Thank God it’s Black Friday – why retailers need price transparency to make a success of the festive season November 19, 2018 During the early days of what quickly became known as the “retail apocalypse” back in 2010, a commentator or retailer would come out in the press and say that all the doom and gloom was overstated. The sector, they’d argue, was merely riding out a bumpy stretch of road, and would undoubtedly emerge on the [...]
Consumer spending falls in October as shoppers continue to abandon the high street November 13, 2018 UK consumer spending dipped in October after having risen for two months, with an e-commerce rebound propping up a two per cent fall in face-to-face sales. Expenditure has fallen in six of 10 months so far this year, adding to a cocktail of concerns for bricks-and-mortar retailers, according to Visa UK Consumer Spending Index data [...]
DEBATE: Can we expect the Chinese celebration of Singles’ Day to make it over to Britain? November 13, 2018 Can we expect the Chinese celebration of Singles’ Day to make it over to Britain? Abbie Llewelyn, a writer and commentator, says YES. If you think that Valentine’s Day is a commercialised hallmark holiday, just wait until UK companies catch onto Singles’ Day. Originating at Chinese universities in the 90s, Alibaba made it what it [...]
Alibaba’s record-breaking Singles Day sales hit $10bn in first hour November 11, 2018 Online retail giant Alibaba today smashed records for the largest shopping day on the planet, making sales of over $1bn (£770.5m) in just 85 seconds. The sales came during Singles Day, the world’s largest online retail festival. Alibaba’s total sales hit $10bn after one hour and had reached over $24bn after 16 hours. The festival's sales eclipse the estimated [...]
Singles’ Day is set to boom and European brands need to prepare November 6, 2018 When thinking about the significant e-commerce dates of the year, we would normally consider the obvious contenders like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but a new event is beginning to make headlines and grow in popularity in the west: Singles' Day. This event, held on 11 November and originating in China in the 1990s, is starting [...]
Asset manager Invesco ups stake in Patisserie Valerie amid shareholder bailout November 6, 2018 A top ten investor in Patisserie Valerie has more than quadrupled its stake in the under-pressure cake shop chain. Invesco increased its shareholding to 7.76 per cent on Friday, taking it above the three per cent threshold where investors must disclose their stake. The investor, with around $1.2 trillion (£919bn) in assets under management, held [...]
Ryanair says it apologised to passenger who was victim of racism October 26, 2018 Budget airline Ryanair has issued a statement today saying it apologised to the victim of racist abuse on one of its flights. Video footage emerged of passenger Delsie Gayle being called an “ugly black b******” by fellow passenger David Mesher on a flight to Barcelona last Friday. In its statement Ryanair said it only became aware [...]
Ryanair, did you learn nothing from United Airlines? October 22, 2018 I HAVE OFTEN said that silence is golden. There is an exception to this rule, and that’s when you are dealing with a reputational crisis. When it comes to unforeseen blow-ups, you need to prepare in advance so that, if a crisis hits, you – and not the media – are in control. Decisive action [...]
F1 video game-maker Codemasters accelerates towards full-year targets October 8, 2018 Recently listed gaming firm Codemasters today told investors it was on track to meet its full-year targets as it made £39.7m in revenue in the six months to 30 September 2018. The maker of the official F1 video games said digital sales as a proportion of its revenue rose to 53 per cent, amounting to [...]
London needs a new mayor to get the transport show back on the road September 4, 2018 You may remember the old joke about the family who, hopelessly lost in the middle of nowhere, wind down their car window to ask for directions, only to be told “I wouldn’t start from here if I were you”. In the third year of Sadiq Khan’s mayoralty, transport in London isn’t quite that bad, but [...]