Death of the middleman? The myth of selling straight to the customer October 29, 2020 This pandemic has driven consumers online at a pace no one could predict, with Covid-19 forecast to generate an additional £4.5bn of UK online sales in 2020. Social distancing has set in motion a dramatic shift in how we shop — our business alone saw a more than 230 per cent growth rate in online [...]
Keep the dream alive, and support a female-led business during lockdown October 29, 2020 When Kiera-Lorelle opened the doors to her new family business — Cinnamon Leaf foodhall in Tottenham, North London — she was full of hope: “It’s been a life-long dream of my mum’s to open a store.” That was back in January. Needless to say, the months since haven’t been easy. But Cinnamon Leaf has carried [...]
Pantechnicon: The perfect place to avoid Tier 2 restrictions October 28, 2020 It has been some time since City A.M. put together a Working Lunch column, because the very idea of a working lunch has for much of this year seemed like a quaint artefact of the distant past, like promenading down a pier or engaging in courtly gossip with the King’s favourites. But thanks to a [...]
Covid-19 ‘doughnut effect’ creates retail opportunities in outer London, experts say October 28, 2020 Outer London boroughs have recovered faster from the coronavirus restrictions than the city centre, creating a “doughnut effect”, which could provide new opportunities for retailers and landlords, experts have said. Research by estate agent Savills showed that in the six weeks to 23 October footfall in the City and Westminster was down 72 per cent [...]
Brexit: UK ‘will not back down’ on fisheries policy October 28, 2020 The UK will not back down on its demands to the EU over fisheries in Brexit trade talks, Michael Gove has said, as the two sides hold crunch talks today in the hopes of hammering out a last-minute trade deal. Responding to concerns set out by Jeremy Miles, the Welsh minister for European transition, Gove [...]
Snakes and Ladders: Who is moving jobs in the City this week? October 28, 2020 Snakes and Ladders provides a roundup of the most important hires and job moves across the City, every Wednesday afternoon. Email citymoves@cityam.com to be featured. City firms are continuing to adapt to the challenges and opportunities presented by the pandemic as they vie to be in prime position to recover from the economic fallout of the crisis. This [...]
John Lewis to convert almost half of Oxford Street store into offices October 28, 2020 John Lewis has been given the green light to convert almost half of its flagship Oxford Street department store into office space amid turmoil for the UK’s retail sector. Westminster City Council last night granted the high street store conditional planning permission to transform three to eight floors into dual-use space. The local authority voted [...]
Institutions don’t share retail investors’ optimism on returns October 28, 2020 Schroders’ studies suggest retail – or individual – investors are more optimistic about future returns than investors at large institutions. Individuals have indicated that they expect average annual returns of nearly 11% over the next five years while institutional investors anticipate a more moderate 6%. Schroders’ Institutional Investor Study is an analysis of views from [...]
Octopus Ventures ‘extremely optimistic’ about investment landscape October 28, 2020 Investors have spent most of this year looking inwards as they sought to shore up their portfolio companies in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. But even as the UK continues to grapple with uncertainty amid another round of lockdowns, some investors are starting to look for opportunities to expand their portfolio. London-based VC firm [...]
Decentralised exchanges: Solving the scaling problem October 27, 2020 Cryptocurrency, at its core, was designed as the ultimate financial disruption – requiring no centralised authority. And yet, there is a kind of paradox in the majority of crypto trading volume occuring on exchanges that are centralised. However, we are now seeing the beginnings of a shift towards decentralised exchanges (DEXs) such as Uniswap, Balancer, [...]