Nightcap: Cocktail group urges RMT to move rail strikes in exchange for free drinks November 25, 2022 The owners of UK cocktail group Nightcap have called on the union RMT to switch the rail strike dates in exchange for free drinks. Co-founders Sarah Willingham and Michael Toxvaerd – who own the likes of Cocktail Club, Barrio and the Adventure Bar Group – pleaded with the RMT to move their planned walkout from [...]
Nationwide and Barclaycard say Black Friday spending off to steady start November 25, 2022 Nationwide and Barclaycard have said Black Friday sales are up, as Brits looks to cash in with bargains for Christmas during the cost of living crisis. Early days showed there had been 1.37m transactions from Nationwide members, up 17 per cent from a regular Friday. The building society said the number of purchases were up [...]
Black Friday: Cash-strapped shoppers look to snap up Christmas bargains before cutting back November 25, 2022 Cash-strapped shoppers will take advantage of Black Friday discounts this weekend as they try to make Christmas special, before tightening their belts as the UK enters into a recession. While retailers may see a temporary boost in sales this weekend, shoppers will pull forward Christmas spending rather than “buying twice” as in previous years, Hargreaves [...]
Mothercare hires new top boss as Covid recovery ‘taking time’ November 24, 2022 Baby clothes seller Mothercare has named Dan Le Vesconte as its new CEO, as the retailer admitted that a recovery to pre-pandemic trading was “taking time.” The Watford-based company is seeking to recover from a torrid pandemic, which shuttered some 79 high street stores after collapsing into administration just before the first Covid lockdown. Le [...]
B&Q owner says DIY sales driven by household energy concerns as profit forecast trimmed November 24, 2022 Kingfisher has seen customers forking out to improve their household energy efficiency, as the B&Q owner shaved its full-year profit outlook. In a trading update for the third quarter, the retail titan posted sales of £3.3bn, a 0.2 per cent boost on the previous year. The Screwfix owner previously reaped the rewards of a pandemic [...]
Royal Mail strikes will crush retail and small businesses when we need them to grow November 24, 2022 The UK boasts one of the world’s most sophisticated ecommerce economies, with small businesses thriving by scaling up their retail operations online. But more than four decades on from the Winter of Discontent, industrial action risks destabilising this flourishing online economy. We understand the challenges that workers are facing during these unprecedented times, with higher [...]
Black Friday will have a black mark to its name if it ignores the climate question November 24, 2022 If you are walking past a colleague’s desk tomorrow, and their screen is full, not of the task due yesterday, but of Black Friday sales, they are one of the 76 per cent of customers hunting for discount deals. For some, the day of mega sales can be traced back to a Wall Street stock [...]
Camelot posts record half year thanks to online boost November 23, 2022 Outgoing National Lottery operator Camelot posted its highest half-year sales this morning as soaring online sales continue to save the day. The company said that the rising number of online players offset the dwindling in-store ticket and scratchcard demand, with sales topping £4bn for the first time in its history. Despite the “difficult” retail landscape [...]
Halfords focusing on offering shoppers more essentials as they slash discretionary spending November 23, 2022 Halfords must transform into offering more essential products as shoppers trim back discretionary purchases, bosses said on Wednesday morning. The cycling specialist said that a switch-up to selling more “needs-based” items was key as the firm must become less “reliant and exposed to the volatility of more discretionary product markets.” It warned it was expecting [...]
Black Friday is a white knight November 23, 2022 Last week’s ONS statistics may have “rebounded slightly”but the outlook is still disappointing.