Apple, after it announced plans to launch New York flights from Birmingham and Belfast International. The low-cost airline will now offer 30 direct trips to New York, up from 24, from seven airports. It is lining the trips up to coincide with Black Friday, the sales bonanza day, as [...]
Apparently the majority of UK workers are on the hunt for a new job right now January 16, 2017 In timely news for Blue Monday (apparently the most depressing day of the year), most of Britain's workers are looking to ditch their current role. That's according to job site CV-Library anyway, which says 84.4 per cent of UK workers are on the hunt for a new job and more than a third (35.8 per cent) [...]
John Lewis just had the biggest week in its trading history with nearly £200m in sales thanks to Black Friday November 29, 2016 The jury may be out on the winner of the Christmas ad battle, but John Lewis has other reasons for festive cheer. The retailer has just revealed sales of £199.8m, up 6.5 per cent year-on-year, for the week up to 26 November. Spurred on by Black Friday and its price matching efforts on the "Never [...]
In the doghouse? Pets at Home shares fall on softer merchandise sales January 19, 2017 Pets at Home's latest update announced "softer than anticipated" merchandise sales – knocking its share price down more than nine per cent, at the time of writing, to 216.40p. The figures Group revenue rose 4.4 per cent to £203.7m, though merchandise revenues were flat at £177.4m. The growth was propelled by its services business (including veterinary practices [...]
How well do you know your audience? Not as well as Spredfast’s Leo Ryan January 23, 2017 In the 1970s German philosopher Jurgen Habermas concocted the notion of Offentlichkeit – better known as the public sphere, or “an area in social life where individuals can come together to freely discuss and identify societal problems”. Some 40 years on, the advent of social media has realised his ideal tenfold, and the mass sharing [...]