Ocado reports sales growth in final quarter December 8, 2016 Ocado has reported growth in sales and order numbers during the 16 weeks to 27 November, with year end sales up 15.1 per cent – but shares in the firm dropped almost four per cent at the market open. The grocery delivery service said group sales were up 14.5 per cent in the fourth quarter, from [...]
Amazon-mageddon: Prices set to rise online due to lack of warehouse space December 7, 2016 Rock-bottom prices for online products may end if the UK doesn't build a shedload more warehouses. The rapid expansion of online retailers is expected to lead to a shortage of warehouse space, which would push up rents, and ultimately the price of goods. Read more: MPs pay surprise visit to Sports Direct's Shirebrook warehouse It is [...]
These are 2016’s top 100 influential leaders in fintech (part 3 of 4) December 7, 2016 City A.M. is publishing Hot Topics' top 100 fintech influential leaders list for 2016, supported by 360Leaders. This is part 3 of 4, in alphabetical order. Part 1 is here. Here is the list's Part 2, and this link contains the final part 4. The most influential fintech leaders in 2016, K to Q Kenneth Lin, CEO [...]
Apple Music’s doubled its subscriber numbers in less than a year December 7, 2016 The number of people subscribing to Apple Music has doubled in just under a year. The tech company now boasts 20m music listeners signed up to its streaming service, according to Apple executive Eddy Cue. That's an additional three million since September when it last shared figures and 10m more than in January. Cue told Billboard magazine [...]
Half of us will buy Christmas dinner at discount supermarkets this year December 7, 2016 Nearly half of us are going to buy our Christmas meal from one of the discount supermarkets this year. Aldi and Lidl have steadily being growing their share of the grocery market as shoppers looking for cheaper and cheaper prices. Read more: Iceland Foods wants "peaceful coexistence" with Iceland (the country) But, the discounters have [...]
GoDaddy has beaten out the competition to buy Host Europe Group for $1.8bn December 6, 2016 Website domain name provider GoDaddy is buying rival Host Europe Group (HEG) for €1.69bn (£1.42bn) including debt. The move is designed to help accelerate GoDaddy’s international expansion and grow its services beyond the initial set-up of websites. Host Europe is currently owned by private-equity firm Cinven, which picked up the business in August 2013, and has a debt [...]
Here’s everything you need to know about Amazon’s new see-it-take-it shop December 6, 2016 David Bowie died, then Brexit, then Trump – now Amazon has launched a shop where you can just take stuff off the shelves and walk off. When will the madness of 2016 end? If it's all getting a bit much, chill out and read our handy guide to the new Amazon Go shop. I've seen the [...]
Cost of the Christmas shop will be lower than it was three years ago December 5, 2016 Despite the worries about rising prices post-Brexit, the family Christmas shop is set to be cheaper this year than it was three years ago. Figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Nielsen showed that shop prices fell 1.7 per cent in November; the same level of deflation reported the month before. Read more: Chilly weather's [...]
Spotify, one of Europe’s top tech startups, could become profitable as early as next year December 1, 2016 Spotify, one of Europe's most valuable tech startups, could start being profitable as early as next year, a board member who was one of the music streaming service's first investors told Reuters. Despite being the global leader of the music streaming industry, Spotify has reported steep losses since its creation in 2008 by Swedish founders Daniel Ek and Martin [...]
Ryanair wants to undercut package holiday market with launch of Ryanair Holidays December 1, 2016 Watch out Thomas Cook? Ryanair has launched a package holiday service, called, you guessed it: "Ryanair Holidays". This forms part of its master plan to become the "Amazon of air travel", according to the company. It is offering its 119m customers flights, accommodation and transfer packages, partnering with Spain-based tour operator Logitravel and accommodation provider World2Meet. [...]