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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Jan- 2019 -4 January
Gear4Music issues warning despite 41% sales growth
Gear4Music has issued a warning on profit for 2019 saying it would be “slightly below” last year’s results. The warning comes against the backdrop of a 41% year-on-year sales growth, which has seen sales rise to £48.7m. The group also announced that UK sales had risen by 36% to £25.5m,…
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4 January
Gaming market now bigger than video and music combined
The video games market now accounts for more than half of the entire UK entertainment market (51.3%), the Entertainment Retailer Association (ERA) has said. Total sales for the games market reached £3,863m in 2018, compared with the total music sales, increasing by £1,334m, and video sales, which reached £2,337m last…
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4 January
McColl’s appoints Robbie Bell as CFO
Convenience retailer McColl’s has appointed Robbie Bell to its board as chief financial officer. Bell is moving on from his current position as CFO of Welcome Break Limited following its takeover by Applegreen plc, will take up his appointment on 17 January 2019. In 2017, Bell was appointed CFO of…
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4 January
Shop prices rise in December despite discounting
Shop prices saw a 0.3% year-on-year increase in December despite many retailers discounting heavily during the festive period, the BRC-Nielsen Shop Price Index has revealed. This was pushed up by food items which saw a 1.5% increase overall; individually fresh food saw a 0.9% price hike while shelf-stable food prices…
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3 January
Moss Bros appoints former Missguided boss
Gareth Jones, former online chief executive of Missguided, has joined menswear retailer Moss Bros as a non-executive director. Jones left his role at Missguided after eight months in May last year having joined the online fashion store from his post as deputy chief executive at Shop Direct in December 2016.…
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3 January
Next Christmas sales boosted by online surge
Next has revealed better than expected results over the Christmas period despite a 9.2% decline in sales across its bricks-and-mortar stores. However the decline was better than the 13% drop that was forecast by analysts and overall Next reported a 1% rise in full product sales between 28 October to…
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3 January
Co-op to open 100 new stores in 2019
The Co-op has announced it will open 100 new food stores during 2019 as part of a £200m store investment programme. The retailer said the combined £200m store investment programme could lead to around 1,500 new local jobs, and added that in addition to the openings, it will also provide…
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3 January
Home Bargains becomes latest retailer to announce a ‘quiet hour’
Home Bargains has become the latest retailer to announce a ‘quiet hour’ in order to create a calmer environment for customers with autism to shop in. The initiative is being carried out in partnership with the National Autistic Society, and will see all music switched off in its stores each…
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2 January
John Lewis ends final week of 2018 with 4.5% sales uplift
Department store chain John Lewis has reported a 4.5% year-on-year uplift in total sales for the week ending 29 December. The group said this was due to “very strong sales” on Christmas Eve and a “confident start” to clearance sales both online and in shops, with electrical and home technology…
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2 January
Large retailers must now ‘justify’ bosses’ wages
UK companies listed on the stock market and with over 250 employees will now have to annually disclose and explain their top bosses pay and the gap between that and their average worker, the UK government has said. The pay ratio regulations, which came into force on 1 January 2019,…
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