Super Thursday: Embattled retailers could learn from the Tesco turnaround plan January 10, 2019 It wasn’t only children who traditionally looked forward to Christmas: time was when Yuletide sales could be guaranteed to give a substantial boost to Britain’s retailers. No longer. A slew of dismal results published today showed Christmas figures sharply down for a number of household names including M&S and Debenhams, in what the British Retail [...]
Retail sector suffers worst Christmas in a decade as sales stagnate January 10, 2019 The UK retail sector has suffered its worst Christmas in a decade as sales stagnated during the crucial festive period, despite a string of positive updates offering a glimmer of hope. Overall retail sales were flat in December, the lowest level of growth since April and the worst festive performance since 2008, according to figures [...]
Christmas shoppers shunned the high street, but attacking Amazon won’t help January 11, 2019 Between the fierce renewal of the Brexit saga, parliamentary shenanigans, and a particularly chilling cold front (interpret that literally or metaphorically, as you will), the merriness of Christmas feels like a thing of the past. But for the high street, it feels like Christmas never came at all. Reports of retail sales, released yesterday by [...]
Retail footfall figures dropped in August due to heatwave and inflation September 10, 2018 The summer heatwave and food price inflation halted three months of retail footfall growth on the high street in August. Overall retail footfall dropped by 1.6 per cent on the previous year, with the sharper decline due to rising food inflation, which left shoppers with less money for non-essential items, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) revealed [...]
Local councils to bid for share of £675m funding boost to Britain’s high streets December 26, 2018 Local councils are being urged to bid for a share of a £675m fund in a bid to give Britain’s hard-pressed high streets a shot in the arm. The so-called Future High Streets fund, announced in Philip Hammond’s October budget, opened on Boxing Day, and is aimed at helping councils improve transport and access to [...]
Footfall takes a tumble as online retailers snap up Black Friday business December 10, 2018 Footfall slumped for the twelfth consecutive month in November as brick and mortar stores saw their Black Friday business snapped up by online competitors. Footfall in the UK fell by 3.2 per cent last month, a significant decline from the 0.2 per cent growth seen in the same period last year, according to retail data [...]
‘A farce!’ Tories react to Theresa May’s plan to back a change to her Brexit plan January 28, 2019 Theresa May is set for a showdown with the hard Brexit wing of her party on Tuesday as the war over her withdrawal plan intensifies. The Prime Minister will order her MPs to support a plan calling for the unpopular Irish backstop to be replaced with “alternative arrangements” to avoid a hard border on the island. [...]
Marks & Spencer blames weak consumer confidence for drop in Christmas sales January 10, 2019 Sales slumped at Marks & Spencer over the key Christmas shopping period, the retailer said today, as analysts criticised its "outdated" business model for an over-reliance on high street shoppers. The figures Like-for-like UK sales fell by 2.2 per cent year on year in the three months to the end of December to hit £2.78bn. [...]
German budget supermarket chain Lidl boosts wages for UK employees November 6, 2018 German budget supermarket Lidl will boost wages for thousands of its workers in the UK, it said yesterday. Lidl said entry-level wages will increase from £8.75 an hour to £9 an hour outside of London and from £10.20 to £10.55 an hour within the capital. The increase will come into effect from 1 March next year, [...]
Retailers, don’t blame poor sales on the weatherman October 29, 2018 In the longstanding narrative of the “death of the high street”, analysts point in all directions to identify the causes of changes in customer spend in any given period. And, in true British fashion, one problem that is given a lot of attention is the weather. The weather is somehow both the cause and the [...]