The change, to be rolled out this week, will leave customers to judge whether goods are still fine to eat
Marks & Spencer is planning to remove “best before” labels from 300 varieties of fruit and vegetables in its stores to cut food waste.
The change, to be rolled out this week, will rely on customers using their judgment to determine whether goods are still fine to eat. The measure will affect 85% of the supermarket’s fresh produce offering.
Continue reading...Lola handbag range and signature trenchcoat give luxury fashion retailer boost elsewhere
Burberry has reported sales growth of only 1% in its latest financial quarter because of the impact of Covid-19 lockdowns in China, while sales were boosted elsewhere by its Lola handbag range and signature trenchcoat.
The luxury fashion retailer said sales fell 35% in mainland China because of restrictions and store closures to contain the latest outbreak of the coronavirus, while sales grew 16% across the rest of the world in the 13 weeks to 2 July.
Continue reading...US company says recruitment drive will take permanent workforce in Britain to 75,000
Amazon is creating more than 4,000 permanent jobs across the UK this year, the online company has announced.
The US firm said the recruitment drive would bring its permanent workforce in the UK to 75,000, having created 40,000 new jobs in the past three years.
Continue reading...Thousands of staff have been left up to £500 short on payday, which has forced some to use food banks or leave bills unpaid
Asda employees are having to skip household bill payments, take out loans, and even use food banks to get through the month due to regular payroll errors that have seen some underpaid by £500 or more.
The scale of the problem emerged after the private equity-backed company admitted to members of the Scottish parliament that its external payroll firm had made nearly 11,000 errors in recent months, affecting the wages of 5,500 staff.
Continue reading...Processing of unwanted items has become increasing problem for retailers since Covid online boom
The fast fashion website Boohoo has become the latest online retailer to start charging shoppers to return items.
Boohoo customers will now have to pay £1.99 when they send unwanted goods back, and the cost will be deducted from the amount they are refunded.
Continue reading...Boost in demand in June on back of jubilee celebrations fails to prevent third successive fall
Britain’s retailers are suffering the sharpest drop in spending since the depths of the coronavirus pandemic as hard-pressed consumers tighten their belts as a result of soaring inflation.
The monthly health check from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) reported a third successive drop in activity as the cost of living crisis continued to bite.
Continue reading...Animal welfare groups find sows in Europe forced to spend weeks in cages so small they can only stand and lie down
Animal welfare campaigners are calling on UK supermarkets to stop selling premium ham, including Parma, produced in “sow stalls” on EU farms.
An undercover investigation conducted by Compassion in World Farming (CWF), an animal welfare campaign group, found that sows are forced to spend many weeks in cages so small they can only stand up and lie down.
Continue reading...UK’s second-biggest supermarket says it will invest £500m to keep prices low as Marks & Spencer echoes outlook for coming months
The inflationary pressure on households will “only intensify” through the rest of this year, the boss of Sainsbury’s has warned as he said the supermarket would invest £500m in attempting to keep prices low.
The dour sentiment was echoed by the chair of Marks & Spencer, Archie Norman, who told shareholders at the retailer’s annual general meeting on Tuesday that there was a “coming winter in consumer demand”.
Continue reading...Prices up 3.1% on a year ago, with fresh food prices in particular rising sharply, figures show
Shop prices have hit their highest rate of inflation in almost 14 years as businesses grapple with soaring supply chain costs and a cut in household spending, figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) show.
They were up 3.1% on a year ago in June, up from 2.8% in May – the highest rate of inflation since September 2008, according to the BRC-NielsenIQ shop price index.
Continue reading...Firm wants to ‘invest in innovation at faster pace’ and help clients as online grocery market grows
Ocado is aiming to raise £575m from investors to fund the expansion of its technology arm, which enables overseas retailers to sell groceries online. It has also agreed a new £300m credit facility with a syndicate of international banks.
Ocado said it wanted the cash to “invest in innovation at a faster pace” and help its clients, which include the US supermarket chain Kroger and the French grocer Casino, to accelerate the shift to online shopping.
Continue reading...Customers will be able to order from about 2,000 items online, including children’s clothes
Primark will trial a click-and-collect service in the UK, in the budget fashion chain’s first significant move into online shopping.
The high street retailer will launch the trial at 25 stores in the north-west of England by the end of the year, but said it would only cover children’s clothing and accessories, as the company – owned by Associated British Foods (ABF) – tries to draw more families into its stores.
Continue reading...Cosmetics company hopes to refinance and keep trading, saying demand for products remains strong
Revlon, the 90-year-old multinational beauty company, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US, weighed down by debt load, disruptions to its supply chain network and surging costs.
The New York-based company said that on court approval, it expects to receive $575m (£469m) in financing from its existing lenders, which will allow it to keep its day-to-day operations running.
Continue reading...The retailer identified the pricing error on its website before any bottles were sold
Mark Twain reputedly said “Too much of anything is bad, but too much good whisky is barely enough”.
Online shoppers at the supermarket Morrisons came close to testing his theory when the retailer accidentally priced bottles of a Scotch whisky at just £2.50, a 93% discount from its usual price of £36.
Continue reading...Ukraine war, China lockdowns and Brexit help push up inflation, with products that rely on wheat worst hit
Food price rises in the UK could hit 15% this summer – the highest level in more than 20 years – with inflation lasting into the middle of next year, according to a report.
Meat, cereals, dairy, fruit and vegetables are likely to be the worst affected as the war in Ukraine combines with production lockdowns in China and export bans on key food stuffs such as palm oil from Indonesia and wheat from India, the grocery trade body IGD warns.
Continue reading...Shoppers air frustration at UK fast-fashion retailer’s failure to honour refunds after falling into insolvency
Customers of the collapsed fast fashion retailer Missguided will not receive refunds for returns, administrators of the business have confirmed.
It comes after the Manchester-based company fell into insolvency last month after racking up millions of pounds in outstanding payments to creditors.
Continue reading...Kamal Gandhi, 70, and his Coventry chip shop became a sensation after its name was turned into a catchy song
It has been two weeks since his Coventry chip shop became a TikTok sensation drawing in crowds from around the country, and 70-year-old Kamal Gandhi is exhausted.
He has had to take on and train four new staff members, ensure a continuous supply of stock to deal with hundreds of new customers and help manage the long queues snaking down the road outside the now world famous Binley Mega Chippy.
Continue reading...Fashion retailer’s suppliers in Pakistan have sacked hundreds without pay, as invoices for completed orders remain unpaid
Hundreds of garment workers in Pakistan making clothing for collapsed fast fashion brand Missguided say they have been left destitute and starving after not receiving salaries for more than four months.
The workers, who typically earn between £100 and £160 a month, say that despite not being paid they have continued working even as the Manchester-based retailer went into administration, with suppliers claiming the company owes them millions of pounds for clothing already completed and shipped.
Continue reading...Mukesh Ambani teams up with US private equity fund, with Walgreens expected to retain minority stake
The Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries has teamed up with the US private equity fund Apollo Global Management to make a £5bn bid for the UK’s Boots chain.
The US group Walgreens, which has controlled the pharmacy and beauty retailer since 2012, is expected to keep a minority stake under the deal.
Continue reading...UK employees said they were ‘blindsided’ by the Swedish firm’s announcement
Sacked staff have criticised the buy now pay later firm Klarna for its chaotic handling of job cuts, including in the UK, and questioned the chief executive’s decision to publicise a list of fired staff who are now scrambling for work.
UK employees affected by the cuts told the Guardian they felt “blindsided” by the Swedish firm’s announcement last week, when its co-founder and boss Sebastian Siemiatkowski revealed it would be cutting more than 700 of its 7,000-plus global staff, including some hired just weeks earlier.
Continue reading...Outspoken leader thought to have resisted board’s attempts to split the roles of chair and chief executive
The boss of JD Sports has stepped down with immediate effect just months after the retailer was fined more than £4m for breaching the competition regulator’s rules with clandestine meetings with a takeover target.
The company said Peter Cowgill, the outspoken chair and chief executive officer of JD, who has led the group since 2004, would be temporarily replaced as chief executive by Kath Smith, its senior independent director who spent 25 years as managing director of the Adidas and Reebok brands.
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