News
The latest news, updates and analysis on the the UK retail industry. Covering every segment of the market, Retail Sector’s business journalists keep you in the picture.
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Jul- 2018 -18 July
M&S partners with Octopus Energy to challenge ‘Big 6’ providers
Marks & Spencer and Octopus Energy have announced a new strategic partnership to supply energy and services under the M&S Energy brand from September 2018. M&S said the new partnership between energy industry disruptor Octopus and the department store chain is designed to create a “more progressive, digital and commercial…
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18 July
Retail centre ‘to rival Bicester Village’ planned for The O2
Crosstree Retail Estate Partners and AEG Europe have announced a new 85-store retail centre to rival Bicester Village will open at London’s The O2 in October. The 210,000 sq ft Icon Outlet will bring retail to The O2 for the first time since it changed from the Millennium Dome in…
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18 July
Hot weather and World Cup fever spurs online retail growth
UK online retail sales were up during June this year, as the hot weather and start of the FIFA World Cup spurred 16.9% year-on-year (YoY) growth in retail sales, according to the latest IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index. Both multichannel and online only retailers performed well, increasing 14.8% and 18.7%…
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17 July
Amazon Prime Day website crash ‘costs retailer over £75m’ in sales
The website crash experienced at the start of Amazon Prime Day has cost the online retailer over £75m in potential sales, according to sales aggregator site LovetheSales.com. Amazon suffered a number of outages during the event which took place on 16 July; the Prime Day landing page was reportedly not…
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17 July
Another 40 Poundworld stores to shutter
The administrators of Poundworld, Deloitte, have announced yet another wave of store closures bringing the total number of shuttered stores to 145 so far. The latest closure of 40 stores will result in redundancies for 531 employees when the properties shut on Tuesday 24 July 2018. The news follows the…
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17 July
Usdaw hits out at M&S for second time after 351 management roles cut
Trade union Usdaw has said that it will continue its campaign to be recognised as a representative for M&S workers after saying the company has not been allowing it to represent workers. Following the announcement that 351 management roles were to be cut at M&S, Usdaw national officer Dave Gill…
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17 July
Asda plunges 261 Enfield warehouse jobs into uncertainty
Asda has announced it has proposed to shutter its Enfield warehouse which would result in cutting 261 roles. The supermarket chain said that the proposal to close the warehouse came following the opening of two new automated warehouses in Dartford and Heston. Asda said the Enfield site, built only eight…
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17 July
M&S announces 351 management roles to be slashed
M&S has announced it is to cut 351 management roles, but says they are unrelated to the programme to close 100 UK stores by 2022. Last week at its AGM management warned that more job cuts and store closures were on the way, with chairman Archie Norman telling shareholders he…
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17 July
Amazon Prime Day receives worldwide backlash
Amazon’s annual ‘Prime Day’ event saw a shaky start yesterday after worker strikes and a lengthy website crash resulted in a worldwide backlash. The sale, which began at 3pm on Monday 16 July and offers thousands of discounted items, immediately crashed the ecommerce giant’s website, which was down for 45…
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17 July
Sir John Timpson to advise government on high street future
Sir John Timpson has been appointed to chair a panel of experts to advise on how to improve the future of the British high street by high streets minister Jake Berry MP. Along with the rest of the panel, the chairman of shoe repair and key cutting chain Timpson, will…
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