Christmas 2014: Amazon delivering until December 24, while Marks & Spencer, House of Fraser and Asos face capacity problems December 16, 2014 Worried you've left it too late to order Christmas presents online? You need to get your skates on if you want to avoid paying for special delivery, but some retailers are offering premium services up to the last minute. A new survey of retailers has found a number of businesses that promise to deliver [...]
Christmas came too late to help Debenhams January 13, 2015 DEBENHAMS posted an unexpected fall in first-quarter sales yesterday as a strong Christmas failed to undo the damage of mild autumn weather. Britain’s number two department store chain said that UK like-for-like sales for the 19 weeks to 10 January fell 0.8 per cent, below analyst expectations for a one per cent rise, as demand [...]
Jaeger latest upmarket retailer to stride ahead of high street January 9, 2015 Fashion retailer Jaeger strode ahead of its high street competitors, reporting stellar sales during the Christmas period. The upmarket brand said like-for-like sales jumped eight per cent in the 13 weeks to January. They were lifted by US-style discount days Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Total sales grew 8.3 per cent, with menswear posting impressive [...]
Ma Filleule can silence big guns up at Aintree April 8, 2015 BILL ESDAILE PREVIEWS THE OPENING DAY OF THE CRABBIE’S GRAND NATIONAL MEETING AT AINTREE ANYONE who witnessed Holywell’s demolition of the Mildmay Novices’ Chase field at this meeting 12 months ago will find it pretty hard to oppose the AP McCoy-ridden eight-year-old in the Betfred Bowl (2.50pm) at Aintree this afternoon. He jumped and galloped [...]
Why New Year needs a rebrand January 9, 2015 As the headache from the night before started to kick in, I had the opportunity to reflect on what a New Year really meant (as opposed to just felt like). I’m sure countless books have been written on the existential significance of turning a new page, yet I couldn’t help but wonder, from a [...]
Christmas sales flop for UK’s supermarkets January 5, 2015 SUPERMARKETS’ sales were flat on the year over the Christmas period, as the retail giants received little benefit from the economic recovery, industry data showed yesterday. By contrast, consumers were happy to shop elsewhere over the festive season – Black Friday was the biggest shopping day ever, according to numbers from Barclaycard. Supermarket grocery sales [...]
January is the worst month of the year for your marriage January 6, 2015 While you're considering whether to take that smoothie machine back to the shop, your other half may well be mulling a different sort of swap. We all know January is pretty bleak but it turns out it is also the worst month for your marriage – one in which most British couples either start [...]
Leagues hit back as winter in Qatar moves closer February 24, 2015 LEADING European clubs have united in condemnation after governing body Fifa moved a step closer to moving the Qatar 2022 World Cup from its traditional summer slot to winter. A Fifa task-force set up to examine the contentious issue yesterday recommended the tournament be held from late November to late December. It could mean a [...]
National Sickie Day: Colleagues thin on the ground? Perhaps they’re at a job interview February 2, 2015 Is your office looking a little quiet? Colleagues thin on the ground? It could be because today is National Sickie Day, the day recruiters and employment experts say has the highest absenteeism of the whole year. In total around 350,000 people are expected to call in sick today. Often it's because people are [...]
Jeremy Clarkson fracas: One chart showing the decline of Top Gear’s UK television audience in the last five years March 11, 2015 To his fans, he's a hero; to his detractors, he's everything wrong with television today. But fracas or no fracas, suspending Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson can't have been an easy choice for the BBC. He does, after all, preside over the world's most-watched factual TV programme, according to the Guinness Book of Records. More than [...]