Very Group finance chief Ben Fletcher to step down after six years

The Very Group has announced that Ben Fletcher will step down as chief finance and transformation officer in September after almost six years with the business. Fletcher is leaving to pursue a long-standing interest in politics. He joined the group in 2019 and played a key role in steering it…

Read More »

Urban Outfitters to open first Trafford Centre store in October

Urban Outfitters will open its first store at the Trafford Centre on 2 October. The 7,500 sq ft unit will be located on Upper Peel Avenue and will stock in-house brands, global labels, hand-picked vintage items and homeware. Kate Pearson, director of portfolio leasing at Pradera Lateral, said: “We are…

Read More »

BRC warns food inflation could stay above 5% until 2026

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has warned that food inflation could remain above 5% well into 2026 if the retail industry faces further tax rises in the Autumn Budget. The trade body said around 4,000 large shops could see higher bills under a government proposal to impose a new business…

Read More »

Kingfisher ups guidance amid strong H1

Kingfisher has revealed that it is now targeting the “upper end” of its full year 25/26 adjusted PBT of between £480m to £540m, and free cash flow of between £480m to £520m after a strong half year. During the period, the company saw its sales rise to £6.81bn for the…

Read More »

Bodycare to close all remaining stores with 444 jobs lost

Bodycare is set to close all of its remaining stores, resulting in 444 redundancies, after administrators failed to secure a sale of the business.  Interpath Advisory, which had been appointed as administrator, said it had continued discussions with a number of parties who expressed interest in the business, including the…

Read More »

AllSaints appoints new chief people and technology officers

AllSaints has promoted Alex Didymiotis to chief people officer and Alfie Meekings to chief transformation and technology officer, bringing the pair onto the brand group’s global leadership team. Didymiotis joined AllSaints in April 2024 as global people and culture director, having previously held senior roles at Charlotte Tilbury Beauty, TFG…

Read More »

Journey to AI: build strong foundations for retail success

While AI has been grabbing headlines and presenting a vision of what is to come, AI is real and effective right now, and it forms the keystone of the retail industry’s future. But for many businesses, the journey to AI feels like a daunting one. Fragmented data systems, legacy processes,…

Read More »

Home Bargains ramps up operations at new automated distribution centre

Home Bargains has revealed its new Omega automated distribution centre is now servicing 200 stores across the UK. The centre intakes over 25,000 pallets of stock each week, picking and dispatching almost 2 million cases, equating to over 50,000 cages of stock, and over 1,000 store deliveries, weekly. Over 60%…

Read More »

Boohoo hit by shareholder revolt over exec bonuses

Boohoo has suffered a shareholder revolt at its AGM following criticism over millions of pounds in bonuses paid to its bosses. Although all resolutions passed, more than 40% of voting shareholders voted against Boohoo’s remuneration plan at the meeting on Friday (19 September) after advisory firms called on shareholders to…

Read More »

Asda announces renewed AI and Cloud Collaboration with Microsoft

Asda has agreed a new collaboration deal with Microsoft, marking one of the largest technology deals in UK retail, which will see it accelerate Asda’s transition to a cloud-first operational model, powered by Microsoft’s artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies. The supermarket giant said Microsoft Azure will “serve as the…

Read More »