Sports Direct sells Dunlop brand to Japanese buyer for £112m as it refocuses on becoming “Selfridges of sports” December 27, 2016 Sports Direct is selling the Dunlop brand for $137.5m (£112.3m) to Japan's Sumitomo Rubber Industries (SRI) as part of its bid to become "the Selfridges of sports retail". The high street chain is re-focusing on developing its relationship with third party brands and its core UK business and has agreed to sell Dunlop's sporting goods and licensing businesses [...]
Philip Green says BHS successor Dominic Chappell must pay part of pension fund black hole December 26, 2016 Sir Philip Green, the former owner of BHS, wants regulators to force his successor to contribute towards plugging the black hole in the collapsed company’s pension fund, according to reports. A payment by Dominic Chappell, who infamously bought the retailer from Green for £1, is one of the conditions of the billionaire Green making his [...]
Boxing Day footfall slump points to domination of the online retailers December 26, 2016 Boxing Day high street retail sales have fallen sharply year on year as UK shoppers stay at home and push online sales to record heights, according to early data. Half day footfall fell by six per cent compared to Boxing Day last year, according to data from retail monitors Springboard. A decline of 16.6 per [...]
Christmas Day online shopping will peak at this surprisingly late time for the post-millennial “Generation Z” December 25, 2016 Most people will be aiming to put their feet up after Christmas lunch today and zone out in front of the TV – but there's one group of people who will be driving a late-night shopping boom this evening. Not content with their new stash of presents, "Generation Z", the post-millennial cohort who were born in [...]
Last minute shopping on Christmas Eve? You’re one of 5m people attacking the aisles December 24, 2016 Making a last-gasp dash to the shops this Christmas Eve? Still panicked you haven't got the presents your family wanted? Don't beat yourself up, but do expect a bit of a squeeze in the shops, as there's nearly 5m others doing exactly the same, according to new research from TSX-listed loyalty marketing analytics company Aimia. They found [...]
Restaurants stand to gain £70m as more Brits than ever ditch Christmas turkey December 24, 2016 More Brits will ditch the kitchen and eat out this Christmas than ever before, new research suggests. Pubs, restaurants and bars across the country are set to gain upwards of £70m on Christmas day spending, research from Worldpay found. Pubs, which alone stand to make £7m on the 25th, will be 30 per cent busier than average across [...]
These are the four commodities that will go up in price in 2017 December 22, 2016 Since the pound plummeted after the Brexit vote, consumers have been faced with warnings of coming food price hikes – most notably Unilever's Marmite, Birds Eye and PepsiCo. “There’s absolutely no chance prices will stay the same. They’ll go up for sure, it’s just a question of how much," a food supplier told research firm Nielsen. New [...]
Brits are set to spend £3.85bn on Boxing Day sales this year, 96 per cent more than on Black Friday December 22, 2016 Boxing Day sales are expected to blow Black Friday spending out of the water as Brits prepare to splash out 96 per cent more on the day after Christmas. Nineteen million consumers will spend £3.85bn on Boxing Day sales this year, three per cent more than in 2015, a study by the Centre for Retail Research (CRR) found. [...]
British-made craft gin and English sparkling wine are now top sellers in M&S December 22, 2016 British-made craft spirits and wine are finally having their moment this year. Marks & Spencer declared British gin the spirit of Christmas 2016 after reporting more than a quarter of a million bottles of its eight new gins made in the UK have been sold following their release this autumn. Gin sales increased 150 per cent [...]
A UK research centre disproved the US Surgeon General’s claim of a link between the popularity of e-cigarettes and a desire to smoke among young people December 21, 2016 Electronic cigarettes were the 10th fastest growing product of 2016, growing almost £30m in sales, an increase of 20 per cent to £174.6m, a new study by Nielsen found. As the product's popularity surged, US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy released his first government review earlier this month. Murthy cautioned against the use e-cigarettes, saying they posed a public health concern for [...]