London a £106bn key driver of surging global online sales in wake of pandemic March 10, 2022 London was at the forefront of soaring global online shopping, with record-breaking investment in the capital last year. As the world emerged from the pandemic, retailers took in more than $140bn (£106bn) from web-based sales in 2021 – more than double the previous year. Following numerous lockdowns which led to a spike in virtual shopping, [...]
Exclusive: Top UK, German and Belgian retail bosses planning to launch more embedded finance schemes March 9, 2022 More than 50 per cent of top European business leaders are looking to launch more embedded finance schemes, a survey has revealed. An independent poll of 753 bosses in retail and eCommerce companies spanning the UK, Germany and Belgium, indicated most would back such initiatives – which integrate financial services in non-financial companies. The survey, [...]
Amazon makes major U-turn by shutting all book stores and physical shops in UK March 6, 2022 E-commerce giant Amazon has said it is planning to shut all of its book stores as well as its other brick-and-mortar shops and pop-up stores in the UK and US. The shock announcement to close down all 68 book stores, as well as shops that offer toys and home goods in Britain and the US, [...]
Saturday sitdown: Whistle king Simon Topman on surviving two world wars and a global pandemic February 19, 2022 With businesses around the world managing the Covid pandemic and each facing their own set of challenges, City A.M. caught up with Simon Topman, managing director of 150-year-old ACME Whistles, to blow the whistle on how this pandemic has differed from two world wars and other global disasters. Since inventing and making the first ever [...]
Hormone-treated beef from Canada to flood UK food chain under CPTPP deal, British farmers warn February 14, 2022 Canada is pushing for hormone-treated beef to be made available across the UK once Britain joins the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). According to the National Farmers Union, the deal would “severely undermine British farmers” and lower the quality of meet sold across the UK. CPTPP – a trade deal among a [...]
Four day working week reaches UK hospitality as iconic Landmark London hotel puts chefs on more pay for less time January 22, 2022 The Landmark London hotel has become the first major hospitality company in the UK to embrace the four day working week trend, telling City A.M. that its chefs will shave off one day a week from February without losing any of their pay. In fact, the five star Grand Dame hotel said its chefs will [...]
Aldi had its best Christmas ever as sales go through the roof January 10, 2022 Aldi has hailed its “best ever” Christmas sales as trading rebounded in December. The discount supermarket chain revealed that sales increased by 0.4 per cent against the same month last year, when sales across grocery stores had been buoyed by lockdown measures across hospitality firms. Aldi claimed figures from research firm Kantar show it was [...]
Retailers fighting for every inch of warehouse space as e-commerce boom rapidly increases storage shortage January 10, 2022 A surge in demand for logistics sites in 2021 is increasingly leading to a shortage of warehouse space, according to new data. Experts at real estate advisory firm Colliers said the take-up for large industrial distribution warehouses increased to record annual levels. Around 50.7 million sq ft of large distribution warehouses were snapped up in [...]
Retail investors flock to sustainability firms January 10, 2022 Retail investors have flocked to ‘cleantech’ and sustainability firms as they look to capitalise on a wave of new entrants to the sector.
Annual spending on ethical products soars past £100bn for first time December 31, 2021 British shoppers spent more than £100bn on ethical products and investments last year, as the twin crises of the pandemic and climate change prompted significant lifestyle changes. Plant-based food, and products, and secondhand clothes, furniture and even cars saw demand surge in the last year with ethical spending rising to £122bn in 2020 – up [...]