Online fashion retailer Sosandar beats expectations as sales soar January 20, 2020 Online fashion brand Sosandar said it expects full-year sales to beat market expectations following soaring growth at the end of last year, avoiding the gloom affecting many high street retailers. The Aim-listed retailer said investment in customer acquisition drove revenue up 136 per cent to £3.8m in the three months to 31 December, exceeding the [...]
Reiss owner mulls selling high street retailer January 20, 2020 The private equity owner of high street retailer Reiss is mulling putting the fashion chain up for sale following a period of strong performance. Warburg Pincus has appointed investment bank Rothschild to launch a review of strategic options for the business, which could involve a sales process, Sky News reported. If the US firm decides to [...]
Fevertree shares sink 20 per cent as it warns on profit January 20, 2020 Fevertree’s shares plunged today as it warned that “subdued” Christmas trading in the UK would knock 2019 profit lower than last year’s total. The tonic maker now expects revenue growth of 9.7 per cent to £260.5m, compared to 2018’s 40 per cent growth rate. That will see sales miss expectations for 2019, leading Fevertree to [...]
Spilling the beans: How coffee chain Grind has carved out its own London niche January 20, 2020 Given how busy life in the capital can get, and how hard the people here work, most Londoners must live on coffee. It’s the only plausible explanation for the explosion in coffee shops in recent years. Independent coffee houses are thriving alongside the big brands like Costa and Pret a Manger. According to research by [...]
Department store chain Beales falls into administration January 20, 2020 Department store chain Beales has entered administration this morning, putting more than 1,000 jobs at risk. The retailer had been in crisis talks with potential buyers in a bid to stave off a collapse, however the company was unable to secure a deal. Professional services firm KPMG has been appointed as administrator, and the firm’s [...]
Third of retailers issue profit warnings in ‘bruising’ year for UK high street January 19, 2020 A third of retailers issued a profit warning last year following a “bruising” year for the UK high street. For the second year in a row, a third or more of the FTSE retailer sector warned on lower profits over the course of 2019. The number of profit warnings fell from 36 in 2018 to [...]
China reports weakest growth in 29 years as trade war bites January 17, 2020 China’s economic growth sunk to its weakest in almost 30 years in 2019 amid a bruising trade war with the US and anaemic domestic demand, with more stimulus from Beijing expected this year. Stocks held firm following the release of the data, which showed that the world’s second largest economy ended the year on a [...]
UK retail sales decline knocks sterling lower January 17, 2020 UK retail sales fell in the “golden quarter” of Christmas trading, the latest statistics showed today in a further sign of the challenges facing the British high street. In the three months to December 2019, the amount spent and the quantity bought in the retail industry fell 0.9 per cent and one per cent respectively, [...]
Rearranging menu promotes healthier drink choices January 16, 2020 Fast food diners can be encouraged to make healthier choices by changing the position of items on the menu, a study has found. Research led by Warwick Business School, in conjunction with McDonald’s, showed customers could be persuaded to choose less sugary soft drinks by changing the order they appeared on the touch-screen kiosks. The [...]
Can AR bring shoppers back to the high street? January 16, 2020 Augmented reality shopping apps can provide consumers with richer experiences and greater value that can lead to increased store footfall and conversion rates for brick-and-mortar retailers, according to new research. The study, Enabling smart retail settings via mobile augmented reality shopping apps, published in Technological Forecasting and Social Change, also found that AR apps can help to reduce [...]