Marks & Spencer AGM: Setback for M&S as clothing sales slide off hanger July 7, 2015 Investors and retail observers allowed themselves a small sigh of relief in April when Marks & Spencer brought 14 consecutive quarters of falling general merchandise sales to a halt. After efforts to improve the quality and style of its clothing and to win back disillusioned customers, it seemed to have broken a spell. [...]
House of Fraser plots first three stores in China April 21, 2015 HOUSE of Fraser is poised to make its first foray into China, the department store chain said yesterday as it posted record full-year underlying sales. The retailer was snapped up last year by Chinese conglomerate Sanpower through its Nanjing Cenbest subsidiary in a £480m deal. The company said that it will open its first three [...]
House of Fraser owner Sanpower eyes takeover of toy shop Hamleys June 15, 2015 The Chinese owner of House of Fraser is rumoured to be planning another buying spree in the UK with the country’s most famous toy shop Hamleys next on its shopping list. Yuan Yafei, the chairman of Nanjing-based conglomerate Sanpower, is understood to be in talks to buy the famous chain from its French owner, [...]
Cambium, Southfields property prices: Leafy London townhouses draw buyers south July 23, 2015 Most new homes are built on derelict sites or demolished office blocks, but Cambium in south west London has stronger roots than that. Named after the fine rings of tissue that form around a tree over time, the scheme is centred around a 200-year-old oak in Southfields that’s believed to have been planted by legendary [...]
Game Digital puts profit warning behind it despite slowdown in console sales August 11, 2015 It has been almost two years since the launch of Sony’s latest console, the PlayStation 4 (PS4) and Microsoft’s Xbox One and after the initial sale frenzy, demand is now cooling, according to Game Digital. The video games retailer said revenues at its hardware division were hit by a near 20 per cent drop in [...]
Pros and cons of selling your house using online-only estate agents – CNBC Comment September 15, 2015 I’ve recently moved home and I don’t need to remind you of how much of an ordeal that can be. The story ends well but not without the usual bouts of anxiety, stress and emotional trauma. In January, I opted to pay a flat fee of around £800 (including tax) for the services of [...]
Former Farm Street dairy in Mayfair is now £25m cash cow May 7, 2015 The boom in house prices over the past few years has been behind the transformation of many of the city’s buildings. Offices, factories and warehouses are being turned into “lateral apartments” or “contemporary family homes” left, right and centre, but it’s not often you come across a luxury mansion in a prime part of London [...]
Focus on Wimbledon property: A game of two halves in SW19 June 25, 2015 The world’s eyes will make their annual pilgrimage to Wimbledon on Monday, where they’ll spend several hours swivelling backwards and forwards watching the greatest tennis tournament on earth. While this leafy corner of south west London is primarily known for racquet sports, the rest of the year it’s one of the fastest-growing local property markets [...]
Ascot racers hunt their gear on eBay (but never on the cheap) June 17, 2015 ROYAL Ascot isn’t cheap. Tickets alone can cost thousands of pounds, and that’s before you’ve bought the hat. That’s why bargain hunters have got clicking on eBay for fascinators, fedoras and Philip Treacy millinery. The global auctioning site has seen shoppers swarming for their fashion essentials. Sales of fascinators and pillbox hats are more than [...]
Optimal climate for success: House of Kaizen’s David Shiell talks Australian luddism and CRO October 11, 2015 Over the last few years, conversion rate optimisation (CRO) has been seen as a silver bullet for a company wanting to leverage existing web traffic and increase revenues, at a relatively low price. CRO is about maximising an audience’s engagement with an advert, but the process itself is exceedingly complex, as David Shiell, chief executive [...]