Online & Digital
The latest news, updates and analysis on the online and digital segment of the the UK retail industry. Sign up to the Daily Briefing and let Retail Sector’s business journalists keep you in the picture.
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Feb- 2019 -8 February
JD Sports removes advert for Scotland shirt following ‘#everydaysexism’ complaints
Sports retailer, JD Sports, has removed an advert for the football shirt of the Scottish national team following Twitter complaints accusing the company of “#everydaysexism”. The advert for the men’s and children’s kit showed the models as athletes, however the advert for the women’s shirt showed a women wearing ripped…
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1 February
Amazon shares dip 5% despite record Christmas sales
Online retail giant Amazon has seen its shares drop 5% to $1,635 in early trading, after disappointing investors with a slow down in revenue growth. Revenues grew 20% to $72.4bn in Q4 2018, compared with the 29% it experienced in Q3. The deceleration is widely considered the result of reduced…
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Jan- 2019 -31 January
Shop Direct consulting with 225 members of staff over job cuts
Shop Direct, the group which owns online retailers Very and Littlewoods, is in consultation with 225 members of staff over job cuts. The group plans to merge its businesses as part of a transformation strategy which will see teams for men’s and women’s fashion consolidated and its design team moved…
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30 January
B&Q found to have leaked details of 75,000 thieves
B&Q has been found to have leaked details of 75,000 shoplifters including vehicle descriptions and full names. The leak was found by security researcher Ctrlbox Information Security, which said the details were leaked on to the internet without password protection. The group said B&Q had removed the sensitive data and…
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28 January
Online retail tax could be unlawful under EU rules, Treasury warns
The government has said taxing online giants, like Amazon, through a sales tax could be illegal under EU rules. Under European Union State aid rules it is illegal for EU countries to give financial advantage to some companies and not others in a way which could distort fair competition. The…
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23 January
December online retail sales growth hits ‘all-time low’
UK online retail sales growth hit an “all-time low” of just +3.6% year-on-year (YoY) in December 2018 after a tough Christmas trading period, according to the Capgemini IMRG eRetail Sales Index. According to the group, after online retail “defied” the downturn on the high street to record +16% (YoY) growth…
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17 January
StubHub reprimanded over rescheduling refunds
Online ticket retailer, StubHub has been reprimanded by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), after it had advertised that “every order is 100% guaranteed” with its ‘FanProtect’ scheme, however the ASA found that “refunds did not apply to rescheduled events”. The issue was raised when a complainant challenged whether the fact…
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17 January
Smartphone shopping to reach record usage in 2019
In 2019, and for the first time ever, consumers will be as likely to shop on their smartphones as they would a laptop or desktop, according to research by price comparison and switching service, uSwitch.com. Shoppers plan to spend £25bn using their smartphones this year, a £10bn rise on 2018.…
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11 January
Boohoo falls foul of ASA again over fur pom poms
Online retailer, Boohoo, has been reprimanded by the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) again after it was found to be advertising a jumper as “faux fur” which had pom poms that were in fact made from real fur. The advert stated the item of clothing on sale was a “faux fur…
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8 January
Missguided posts £46.7m loss
Online fashion retailer Missguided has posted a £46.7m loss in its financial results for the 53 weeks ending 1 April 2018 in what it described as an “extremely challenging” year. This is compared with a loss of £1.6m in the 2017. The company said its profitability was “severely impacted” by…
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