Amazon
This coverage examines Amazon’s operations, strategy, and influence within the UK retail market. Reporting highlights e-commerce growth, logistics and fulfilment, technology initiatives, financial results, product innovation, and leadership decisions. Focused on commercial impact and competitive dynamics, it offers insights for retail professionals navigating digital transformation and multi-channel competition.
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Jan- 2020 -31 JanuaryAnalysis
The whole Amazon thing is getting scary now
The ‘growth of online retail’ is now so proverbial that the phrase itself is nearly redundant. Is anyone surprised to learn this morning that Amazon has absolutely rampaged through the Christmas retail season, while scores of well-known bricks-and-mortar retailers reported a torrid set of financial results for the same period?…
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31 JanuaryOnline & Digital
Amazon sales skyrocket over Christmas period
Amazon has announced a 21% increase in sales to $87.4bn (£66.5bn) for the three month period ended 31 December 2019. The e-commerce giant also reported that operating income increased to $3bn (£2.9bn) in Q4, compared with $3.8bn (£2.8bn) in the fourth quarter of 2018. Net income also increased to $3.3bn…
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30 JanuaryHigh Street
Amazon, Aldi and M&S Simply Food named UK’s ‘most loved’ retailers
Amazon, Aldi and M&S Simply Food have topped the charts as the UK’s “most loved” retailers, according to a new study of 96,000 consumers from market research firm Savanta. The study, which rated the top 100 retailers by how loved they are by consumers, also identified a direct correlation between…
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29 JanuaryAnalysis
British Airways gets flighty and Starbucks smells the coffee over coronavirus
The business response to the coronavirus situation, which appears to be developing into a serious crisis, continues apace today. British Airways today announced that it was suspending all flights between the UK and Wuhan, the Chinese city where the virus originally broke out. In a statement it said: “We have…
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24 JanuaryComment
Why retailers need to take sonic branding seriously
Retail is undergoing something of a paradigm shift. This is a sector that faces unprecedented challenges as it adapts to the ever-changing shopping habits of consumers. Last week’s ONS data revealed that UK retail sales fell in December by 0.6%, making it the fifth consecutive month in which retail sales…
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24 JanuaryHigh Street
Hawkin’s Bazaar enters administration, 177 jobs at risk
Gift and toy retailer Hawkin’s Bazaar has entered administration, placing 177 jobs at risk. Tom Straw and Simon Thomas from Moorfields Advisory Ltd have now been appointed as joint administrators of the toy shop chain. Hawkin’s Bazaar was founded in 1973 and currently operates 20 stores across the UK and…
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23 JanuaryAnalysis
Asos bounces back from tricky period
Back in July last year Retail Sector reported that Asos was having problems. It had issued a profit warning, suggesting profits were likely to be about one-third of what was originally anticipated. It was an interesting moment in the retail world, because the narrative for the whole of the last…
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22 JanuaryAnalysis
Ted Baker hanging by a thread amid £58m balance sheet black hole
If you have shares in Ted Baker, you are probably not having a good morning. The price has tanked by almost 7% after news broke that the fashion brand has found a £58m black hole in its accounts. There’s being a few hundred thousand or a few million short, but…
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22 JanuaryComment
The smart grocer: How food retailers can capitalise on AI’s potential
The grocery sector is preparing for a period of unprecedented disruption as food retailers battle to discover new sources of value for consumers. Focusing on the fundamental aims of improving customer service, loyalty and integration of digital and real-life experience, retailers are seeking out ways to better understand shoppers’ buying…
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17 JanuaryAnalysis
The trillion-dollar club has gained Google as a member
Remember at school when teachers used to explain how one million was an essentially incomprehensibly large number? I recall one of mine showing the number represented on a huge rolled out piece of paper as wide and long as a carpet, with precisely one million individual dots. I was about…
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