Black Friday wasn’t quite the sales boost retailers may have expected December 6, 2016 Black Friday wasn't quite the spending boom that retailers were expecting. Figures from KPMG and the British Retail Consortium (BRC) show that like-for-like UK retail sales increased 0.6 per cent in November. Read more: Piccadilly Line delays likely to continue until after Christmas, TfL admits And, although non-food sales increased around 40 per cent on [...]
Sports Direct has had an annus horribilis, raising questions about Mike Ashley’s game plan December 6, 2016 SPORTS Direct has had an annus horribilis, from being slammed by MPs for working conditions in Derbyshire that resemble a Victorian workhouse to a share price plunge of 47 per cent in the year to date. Corporate governance has been an issue. Mike Ashley, a dominant founder and shareholder, is now CEO. The retailer has [...]
Brexit is bringing European “shopcationers” to London to do their holiday shopping December 5, 2016 Spanish and Italian shoppers are set to hit the streets of London in droves this weekend to bag bargains ahead of Christmas. Since the EU referendum, the weak pound has made London a prime destination for "shopcationers", or people travelling from abroad with the intention to shop, new data suggests. Read more: Christmas shopping will be cheaper this year [...]
Experts predict annual record of car sales after fleet demand drives another month of growth December 5, 2016 Britain's businesses fuelled record new car sales for the first 11 months of the year, offsetting another month of falling demand from private car buyers. Sales increased by 2.9 per cent during November compared with 2015 according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). With 184,101 vehicles registered during the month, a total of [...]
Pret-phobia: Londoners are not happy with the lunch options available to them December 5, 2016 Londoners are not happy with their lunch options. According to research from lunch platform MealFix, 40 per cent of us are getting sick of what's being served up on the high street. Having a Pret on every corner is starting to get Londoners down, with a third of us feeling guilty about buying lunch from [...]
Britain is ready to take a bigger slice of the valuable Chinese tourism market December 5, 2016 VisitBritain has teamed up with Hainan Airlines and Alitrip, Alibaba Group's tourism arm, to increase travel from the world's most valuable outbound market. Chinese visitors to the UK stay longer, spend more and travel more widely across Britain than other international visitors, but the group only moved into Britain's top 10 most valuable inbound markets for the first time [...]
Norwegian takes off UK expansion plans with more lost-cost flight options targeted at business travellers December 5, 2016 The pound may still be down, but don't write off travel to the US just yet. Norwegian airline is flying to the rescue to boost budget options. Norwegian, Europe's third largest low-cost airline is creating 55 per cent more budget flights to the US from next summer, from 22 to 34 flights per week. Norwegian offers the UK's cheapest direct [...]
Binned merger deal boosts Burberry’s share price December 5, 2016 Burberry group's share price is up by two per cent this morning after it emerged the company turned down a merger deal with its US rival. The British fashion chain received an approach from Coach, but binned a deal that valued the company at over $20bn, according to the Financial Times. Read more: Burberry profits fall [...]
Fortnum & Mason announces record results with sales and profit up December 5, 2016 Luxury retailer Fortnum & Mason has announced record sales and profit growth of more than 25 per cent for the third year in a row, and revealed that it has increased trading with domestic UK brands over the past 12 months. The iconic British brand reported profits of £6.2m, up 27 per cent compared to [...]
Cost of the Christmas shop will be lower than it was three years ago December 5, 2016 Despite the worries about rising prices post-Brexit, the family Christmas shop is set to be cheaper this year than it was three years ago. Figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Nielsen showed that shop prices fell 1.7 per cent in November; the same level of deflation reported the month before. Read more: Chilly weather's [...]