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.
-
Feb- 2019 -12 February
More retailers allowing international payments as Brexit looms
Analysis of the UK’s top 250 retailers has found a 19% year-on-year increase in the number of brands offering the option to pay in international currency. The figure forms part of an annual performance index carried out by e-commerce and digital agency, Visualsoft. The report examined the sector’s biggest names…
Read More » -
12 February
West End retailers face £45m rates hike in April
Retailers located in London’s West End are set to face a £45m rates tax increase in April, according to a report by real estate advisor Altus Group. Business rates help announced at the Autumn Budget last year, which promised to slash bills by a third for high street business in…
Read More » -
12 February
Debenhams secures £40m cash injection
Debenhams has received a £40m cash injection from lenders in order to buy it more time as it looks to secure a longer term investment deal. The new investment allows the retailer to extend its current £520m borrowing facilities with banks for another 12 months, meaning it will be able…
Read More » -
11 February
High street vacancies on the rise, retail data shows
The national town centre vacancy rate was 9.9% in January 2019, up from 8.9% a year earlier This is according to the latest figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Springboard that also found retail footfall dropped a further 0.7% in January – although this was a lesser decline…
Read More » -
11 February
Iceland eyeing Sainsbury’s and Asda stores
Iceland is considering a bid for the Sainsbury’s and Asda stores, which were put on the market after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) told the retailers that they must cut their stores in order to obtain regulatory clearance for the proposed merger. The supermarket’s CEO Richard Walker, said that…
Read More » -
11 February
18,722 retail jobs lost or at risk since Christmas day
Some 18,722 retail staff, 400 every single day, have either been made redundant or have had their jobs threatened since Christmas day, according to new data from real estate data service Altus. Oddbins, Patisserie Valerie, Greenwoods, Chapelle, tReds and HMV have all entered administration, with the music and film retailer…
Read More » -
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…
Read More » -
8 February
Former Aldi boss to head up Boots marketing team
Boots has appointed Adam Zavalis as director of brand and communications, and will join the business on 25 February 2019. Zavalis has been the UK marketing director for Aldi since 2013, where he has was “integral” to the development of its marketing strategy, as well helping to develop “award winning…
Read More » -
8 February
Foot Locker invests $100m in online marketplace Goat.com
Foot Locker has announced it will make a $100m (£77.3m) strategic minority investment in Goat – a managed marketplace for trainers operating the Goat and Flight Club brands. Foot Locker said the companies will combine efforts across digital and physical retail platforms to create “exclusive customer experiences”. It added the…
Read More » -
8 February
61% of Brits worried high street will disappear in 10 years
Consumers are worried the high street is going to be lost completely due to the current store closures in the news, research by commercial brokers KIS Finance has revealed. A survey of 1,000 consumers in the UK, found 61% of Brits are worried the high street will disappear in the…
Read More »
