Black Friday 2015 UK: Retailers must ensure their employees do not take all the best deals ahead of other consumers to “resale” items at a profit November 16, 2015 Black Friday is almost upon us and with such a buying frenzy, retailers and consumers should have their eyes open to the risk of fraud. Consumers face the risk of bogus websites and online scams; and retailers are also exposed to increased risk, from amongst their own ranks. A significant amount of retail fraud comes [...]
G20 leaders agree to more co-ordinated counter-terrorism efforts after Paris attacks November 16, 2015 Global leaders will double down on coordinating their counter-terrorism efforts today, calling for enhanced coordination and security measures after simultaneous attacks in Paris killed at least 129 people on Friday. Draft statements revealed over the weekend from the G20 leaders meeting in Antalya, Turkey, called for enhanced information exchanges to cut off funding for terrorist [...]
Black Friday 2015: A third of British and American retailers say the sales bonanza is unprofitable November 16, 2015 Britain's biggest online shopping fixture Black Friday is dividing the retail industry, with a third of major retailers saying it is unprofitable while the same number believe it provides a major fillip, research by LCP Consulting shows. The business consultancy firm’s annual Omnichannel report released today found that retailers with an established presence both in bricks [...]
The end of Black Friday: Why the seasonal price-slashing frenzy is too unprofitable to last November 15, 2015 Asda's decision to pull out of Black Friday may have hit the headlines last week, but the move was far from unprecedented. In the US, where this seasonal price-slashing frenzy originated, held on the Friday after Thanksgiving, retailers have also started to back off. The outdoor and sporting goods chain REI, which has more than [...]
Black Friday 2015 versus 2014: One chart showing why this year’s shopping event is set to be the biggest yet November 15, 2015 Millions of shoppers made the most of Black Friday's bonanza offers last year, but some retailers were left wondering if the deal day was really all it's cracked up to be. Asda has already "called time" on a single massive sales day in favour of spreading out savings for customers, as have high street fashion chains [...]
Black Friday 2015: Hoping to avoid Black Eye Friday? The key is preparation, preparation, preparation November 12, 2015 It is universally accepted that the scale of Black Friday last year was a surprise. It was the Eric Morecambe of retail outcomes – all the orders came in just not necessarily in the right order. As ever, you saw some retailers react better than others and companies’ intuitive values took over. What comes first? [...]
Asda’s ToYou teams up with online retailers for launch of parcel collection service in UK stores November 12, 2015 Shoppers will be able to pick-up goods in Asda supermarkets that they have ordered from other online retailers as part of a new service launched today by the Walmart-owned chain to boost footfall in its stores. The retailer said the new service, called ToYou, allows customers to collect and return orders placed with third parties at any one of [...]
China’s Singles Day 2015: Alibaba broke sales records and made £9.4bn in 24 hours November 12, 2015 Alibaba just smashed sales records for China’s Singles Day, netting £9.4bn in sales in just 24 hours. Singles Day is China’s biggest shopping holiday, and yesterday’s results broke all previous records, as the e-commerce giant revealing its sales figures showed. The company passed last year’s record-breaking revenue of £6.12bn by half day yesterday, and landed [...]
Black Friday 2015 UK: After Asda pulled out of the big deals day, will it fade to grey? November 11, 2015 Asda’s decision to opt-out of the US-imported shopping holiday begs one question: Could this be Britain’s last Black Friday? With high-street retailers like Primark and Oasis also deciding to pull out of the Black Friday race, this is a huge sign that perhaps this one-day shopping bonanza could be abandoned by the majority of the [...]
Black Friday UK 2015: John Lewis prepares for biggest deals day yet as Andy Street bids to “win” Christmas for seventh year in a row November 11, 2015 John Lewis is pulling all the stops out for Black Friday 2015, which it expects to be bigger than last year, as the department store aims to "win" Christmas again. Last year, Black Friday pulled in the biggest sales in John Lewis' 150-year history. But managing director Andy Street said this year's Black Friday – which [...]