Euro retail sales fail to stage a late comeback December 4, 2014 EUROZONE retail sales fell at their slowest rate for five months, survey data revealed yesterday. The Eurozone retail purchasing managers’ index (PMI) – a survey of private sector firms compiled by Markit – climbed to 48.9 in November from 47 in October. However, the number remains below 50 and so signifies contraction. Retail sales have [...]
Abercrombie & Fitch continues to struggle as it cuts outlook December 3, 2014 Teen retailer Abercrombie & Fitch cut its profit forecast for the year to between $1.50 and $1.65 adjusted earnings per share, which was below analyst estimates. The company said that adjusted net income fell to $30.4m in the third quarter, down 25 per cent from the year earlier. It cited "disruption and turmoil" in the teen clothing [...]
Barclays to place ISS shares worth £300m December 2, 2014 Barclays was last night in the market with 13.5 per cent of the stock in ISS, the cleaning and catering group that floated earlier this year in the largest Danish IPO for 20 years. The bank acted on behalf of shareholders to buy the block in a deal worth around £300m and will be placing [...]
Bonmarche bolsters revenues but warns over warm autumn December 1, 2014 RETAILER Bonmarche yesterday announced a 11.8 per cent rise in half-year profits, but said it suffered from one of the warmest autumns on record as shoppers shunned its coats and jumpers. Chief executive Beth Butterwick said that in the six months to 30 September, Bonmarche recorded sales of £91.1m. However, she warned that the latter part [...]
The best places to find Cyber Monday deals 2014: John Lewis, Tesco, Asos, Marks and Spencer, Game, Samsung, Halfords and Morrisons December 1, 2014 Beleaguered shoppers are still nursing their bruises and retailers are still fixing up their stores following UK's biggest-ever "Black Friday", yet the deals keep on coming. Tomorrow is "Cyber Monday", the internet's biggest shopping day of the year when online retailers offer consumers another chance to grab a bargain as the Christmas shopping season [...]
Worker Bees: Cyber Monday piles on the pressure November 30, 2014 Today’s Cyber Monday event could be the biggest shopping day of the year – keeping Amazon’s warehouses packed to the rafters. Amazon, which sold 5.5m items on Friday at a rate of 64 purchases a second, has filled warehouses, such as this one at Peterborough, with 13,000 extra staff to meet pre-Christmas demand. The Centre [...]
Cyber Monday UK 2014: A great day for online shoppers – and for internet crime November 30, 2014 Today is Cyber Monday, the busiest online shopping day in the retail calendar, as consumers continue to cash in on Black Friday discounts and get their Christmas orders in. With consumers expecting fast turnarounds of online purchases, retailers will no doubt be concerned about supply chains and channels to market – one wrong move could [...]
Amazon Black Friday deals deliver busiest day ever as shoppers surge online ahead of Cyber Monday November 29, 2014 It's not even Cyber Monday yet, but Amazon has clocked up its busiest ever day of sales in the UK thanks to Black Friday, selling 64 items every second yesterday. Shoppers ordered more than 5.5 million items such as TVs, tablets and toys with huge price reductions, beating last year’s Black Friday sales of four [...]
Asda’s Black Friday deals attract 2 million shoppers on its busiest day of the year so far November 28, 2014 Asda has pulled in more than two million shoppers on Black Friday, making it the busiest day of the year so far for the supermarket. That’s more than 8,000 sales every minute, or more than 130 every second since it opened its doors at 8am. The Walmart-owned retailer said it sold more than 8,000 TVs within [...]
Police blame retailers as Black Friday descends into chaos November 28, 2014 The chief of Greater Manchester Police has blamed retailers after officers were called to seven Tesco stores across Greater Manchester to deal with crowds at Black Friday events. In a video posted to YouTube, Sir Peter Fahy said three people had been arrested – including one who threatened to "smash" a staff member's face in, [...]