Christmas adverts 2015: What retailers must do to rival John Lewis when it comes to winning consumers’ hearts and minds November 3, 2015 People around the country celebrate (or lament) the fact that Christmas seems to be starting earlier with each passing year. Fairylights adorn high streets, the newest children’s toys fill up shop windows and festive sandwich flavours pop up in supermarkets, often before the Halloween decorations have even come down. Love it or hate it, there’s [...]
Amazon and Argos deals are winning UK Black Friday 2015 and Christmas online shopping race November 3, 2015 It looks like Father Christmas is planning to do most of his shopping at Amazon and Argos this year after an analysis of Google’s most popular Christmas search terms showed that the two retail giants have taken the greatest share of visits over the last three months. Linkdex has crunched data on 7,000 Christmas-related keyword [...]
UK defined benefit pension scheme deficit worse than a year ago, finds JLT Employee Benefits November 2, 2015 The deficit for all private sector defined benefit pension schemes in the UK was an estimated £228bn at the end of October, according to figures from JLT Employee Benefits released today. By comparison, the deficit at the end of October 2014 was £208bn. JLT Employee Benefits estimates that total defined benefit pension liabilities for the [...]
HMV and Game steal entertainment market share from Amazon in run-up to Black Friday 2015 UK sales November 2, 2015 HMV, Game Digital and Argos staged a comeback in the last three months after growing sales of video games, CDs and DVDs at the expense of their online rival Amazon. Figures released this morning by Kantar Worldpanel show that Amazon’s share of the physical entertainment market shrank by 1.2 percentage points (pp) in the 12 [...]
Halloween costume ideas UK 2015: Walking Dead inspires zombie (costume) invasion as 84 fancy dress outfits bought every hour in run up to 31 October October 29, 2015 Everyone's favourite zombie television show the Walking Dead is apparently the inspiration for Halloween this year. The zombie costume has invaded, selling at a rate of 2,000 a day, or 84 each and every hour, in the run up to Saturday's celebrations. Outfits for prom queen zombies, sailor zombies and nurse zombies are popular choices according to eBay, which [...]
Halloween 2015 could be worth as much as £400m to retailers October 29, 2015 We're used to grinches complaining Halloween is an American import they wish would go away, but it looks like Halloween in all its (fake)blood-soaked sugary glory is here to stay, bringing a welcome boost to retailers. Sainsbury's says Halloween is now the third biggest retail event of the year, after Christmas and Easter. Last year Planet [...]
Tesco shares and bonds snapped up by chairman John Allan October 27, 2015 Tesco chairman John Allan has snapped up more shares in the supermarket less than a month after he and four other board members, including chief executive Dave Lewis, purchased nearly half a million pounds worth collectively. Allan forked out another £100,000 in total, picking up 51,978 shares at 192.39 pence per share, the company said in a regulatory update, [...]
Black Friday 2015 UK: Last year’s chaos at Tesco, Asda, John Lewis, Currys and Argos has put bargain hunters off October 27, 2015 Is last year’s mayhem putting a dampener on Black Friday this year? New figures would suggest yes. Black Friday sales drew shoppers in their millions last year as the American shopping extravaganza came to the UK. But the unprecedented throngs left many with a bad taste in their mouth – and this could be a [...]
My Local: Mike Greene’s new convenience chain has a tough task ahead of it after Morrisons’ management October 26, 2015 Today’s grocery market is an unforgiving place for established supermarkets, let alone new retailers on the block. Many supermarkets are struggling against the seemingly inexorable changes sweeping the grocery industry. They face falling prices and shifting shopping habits, with shoppers moving simultaneously online and to the discount retailers. It is against this backdrop that Mike [...]
Tesco results analysis: Why earning mis-statements are like London buses October 26, 2015 Earnings mis-statements are like London buses, it turns out: you wait ages for one, before two turn up at once. Or that's according to a new study, anyway, which concluded that when one company is found to have mis-stated its earnings, its competitors in that industry could be incentivised to follow suit, leading to even more earnings mis-statements. But [...]