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How customer-centricity is the key to the online grocery market

The British online grocery retail market is set to grow by almost nine per cent over the next five years according to IGD—meaning the UK has one of most voracious appetites for grocery delivery. But that means supermarkets are now facing competition from multiple sources, including traditional retailers offering home…

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The internet need not be the scourge of every sector – just ask the CEO of Mountain Warehouse

The last decade in business was arguably characterised by one word: disruption. While the internet behemoths had already begun building serious fortunes in the 2000s, most would agree it was after 2010 that things really started motoring. Heralded as the great democratiser of information and services, the effects of a…

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Finally, a government addressing the business rates fiasco

Regardless of your political colours, small businesses up and down the land will be pleased to hear of at least one policy which looks set to survive the transition from manifesto wish lists to actual policy and legislation, and that is a business rates overhaul. The prime minister, Boris Johnson,…

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Airbnb is the latest ‘big tech’ monolith to run rings around our outdated legal apparatus

It may seem tangential to those who do not work in real estate, but there is a court case on the continent with major implications for the future of many sectors, which reached a critical phase yesterday. It is the case of Airbnb vs the French tourism association, in which…

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How technology can help retail marketers create happy consumers

Shopping online during Black Friday/Cyber Monday, over the busy Christmas period, and in the January sales (yep, they’re still a thing!) can be akin to rummaging through a jumble sale. In order to find relevant content, many shoppers have to rifle through a mass of promotional offers on different sections…

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Returns and fraud – two key issues for e-commerce in 2020

While returns continue to be a fact of life for retailers for a number of reasons, one area they can control is in having accurate customer address data. This will play a key role in reducing the frequency of ‘return to sender’ scenarios. The issue today is the reliance by…

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Vera Lynn’s gin dispute is a window on a fascinating trademark problem

Everyone knows a bit of cockney rhyming slang, but what if your own name is the one being used, and then somebody tries to use it as their brand? This is exactly what happened to the singer Dame Vera Lynn, who has just been awarded £1,800 in legal costs from…

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‘Jingle bots’ are artificially ramming online shopping baskets to use up stock

I have my reservations about this story because we spend a lot of time in our office poring over the news for interesting stories and takes, and we haven’t seen it reported like this before. But it comes from a company called Radware, which is a publicly traded web app…

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Why shoppers want simple sustainability

The Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping spike is putting packaging into perspective for shoppers and creating demand for simple sustainability. Retailers should strive to deliver quick and clear eco messages when it comes to packaging. Going green  Sustainability has repeatedly hit the headlines again this year and we can…

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The latest business data is bad news, but the reasons given spell a good omen

This morning there was some bad news for business, but which definitely comes with a silver lining. So, the bad news first: the ‘Flash UK Composite Output Index’ from data firm, Markit, which tracks private sector business activity, found that it shrunk during the month of December. It has dropped…

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