Retail news

• UK retailers pay only 14% of £2.5bn rent due this week

  25-06-2020 20:51
  
  High street crisis triggered by coronavirus lockdown hits property industryCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageUK retailers stumped up just 14% of the £2.5bn quarterly rent bill due this week, as the high street crisis triggered by the lockdown reverberated through the property industry.The collapse in the rental take to a record low adds to the woes of Intu Properties, one of Britain’s largest shopping centre owners, which on Friday faces a deadline to
  
  Read more

• Macy’s to shed 3,900 jobs as part of restructuring

  25-06-2020 19:00
  Cuts to administrative and management roles expected to save $365m this financial year
  
  Read more

• What are the UK’s top retailers doing to improve racial & ethnic diversity in the boardroom?

  25-06-2020 18:20 via retailgazette.co.uk
  In the wake of the latest and ongoing surge of Black Lives Matter protests around the world, retailers of every size released statements of solidarity for the movement.
  However, as the intensity of those few weeks pass, some critics are suggesting corporations have done little to turn this “moment” into a “movement”. In the UK, improving the representation at board level for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) people has been an incredibly slow process.
  Last week, Mar
  
  Read more

• Nisa enjoys strong recruitment with 242 new store sign-ups

  25-06-2020 17:50 via retailgazette.co.uk
  // 242 new stores signed up in first five months of the year, including forecourt retailer Ascona Group
  // Builds on record 2019 recruitment figures, marking a 40% like-for-like leap in store number recruitment
  // Latest Kantar figures show further increase in convenience market share to 69.3%Nisa has reported further strong recruitment numbers with 242 stores signing up in the five months to May.
  This follows a robust year post-acquisition by the Co-op Group in May 2018 and places Nisa £2
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Central England Co-op members rewarded with share of £570,000 payout

  25-06-2020 17:35 via retailgazette.co.uk
  // Central England Co-op members given a share of £570,000 payout
  // The “thank you” reward benefits 125,000 membersCentral England Co-op has revealed that it shared out over £570,000 among its members as a reward for their loyalty.
  The grocery retailer said the “thank you” payout would benefit 125,000 members.
  Shoppers can use their dividend when they next visit a Central England Co-op to pick up food and vital essentials.READ MORE:Central England Co-op donat
  
  Read more

• Lorry drivers from outside EU 'exploited' in lockdown delivery surge

  25-06-2020 17:33
  
  A new business model seems to be taking hold in a logistics system under huge strainAt dusk one day this month, dozens of lorries registered in Lithuania, Poland and Romania were packed like giant sardines just off the M25. The truck stop for international drivers heading north from Dover was in a mud and gravel field around an old house converted into a cafe-cum-barber shop.Russian was the common language as much as English. Among the drivers using the open-air showers or cooking over gas stove
  
  Read more

• UK retailers pay less than 15% of rent due

  25-06-2020 15:40
  High street chains withhold payments and office landlords see sharpest decline in receipts
  
  Read more

• Rents from UK retailers tumble to 15%

  25-06-2020 15:40
  High street chains withhold payments and office landlords see sharpest decline in receipts
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Amazon launches ‘Counterfeit Crimes Unit’ in major crackdown of fraudulent sellers

  25-06-2020 15:32 via chargedretail.co.uk
  
  Amazon is set to establish a new ‘Counterfeit Crimes Unit’ to crack down on unlawful sales of fake and counterfeit products amid increasing pressure.
  The new global multi-disciplinary team, which will be comprised of former federal prosecutors, data analysts and investigators, will focus primarily on preventative measures to stop products ever being listed on Amazon’s marketplace.
  Its new unit will use Amazon’s swathes of data alongside third-party information from compan
  
  Read more

• Retailers still pessimistic despite lockdown exit – CBI

  25-06-2020 14:26 via retailgazette.co.uk
  // Retail sales sank 37% in June, although this was slower compared to the 50% drop in May, says CBI
  // Retailers still expect sales to fall at faster pace in July, despite reopening of non-essential retailersRetailers have remained pessimistic after posting another “steep drop” in sales in the year to June, according to new figures.
  The latest monthly Distributive Trades Survey by the CBI revealed that retail sales sank by 37 per cent in the year to June.
  However, the survey, which
  
  Read more

• Matalan announces new chair and chief commercial officer

  25-06-2020 13:52 via retailgazette.co.uk
  // Steve Johnson named new chairperson of Matalan, replacing John Mills
  // Matalan also appoints James Brown as its new chief commercial officerMatalan has announced the appointment of a new chairperson and a new chief commercial officer, less than a month after John Mills said he would be stepping down from the board.
  Steve Johnson is set to replace Mills as the value retailer’s new chairperson, while James Brown will be stepping into the brand new board-level role of chief commercial off
  
  Read more

• UK retailers remain gloomy about quick post-lockdown bounce back

  25-06-2020 13:22
  
  CBI says retailers fear lower consumer demand, problems from staff absences and transport difficulties will hit dent salesBritain’s retailers are downbeat about the prospects of a rapid bounce back in business after the easing of Covid-19 restrictions, the CBI has reported.Despite the reopening of non-essential stores from 15 June, retailers fear that a lack of demand and a continued absence of staff due to school closures will leave sales in July well below levels of a year ago. Continue
  
  Read more

• Pret A Manger slashes rent payments to landlords

  25-06-2020 12:52
  Sandwich chain warns it is in ‘eye of a storm’ as sales slump more than 80%
  
  Read more

• Halfords fills number of vacancies with Army vets

  25-06-2020 12:37 via retailgazette.co.uk
  // Halfords interviewed hundreds of former servicemen & women since signing the Armed Forces Covenant last year
  // It has since taken on scores of recruits in its stores and Autocentres across the UKHalfords has filled a number of vacancies with ex-services personnel and reservists, the retailer announced ahead of Armed Forces Day this Saturday.
  The bikes and car parts chain said it interviewed hundreds of former servicemen and women since signing the Armed Forces Covenant last year.
  It has
  
  Read more

• The Booksellers review – warm study of a fast-shifting subculture

  25-06-2020 12:00
  
  New York’s bibliophiles provide the contents of a documentary about a once-cherished trade caught in a bind by the digital ageThe interest of this garrulous, convivial documentary creeps up on you by degrees: a study of secondhand and antiquarian booksellers in New York City. This was once a clubbable – and very male – profession that hardly changed for centuries, run by a mole-tribe of eccentric, tweed-wearing guys who were irritated to be beckoned from their chaotic shelves o
  
  Read more

• TikTok launches ‘TikTok For Business’ in direct challenge to Instagram and Snapchat

  25-06-2020 11:53 via chargedretail.co.uk
  
  TikTok has officially launched ‘TikTok For Business’ offering brands and retailers a myriad of marketing tools in a major challenge to Snapchat and Instagram.
  TikTok for Business is a new platform which allows brands to create their own adverts and connect with influencers within the app.
  It offers retailers tools to create a range of adverts on the platform, including ‘TopView’ ads which appear when the app is first launched, ‘Brand Takeovers’ which are three
  
  Read more

• Total revenue up 2% for Matalan’s full year trading

  25-06-2020 10:34 via retailgazette.co.uk
  // Matalan total revenue up for full year to end of February 2020
  // Founder John Hargreaves says business is “very clear on the key areas the business needs to deliver on in the months ahead”Matalan’s total revenue came in at £1,129.4 million in the full year to February 29, rising 2.3 per cent from the £103.9 million achieved the year before.
  The value-focused retailer on Thursday said it was pleased to have grown its sales and market share over the last year, not
  
  Read more

• Bill Grimsey calls for new localised approach to saving high streets

  25-06-2020 10:04 via retailgazette.co.uk
  // Retail guru Brill Grimsey says business rates should be scrapped and replaced with simpler 2% tax system
  // New review calls for town centres and high streets to be run on localised level
  // Grimsey says post-COVID-19 presents a “golden opportunity to repair their neglected social fabric” of high streetsThe former chief executive of Wickes, Bill Grimsey has recommended high streets take on a “massive shift in power” away from central government, instead empowering loca
  
  Read more

• Waitrose’s new managing director calls for food standards protection against post-Brexit trade deals

  25-06-2020 09:22 via retailgazette.co.uk
  // New Waitrose MD calls for legislation against reduction in high food standards in the UK
  // James Bailey says Waitrose will not sell any products that don’t meet retailer’s own standards
  // Over 1m people sign National Farmers’ Union petition to stop imports of food produced to lower standards than those UK farmers abide byWaitrose’s newly installed managing director James Bailey has joined calls for the government to protect food standards in post-Brexit trade deals.
  
  Read more

• N Brown FY profits fall 29%

  25-06-2020 09:01 via retailgazette.co.uk
  // Profits down by almost a third for N Brown’s 2020 financial year
  // The Jacamo, JD Williams and Simply Be retailer is now focused on “refreshed strategy” for growth
  // In light of coronavirus lockdown, CEO says “the crisis will cast a lasting shadow over the sector”N Brown’s annual profits fell 28.9 per cent in the 52 weeks to February 29, during what the group described as a “critical year” in its transition to digital channels.
  The Simply Be,
  
  Read more

• Masayoshi Son steps down from Alibaba board after 15 years

  25-06-2020 08:26
  Decision marks end of chapter in SoftBank founder’s most lucrative investment
  
  Read more

• Pinduoduo defies gravity with spending spree

  25-06-2020 07:38
  CFO-free Chinese online retailer says its magic formula is being a mix of ‘Costco and Disneyland’
  
  Read more

• Waitrose boss joins calls for post-Brexit food standards protection

  25-06-2020 01:01
  
  James Bailey says regression from current standards would be ‘unacceptable backwards step’The new boss of Waitrose has joined farmers and food campaigners in urging the government to protect food standards in post-Brexit trade deals.James Bailey, who joined Waitrose from Sainsbury’s in April, said any regression from current high standards in the UK would be an unacceptable backwards step and pledged that Waitrose would not sell any products that did not meet its own standards.
  
  Read more

• United Carpets says early store trading has been encouraging

  25-06-2020 01:00 via theretailbulletin.com
  
  United Carpets has said early trading in its stores has been encouraging since the easing of lockdown and appears to reflect some initial pent up demand amongst... View Article
  
  Read more

• Tim Hortons launches delivery service with Uber Eats

  25-06-2020 01:00 via theretailbulletin.com
  
  Canadian coffee shop chain Tim Hortons has begun offering a delivery service to customers in the UK and Ireland via the Uber Eats app. Customers will be able to... View Article
  
  Read more

• Seekology to launch virtual skincare consultations

  25-06-2020 01:00 via theretailbulletin.com
  
  Seekology, the online beauty and wellbeing retailer, is launching a new service where customers can have virtual skincare consultations. Due to start operating on 29 June, the 30 minute... View Article
  
  Read more

• Pippa Wicks to join John Lewis as executive director

  25-06-2020 01:00 via theretailbulletin.com
  
  The John Lewis Partnership has hired Pippa Wicks as executive director for the John Lewis department store chain. She will join the business in August from the Co-op... View Article
  
  Read more

• New general manager appointed for The Mall at Maidstone

  25-06-2020 01:00 via theretailbulletin.com
  
  Capital & Regional has appointed Gavin Cockayne as the new general manager at the Mall Maidstone. He will succeed Andy Davy who is retiring from the role... View Article
  
  Read more

Follow @retailuknws on Twitter!