Facebook, social media and ads – when will marketers abandon the network? February 25, 2019 The Facebook-Google duopoly has a stranglehold over internet advertising. While the search engine dominates the pairing, Mark Zuckerberg’s creation is no slouch – last year, more than a fifth (21.8 per cent) of all US digital ad spending went to the social media network, equivalent to $28.2bn (£21.7bn). But the company is in hot water, [...]
Flexible office rents tumble as London boom fuels more spaces February 24, 2019 Fresh evidence of a boom in the capital’s flexible workspace market has come to light with a report out today that shows a sharp rise in new spaces coming to the market. Growing demand for shorter leases led to more than 150 new flexible office space business centres opening in Central London during 2018, marking [...]
Chickens come home to roost for Mike Coupe as Sainsbury-Asda deal dies February 22, 2019 | City Talk Mike Coupe was a happy chappy back in April. Notably he was caught on camera humming the lyrics to the gold digger's song – 'we're in the money' etc, after announcing a supermarket mega merger like no other. This week however the companies' complete lack of understanding of the Competition and Markets Authority has come [...]
MPs urge government to slap penny tax on new clothes in bid to cut fashion industry waste February 19, 2019 An influential group of MPs has called for a 1p tax on new clothes in a bid to tackle consumer waste within the fashion industry. The penny tax, which would be levied on every new item of clothing sold by Britain’s retailers, has been proposed this morning by the cross-party Environmental Audit Committee to raise [...]
The Pharmacy2U boss on saving the ailing NHS and stockpiling medicine February 18, 2019 The first ever UK chemist opened its doors in 1734, says Mark Livingstone when I meet him for breakfast. But it’s not so much this 285-year history that’s remarkable – it’s the fact that the business of dispensing drugs has barely been disrupted during that time. As the former managing director of Lego says: “When [...]
Amazon scraps plans for second headquarters in New York February 14, 2019 Amazon has abandoned plans to build its second headquarters in New York City, after facing strict opposition from both state and local politicians. The world's third-most valuable company had announced plans to split its second US headquarters, known as HQ2, across New York and Virginia in November last year. The move was expected to create [...]
Turbulence and tailwinds: how savers can seek returns and save the planet February 14, 2019 Isa season is upon us. With just a few weeks left to go before the end of the 2018/19 tax year, canny savers are scrambling to use up their tax-free allowance before the 6 April deadline. The task became more of a challenge this year after the government, in a bid to bolster Britain’s savings culture, [...]
It’s time for brands to let their old products pass away February 11, 2019 Corporate giants in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector have been sitting on their hands for the past decade, waiting for the startup bubble to burst so that they can rule the supermarket shelves once again. They’ve been dozing, and are only now realising that these plucky challengers aren’t going away. The number of brands [...]
Quit nostalgic navel-gazing and get excited for the future February 11, 2019 The thing about the 1970s – if you lived through them – is that they were for the most part dull and dour years, devoid of political and economic energy. And as for the fashion, don’t even go there. Yet there seems to be no shortage of fresh-faced tweets proclaiming those years to be something [...]
Premier League plots streaming service for live football matches February 10, 2019 The Premier League is planning to launch its own streaming service for live football matches in a bid to bypass broadcasters and boost revenues. The Netflix-style streaming service was due to be tested in Singapore, but the Premier League backed out of the project. Instead, the league sold rights to the next three seasons to Singapore [...]