News
News is Retail Sector’s central hub for breaking stories, market developments and company updates from across the UK retail industry. This category delivers authoritative, timely coverage on everything from trading performance and executive changes to store openings, brand activity and supply chain developments.
Retail Sector’s news coverage focuses on the business realities behind the headlines — providing retail professionals with context on how each development impacts operations, strategy and market confidence. Readers can expect clear, accurate reporting designed to keep decision-makers informed and competitive in a fast-moving retail landscape.
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Jan- 2020 -13 January
December footfall hit by Black Friday
Footfall dropped 2.5% in December, according to the latest figures from Springboard’s footfall monitor and insights. The data provider said this came as “no surprise”, as December footfall has only increased once since 2009. Despite this, the fall was at the “upper end of the scale of decline”. The “noticeable”…
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10 January
Superdry warns on profits amid ‘lower than expected’ Christmas sales
Embattled clothing retailer Superdry has issued a profit warning after peak trading sales came in “lower than expected”. Superdry said it now expects pre-tax profits to come in between £0-£10m compared with previous estimations of around £20m. It said that the high street has seen “unprecedented levels of promotional activity”…
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10 January
Game to shutter 40 UK stores
Video game retailer Game has confirmed it intends to shutter 40 stores throughout the UK. To date, 13 sites have had notice served including existing Game sites in Mansfield, Canterbury, Watford, Glasgow Fort and Leicester. On 8 January notice was served on a further 14 sites impacting outlets owned mostly…
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10 January
Joules issues profit warning following stock issues
Joules has announced that sales over the Christmas period were “significantly behind expectations”, with retail sales down 4.5% against the prior year. The fashion retailer claims that sales were affected by “disappointing” online sales, which was caused by internally generated stock availability issues. Despite traffic to its website increasing 8%…
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10 January
B&M reports ‘slower performance than anticipated’ in its third quarter
B&M has reported a “slower performance than anticipated”, despite a 9.3% increase in group revenues during its third quarter. Over the 13 weeks to 28 December, revenues across its UK stores increased by 8.8% including like-for-like growth of 0.3% for the quarter, against the “backdrop of a challenging broader retail…
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9 January
M&S reports fall in festive sales revenues
Marks and Spencer has reported a 0.7% decline in revenues in its third quarter of the current financial year to £3bn , attributed to underperformance in clothing and home sales. For the 13 week period ending 28 December, the retailer reported a 3.7% fall in clothing and home sales to…
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9 January
‘Worst year on record’ for retail, says BRC
Total retail sales decreased by 0.1% in 2019, compared with the 1.2% increase recorded in 2018, making it the “worst year on record” for retail according to the BRC. Helen Dickinson, CEO of the BRC, said this was reflected in the CVAs, shop closures and job losses that the industry…
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9 January
‘Biggest day of food sales’ helps Tesco fight Christmas slump
Strong food sales including a reported “biggest food sales day in history” helped Tesco post a slight Christmas sales increase in the UK and Ireland despite a “challenging environment”. Tesco reported a 0.4% increase in like-for-like sales during the six-week period ending 4 January, however this is a marked slowdown…
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9 January
John Lewis boss steps down amid poor Christmas sales
John Lewis Partnership has announced its managing director, Paula Nickolds, will step down amid “weak” sales over the Christmas period. Nickolds has worked at the company for 25 years, and will step down from the board in February. The group said she had “played a central role” in a variety…
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8 January
Topps Tiles sales slump in first-quarter results
Topps Tiles has reported a 5.4% decrease in like-for-like retail revenues for the first 13 week period ended 28 December 2019. Revenues across the first eight weeks of the quarter decreased by 7.2%, however, during the final five weeks of the period the retailer said performance improved “significantly”, with the…
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