Banking on beds pays off for Ikea UK as annual sales rise to £1.6bn and market share grows to 7.7 per cent November 24, 2015 Retailer Ikea has remained popular on British shores, with Ikea UK today revealing annual sales of £1.6bn for the financial year ended 31 August 2015, up 11 per cent. “We are delighted to have achieved double digit growth for the second year running and to be in our fourth consecutive year of growth here in [...]
Black Friday or Cyber Monday 2015: Which sales bonanza will be the biggest? November 23, 2015 We are heading towards the weekend that retailers are pinning their hopes on. From November 27 we will see Black Friday, before heading into Super Sunday and finally Cyber Monday (apparently Saturday will be just so-so – at least, no one is mentioning it in their marketing). In total, Visa Europe predicts this year's total [...]
Bonmarche shares out of fashion with investors despite sales defying mild autumn weather November 23, 2015 Bonmarche's share price fell almost five per cent this morning despite the women's clothing retailer posting a jump in sales as efforts to revamp its stores and make its product ranges more fashionable paid off. The retailer, which has 300 stores but also sells online, through mail-order catalogues and a TV channel, said total revenue increased by [...]
Black Friday UK 2015: Apps including HotDeals UK, Stocard, Amazon, Ebay and Waze will help find the best bargains on 27 November November 23, 2015 Black Friday is almost upon us. But if, come 27 November, you'd rather dodge the crowds and get straight to the bargains, you might need some help. After all, around one in six Britons are planning to make the most of the deals day to snare a bargain, with one in five of us expecting [...]
Argos owner Home retail group share price jumps amid takeover talk November 23, 2015 Shares in Home Retail Group shot to the top of the FTSE 250 today, amid speculation that the Argos owner is being circled by a number of private equity firms. Shares in Milton Keynes-based company, which also owns Homebase, jumped as much as seven per cent to 110.6p per share in early morning trading. However, Home Retail Group has still lost nearly half [...]
Black Friday UK 2015: EBay has just unveiled its first deals for bargain-hunters including offers on Macbook Pro, Xbox One Console, LG 50 inch Smart LED TV, Lenovo Notebook November 23, 2015 As all good retailers know, Black Friday is not about incremental sales, it's about being the first to snare the finite amount of cash consumers are willing to spend in the run-up to Christmas. Amazon has kickstarted the process with the first of its 7,000 deals going live this morning. Carphone Warehouse, Very and a host of [...]
Not a sausage: Sales of processed meat including sausages and bacon fall in wake of WHO report November 23, 2015 British consumers appear to have been scared away from buying processed meats on the back of the World Health Organisation's report, claiming it was a major cause of cancer. Supermarkets across the country have reported a £3m drop in sales of sausages and bacon in the two weeks following the report's publication as shoppers consider the health [...]
Amazon Black Friday 2015 UK starts early with 7,000 deals from today, including Kindle, Xbox, Withings, Asus and Guitar Hero November 23, 2015 Amazon has kicked of the Black Friday shopping bonanza with 7,000 deals available from today – five days earlier than the official sale day falls. Shoppers will be able to get their hands on new offers every 10 minutes for the entire week, including big ticket items such as Amazon's Kindle, the Xbox One, Withings [...]
Earnings season tails off as City awaits Osborne – London Report November 22, 2015 THE WEEK will be dominated by the chancellor’s Autumn Statement on Wednesday as companies wait on tenterhooks to see how expected cuts to the budget could affect them. In the meantime there are still plenty of companies reporting results as we near the end of the third quarter earnings season. This morning FTSE 250 outsourcer [...]
Thanksgiving, Black Friday 2015 and GDP in US – New York Report November 22, 2015 US markets will be closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday and Friday will be a half-session day, so expect a relatively quiet week. That said, there is still plenty going on with the yearly Black Friday shopping tradition set to blow the doors off most retailers on Friday. Online retail giant Amazon will be [...]