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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Jun- 2018 -13 June
Inditex improves margins with same-stores sales growth
The owner of the fashion retailer Zara, Inditex, has reported record-breaking revenues and gross margin improvements in the first quarter of the year. Inditex revealed an increase of 7% in overall sales in local currencies and a record-breaking revenue of €6bn (£5.29bn) with a 9% sales increase between 1 May…
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13 June
Instagram launches shopping feature in stories feed
Instagram has included shoppable tags in its stories, expanding its brand posts in the feed. The social media platform completed the feature today (13 June) enabling users to hit a shopping bag sticker in a story to know more details about a product. Instagram expects to potentiate brands that drive…
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13 June
M&S reprimanded by ASA over Christmas claim
M&S has been reprimanded by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after they claimed that they were the only “supermarket where Christmas dinner cost less than last year”. A Good Housekeeping survey was used as the basis of M&S’ claims, however the ASA said this was “misleading” and “substantiation” because “it…
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13 June
PwC hit with record £10m fine for BHS audit
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has been fined £10m for its handling of the BHS audits and the Taveta Group in 2014. The sanction follows an investigation by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) under the Accountancy Scheme which opened in June 2016 two months after the retailer’s collapse. PwC signed BHS off as…
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13 June
Almost 133,000 business rates appeals from 2010 still remain unresolved
More than 133,000 businesses are still waiting for an appeal of their business rates valuation from 2010 to be resolved, council leaders have revealed. The Local Government Association (LGA) said councils have been forced to divert £2.5bn away from stretched local services over the past five years to cover the…
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12 June
Harvey Nichols to offer ‘live shopping’ online
British luxury department store Harvey Nichols has become the first retailer to offer ‘live shopping’ online due to its partnership with retail technology company Hero. Harvey Nichols now provides online and offline shopping experiences to customers enabling them to reach stylists from its seven UK stores in addition to its…
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12 June
87% of UK’s top retailers risk revenue losses through poor mobile site performance
Almost nine in 10 (87%) of the UK’s top retailers are risking a significant drop in online visibility by neglecting their mobile site performance, according to new research. The report, carried out by e-commerce and digital agency Visualsoft, found that ‘worryingly low’ numbers of retailers have taken strides to improve…
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12 June
Almost half of consumers prefer independent stores
New research has found that nearly half (42%) of consumers would shop with an independent retailer because they prefer to support smaller operations over a larger retailer. The YouGov research commissioned by marketing automation suite Pure360 also found that awareness of the smaller operations is growing, with 63% of consumers…
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12 June
UK consumers plan a £799m expenditure for Father’s Day
UK consumers are expecting to spend £799m on gifts for Father’s Day this year, a study has found. Data gathered by retail and shopper marketing agency Savvy revealed UK shoppers plan to spend £799m this year to celebrate the occasion. The survey found consumers aged 35 – 44 are most…
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12 June
Boohoo reports £183.6m revenue jump
Online fashion retailer Boohoo has reported a 53% increase in total revenue for the first quarter of the 2019 financial year. The group said that for the full financial year it continues to expect group revenue growth to be around 40%, with an adjusted EBITDA margin between 9% to 10%.…
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