Shop prices fall as retailers woo shoppers with summer offers July 7, 2015 Shop prices fell in June for the 26th consecutive month albeit at a slower rate, as retailers continue to battle to win over shoppers. Prices fell by 1.3 per cent on the year, so said the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Nielsen, from the 1.9 per cent drop for May. Food prices fell by 0.4 [...]
Retail sales and jobs data expected to prove positive – The week ahead July 12, 2015 RETAIL sales data and employment figures due out this week are expected to show improvement, while some of the UK’s biggest brands will update the market over the next five days. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) retail sales monitor for June, out tomorrow, is expected to show healthy year-on-year retail sales growth in June. Data [...]
Ikea promises to adopt the living wage for its 9,000 UK employees July 19, 2015 Home furnishing giant Ikea yesterday pledged to adopt the living wage from 1 April next year – a move that will affect more than half its 9,000 UK staff. Describing the pay increase as “part of a holistic transformation of basic co-worker conditions”, Ikea said UK employees will receive a minimum of £7.85 per hour [...]
Grocers’ price wars weigh on July retail sales August 11, 2015 RETAIL sales slowed in July from the previous month’s two-year high as the fierce supermarket price wars continued to weigh on the sector. Figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG this morning show that like-for-like UK retail sales were up 1.2 per cent in July compared with the same month last year, when [...]
Britain spending its way to faster growth in 2015 July 13, 2015 SALES on the high street enjoyed their highest rise in 18 months in June, as rising consumer confidence and improving disposable incomes encouraged shoppers to splash out on clothes and big ticket items. The data, published this morning by the British Retail Consortium (BRC), is the latest evidence of booming consumer spending in the UK. [...]
These 13 property developers will help TfL build its property empire – including British Land, Balfour Beatty, Land Securites, Berkeley, Redrow and Canary Wharf Group February 3, 2016 Transport for London has chosen 13 companies to help it build thousands of new homes on its unused land and generate billions of pounds of new revenue. Canary Wharf Group, Land Securities, Balfour Beatty, Barrat Homes and Berkeley Group are among those chosen to develop 50 sites in to homes, offices and retail outlets across London. [...]
Shoppers abandon trips to the high street at faster pace in May June 14, 2015 UK high streets and shopping centres faced mounting pressure in May as shoppers made fewer visits to their stores. Footfall dropped by one per cent in May compared with the same time last year, according to new figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Springboard. This was greater than the 0.8 per cent fall [...]
Joy for shoppers as prices drop for the 25th consecutive month June 2, 2015 UK shop prices dropped by 1.9 per cent in May compared with the same month last year, according to figures released today by the British Retail Consortium. This is the same rate of decline seen in April and marks over two years of shop price deflation. The overall figure was helped by food prices, which fell [...]
Lies, damned lies, and statistics: ONS’ retail sales are, at best, a partial truth and, at worst, misleading July 23, 2015 There are lies, damned lies, and statistics. Nowhere is this truer than in the retail sales numbers reported each month by the ONS. The official statistics body for the UK is nothing if not thorough. Each month it presents more than 300 variants of the numbers, each using a different measure or examining a particular [...]
Retailers send George Osborne their budget wish list June 21, 2015 British retailers are calling on the chancellor to eschew the living wage and introduce new measures to boost productivity in next month’s emergency budget. In a new submission to chancellor George Osborne, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said that it wants the government to “work with the retail industry to ensure that employees are [...]