How the high street’s keeping the edge over online retailers May 12, 2014 Edison Investment Research is far from convinced the internet premium seen in retail is a) the thing changing the UK high street or b) something that’ll stick around. In a research note published today, the investment specialist challenges how justifiable the current e-tail premium is, saying the future of retail is very much multi-channel. For [...]
Bottom Line: Chinese ambition trumps a market return March 31, 2014 ALMOST 25 years ago, a Hong Kong retail tycoon called Dickson Poon stunned London by taking a chance on Harvey Nichols – a fading department store in dire need of a makeover. Poon was one of the first to spot a trend that now seems obvious; the Asian shopper’s thirst for designer labels that has [...]
Kate Bostock to quit Asos after seven months July 16, 2013 KATE Bostock, the former head of clothing at Marks and Spencer, has quit her new employer Asos after just seven months at the online retailer. In a surprise statement yesterday, Bostock, who was executive director for product and trading, said she had concluded that “Asos isn’t the right place for me”. Nick Robertson, the founder [...]
What you need to know before the open March 18, 2014 Markets remained resilient yesterday, in the face of sanctions being meted out by the EU on Russian and Ukrainian individuals. Today, expectations are that they’ll hold their nerve again, opening slightly higher, ahead of President Putin’s decision to the Russian parliament on whether to annex Crimea to Russia. Asian markets rallied in Tuesday trading – [...]
Another senior level departure at online fashion retailer Asos July 21, 2013 ASOS’s human resources director Michelle Emmerson has stepped down, in the latest high profile departure at the online fashion giant. Her departure comes less than a week after Kate Bostock, the former head of clothing at Marks & Spencer, announced that she was to leave the company just seven months into the job. Asos has [...]
Britain is world’s leading online retail exporter January 20, 2014 BRITAIN’S online retail industry generated a bigger trade surplus than any other country last year thanks to thriving overseas demand for UK fashion brands and websites such as Burberry and Asos. A study out today from OC&C Strategy Consultants and Google reveals that UK online retailers exported a net £720m more goods than were imported [...]
Resource Guru raises £530,000 January 19, 2014 Resource Guru, the London-based online team scheduling service with clients including ASOS and Vodafone, has raised $870,000 (£530,000) from Index Ventures in order to accelerate hiring and fund product development and customer acquisition. “We’ve been impressed how Resource Guru tackled this problem with its simple to use online tool that leads to huge time savings [...]
Tech rout slams UK online giants April 8, 2014 BRITISH technology shares were pummeled for a second day yesterday as waves of uncertainty surrounding the sector continued, despite a recovery across similar stocks in the US. The FTSE 100 dropped for the second day in a row, falling over 32 points to 6,590.69, hampered by the poor performance of tech stocks. The top tech [...]
The Power of Three: How big business could join government to support small companies March 10, 2014 IF I received a pound for every time a chief executive of a large firm said to me “we’d like to be the champions of small business”, I’d be comfortably off. However, over the past year, I’ve seen an increasing number of businesses not only voicing this statement, but acting on it. This is a [...]
Here’s why one analyst is getting excited about M&S February 19, 2014 Marks & Spencer shares have jumped this morning after investment bank Jefferies upgraded the stock to reflect the retailer’s new online street cred. M&S, which has been battling to turn around its clothing business in the face of massive competition on the high street and online, has seriously impressed Jefferies with its new “industry-leading” [...]