Going it alone: Tech giants to be hit by UK digital services tax October 29, 2018 Technology giants operating in the UK will be served with a narrowly-targeted digital services tax, chancellor Philip Hammond announced today. With consultations to occur before the tax goes live in April 2020, the chancellor said the move is to ensure "the UK continues to be the best place in the world to start and scale [...]
Amazon breaks past $100m in charitable donations from sales October 29, 2018 Amazon's charitable donation programme, Amazonsmile, this month surpassed a milestone of $100m (£78m) in donations since it began in 2013. Shoppers can opt in to Amazonsmile for free when using Amazon in the UK, US and Germany, whereby the tech giant adds to their purchase with a 0.5 per cent donation to a charity of [...]
The ASA watchdog is regulating the Wild West of online marketing and advertising October 29, 2018 It goes without saying that the web has revolutionised the global economy. As a source of knowledge and information, as well as a marketplace for trade, it has created jobs, fuelled innovation, and accelerated productivity (well, it has when we’re not browsing Twitter or watching Netflix). The internet has also changed advertising. The digitisation of [...]
Killing Eve: A cautionary tale on privacy October 29, 2018 Villanelle: “What’s your pin?” Eve Polastri: “1…2…3…4” How many of us could relate to this scene in the popular BBC series Killing Eve? Whether it’s 1,2,3,4, a date of birth, or an easily guessable passphrase – our cavalier attitude to passwords is well-documented. The fact that an MI6 officer (albeit a fictitious one) had such [...]
The comeback kid: HMV tops Amazon in UK physical sales October 29, 2018 British entertainment retailer HMV has staged a comeback in the face of Amazon’s increased dominance to become the largest physical music retailer in the UK. In the 12 weeks to 23 September, HMV experienced market share growth for the second consecutive quarter to a total of 28 per cent, according to data published today by [...]
Stock market slide continues after Amazon fails to deliver the goods October 26, 2018 The UK stock market slide has continued this morning after disappointing overnight results from US tech giants Google and Amazon. Joshua Mahony, market analyst at IG, said: “European markets are in decline yet again, with the stock market rout that has dominated throughout the month of October showing little signs of letting up.” The FTSE [...]
Amazon misses sales estimates despite skyrocketing profits October 25, 2018 E-commerce giant Amazon missed consensus sales estimates as it reported its third quarterly earnings tonight, taking its share price down more than six per cent in after-hours trading. Net sales for the quarter rose 29 per cent year-on-year from $43.7bn to $56.6bn (£49.8bn), narrowly missing estimates of $57bn as collated by S&P Global Market Intelligence [...]
Ranked: Sports Direct tops poll of UK’s most loathed brands October 23, 2018 House of Fraser owner Sports Direct is the UK’s most loathed brand, according to consumer finance website Money Saving Expert. However, billionaire Mike Ashley's bottom-placed retail giant may have been hurt by a social media campaign against the company, admitted the website, which asked 7,600 readers to rank 52 household name brands. Read more: Mike [...]
A luddite levy on online shopping won’t help the high street October 23, 2018 Time and time again over the past few months, we’ve heard prominent figures in the retail world call for a special sales tax on online companies to help prop up their struggling sector, from the Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis, to the New West End Company that represents Selfridges and Marks & Spencer. Chancellor Philip [...]
Tech giant Alibaba opens two cloud data centres in the UK October 22, 2018 E-commerce giant Alibaba's cloud arm has opened two data centres in London, signalling the firm's first official expansion to British shores. The centres will power Alibaba's cloud services in the UK, allowing it to effectively disseminate its services to British businesses as it seeks to compete with rivals Amazon Web Services, Google and Microsoft. The [...]