Online & Digital
The latest news, updates and analysis on the online and digital segment of the the UK retail industry. Sign up to the Daily Briefing and let Retail Sector’s business journalists keep you in the picture.
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Mar- 2018 -27 March
ASOS to host modern slavery event at House of Lords
ASOS is co-hosting an event at the House of Lords today (27 March) with Baroness Lola Young, co-chair All Party Parliamentary Group on Ethics and Sustainability in Fashion, to identify and address shared risks in the apparel sector. The 2.5-hour meeting, set to be attended by senior representatives from ASOS’…
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23 March
‘Beast from the East’ drives online retail sales
UK online retail sales were up +13.1% year-on-year (YoY) in February, according to the latest figures from the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index. A cold snap named the ‘Beast from the East’ hit the UK in the last week of February which Capgemini said meant shoppers make more online purchases,…
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20 March
Instagram launches in-app shopping for UK users
Photo-sharing social media app Instagram has expanded its shopping capabilities to UK customers, so users are able to make purchases without leaving the app. Ecommerce designers, BigCommerce Merchants, have expanded its collaboration with Instagram to make shopping on Instagram available to merchants beyond the United States to also include Australia,…
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15 March
Richemont’s Yoox Net-a-Porter acquisition approved by Italian regulator
Italian market watchdog Consob has given the green light for Richemont’s takeover of luxury online retailer Yoox Net-A-Porter (YNAP). Swiss-based Richemont, which owns brands such as Cartier, Montblanc and Dunhill London, already has a stake in the YNAP Group, but in January made a public tender offer to buy the…
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14 March
Zara owner Inditex sees 41% jump in online sales
The owner of Zara and Massimo Dutti, Inditex, saw online sales revenue grow by 41% in 2017, according to a trading update. In 2017, Inditex invested €1.8bn (£1.5bn) in further developing its integrated stores and online model and upgrading its technology Specifically, the rollout of radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology (used…
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14 March
UK millennials put off by ‘difficult returns’
Research by returns management company ReBOUND has found that 59% of millennial shoppers stop shopping with online retailers which have difficult or unclear return processes. With ReBOUND’s findings suggesting that 42% of British shoppers return goods more now than two years ago, 35% of those asked in the survey claimed…
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12 March
Farfetch poised to make £4bn IPO after hiring US banks
Online luxury retailer Farfetch has hired bankers from JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs as it readies itself to make an initial public offering (IPO). Farfetch, launched in 2008, enables nearly 900 boutiques and luxury brands to sell their designer products to around two million from 190 countries. According to reports,…
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7 March
Shop Direct appoints Henry Birch as new CEO
Shop Direct, which operates digital department stores Very.co.uk, Littlewoods.com and VeryExclusive.co.uk, has appointed Henry Birch as its CEO. Birch will join Shop Direct later this year as he is currently chief executive officer of the FTSE 250-listed Rank Group, which owns and operates Grosvenor Casinos and Mecca Bingo alongside several…
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5 March
Voice transactions through ‘smart speakers’ set to increase
Shopping through voice-activated devices such as Amazon Echo and Google Home is set to become the next disruptive force in retail, according to new research. UK transactions through smart speakers with consumers using their voices as commands are currently worth £0.2bn, according to new research from OC&C Strategy Consultants. Almost…
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1 March
Shoppers shun high street for online as January sees strongest growth since 2013
Online retail delivery order volumes were up 20.6% year-on-year in January, according to the latest data from the IMRG MetaPack UK Delivery Index. This was the strongest January growth for online order volumes since 2013. During the same period, footfall fell to its lowest January rate in five years –…
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