AO World revenue surges as customers continue online shopping post-lockdown August 20, 2020 Online electrical retailer AO World said today its revenue surged in the months during and after the easing of coronavirus lockdowns as demand for its products and services was sustained even after its rivals reopened stores in July. The company said year-on-year revenue in the UK jumped 58.9 per cent to £401.3m and 91.5 per [...]
Marks & Spencer to axe 7,000 jobs within three months amid pandemic August 18, 2020 Marks & Spencer is set to slash 7,000 jobs by December in a huge restructuring brought about by the pandemic, it said today. The high street giant, which was struggling prior to coronavirus, will focus the cuts in its central support centre, regional management and UK stores. It comes on top of 950 job cuts [...]
Supermarket visits fall on coronavirus face mask rules August 18, 2020 British shoppers paid fewer visits to supermarkets in the wake of new rules making face masks mandatory, new data has revealed. The number of visits to UK supermarkets was 2m lower than expected in the week after the rule was adopted, according to Kantar. Charlotte Scott, Kantar’s consumer insight director, said the decline showed people [...]
Ocado lists M&S products ahead of delivery partnership launch August 5, 2020 Marks & Spencer has begun listing products on the Ocado website ahead of their delivery partnership, which is scheduled to begin next month. The supermarket has added more than 750 new products, which will be available to buy through the Ocado website from 1 September. However M&S warned customers that it may not be possible [...]
Amazon Fresh: What does the expansion mean for UK supermarkets? July 28, 2020 Amazon’s announcement that it will offer free grocery deliveries for Prime customers represents a step up in competition between the internet giant and the UK supermarkets. The US company, which bought upmarket grocery chain Whole Foods in 2018, will offer free Amazon Fresh delivery in London and the South East from today. Plans are in [...]
Amazon rolls out free grocery deliveries for Prime customers July 28, 2020 Amazon Prime customers will be able to order grocery deliveries to their home for free, the e-commerce giant announced today, in a huge blow to high street supermarket giants and small retailers. The tech titan will roll out free deliveries via its Amazon Fresh grocery service to Prime subscribers across 300 postcodes from today, with [...]
Supermarket growth slows as shoppers return to pre-lockdown habits July 21, 2020 Grocery sales in the the UK rose 14.6 per cent year-on-year in the four weeks to 12 July, but lost the momentum seen at the beginning of lockdown as restaurants, pubs and cafes were allowed to reopen. Supermarket sales slipped from 18.9 per cent growth the previous month, as shoppers tentatively returned to their normal [...]
Markets live: FTSE 100 and US stocks soar as vaccine optimism builds July 15, 2020 The FTSE 100 doubled its gains on Wednesday as investor optimism about a coronavirus vaccine grew stronger, also fuelling US and European stocks. London’s blue-chip index climbed as high as 6,241 as it opened trading this morning, following positive trial results of a Moderna vaccine. By 1.30pm the FTSE 100 was up 2.07 per cent [...]
DFS to cut jobs at Dwell and Sofa Workshop as revenue falls £271m July 14, 2020 Furniture firm DFS has announced that it will cut jobs as part of a restructuring programme after the coronavirus pandemic caused revenue to drop £271m year-on-year to £725m. The company said that the cuts would take place at subsidiaries Dwell and Sofa Workshop, and were necessary in order to maintain DFS’ “future competitiveness”. The restructurings [...]
Revenue soars at Ocado during lockdown July 14, 2020 Retail sales for the first half of 2020 for online grocer Ocado jumped 27 per cent to £1bn, as Brits did their supermarket shopping from home. The group reported a loss before tax of £40.6m in the six months to the end of May, citing an increase in investment to handle increased demand as a [...]