Arsenal’s Premier League title bid may be stuttering but it’s not extinct, says Wenger March 7, 2016 Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger remains adamant that his side’s chances of being crowned Premier League champions are very much alive despite a stuttering run of form which has given rise to oft-asked questions about their staying power. The Gunners having accumulated just one point from the last nine on offer, while the north London [...]
Black Friday 2015 UK: Customer returns will cost retailers as much as £180m November 23, 2015 The cost to retailers of returned goods bought on Black Friday will come with a price tag of up to £180m and create an "out of stock" Saturday which could leave shoppers empty handed at the tills during the crucial Christmas shopping period. As much as 50 per cent of promotional purchases will be returned and 12 December is predicted to [...]
With Argos and John Lewis both releasing their Christmas TV adverts today, will tugging at the heart strings still pull customers back? November 6, 2015 Today marks the official start of Christmas as John Lewis releases its hotly anticipated advert. It’s become a modern tradition, up there now with carols and mince pies. This year’s campaign follows the well-trodden path of pulling at your heart strings in the hope of loosening your purse strings. But has John Lewis gone a [...]
Black Friday 2015 UK: After Asda pulled out of the big deals day, will it fade to grey? November 11, 2015 Asda’s decision to opt-out of the US-imported shopping holiday begs one question: Could this be Britain’s last Black Friday? With high-street retailers like Primark and Oasis also deciding to pull out of the Black Friday race, this is a huge sign that perhaps this one-day shopping bonanza could be abandoned by the majority of the [...]
Countdown to Christmas, Syria vote and Star Wars economics: Here’s what got us talking this week December 4, 2015 A ray of sunshine after the gloomiest November in 86 years: this was the week in which the Bank of England declared the end of the financial crisis. Even banks aren’t stressed any more… What got us talking this week 1. Festive fun Only 20 more sleeps until the big day, and don’t we know [...]
Government unveils more funding for businesses hit by Storm Eva and Storm Desmond January 1, 2016 The government today made more funding available for businesses hurt by storms which wrought havoc in parts of the UK over the festive period. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) announced a £6m package to help he estimated 2,500 firms on either side of the Pennines left flooded by the Boxing Day deluge in the wake [...]
Christmas adverts 2015: John Lewis, Burberry, Duracell, Sky Movies and Asda are the most popular festive ads so far this year November 9, 2015 It's been just four days since John Lewis unveiled its festive advert for Christmas 2015 – but the department store chain is already head and shoulders in front of the competition when it comes to online impact. Tear-jerker quite possibly, but John Lewis' Man on the Moon advert has already been shared nearly 478,000 times [...]
Halfords’ share price jumps as company cuts costs to keep profit on track January 21, 2016 Halfords's share price jumped this morning after the group cut back expected costs in its retail arm, enabling it to keep its profit guidance unchanged following muted third quarter sales. The figures Total revenues for the 15 weeks to 15 January were up 0.4 per cent across the group, but for its retail division sales actually fell 0.3 per [...]
Christmas adverts 2015: John Lewis, M&S, Curry’s PC World, Asda or Argos – which retailer gets the gold star for best ad? November 6, 2015 The retailer race to be top of the tree this Christmas is on. Retailers including John Lewis, Marks & Spencer and Iceland have been teasing their Christmas advertising for weeks, but now the majority of the campaigns are officially launched, who will be sitting pretty at the top of the Christmas list? This year it’s clear than [...]
Christmas adverts 2015: Sainsbury’s Mog the Cat has already beaten John Lewis’ Man on the Moon as most shared November 13, 2015 The Sainsbury's Christmas 2015 advert starring Mog the Cat might have been 18 months in the making, but the supermarket is already reaping the rewards. Because in just over 12 hours since it was launched (the specific time of 7:10pm last night) Mog's Christmas Calamity has already been shared more times than John Lewis' Man on [...]