Retail news

• Superdrug hires former Lloyds Pharmacy exec as healthcare director

  05-07-2023 17:55 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  Superdrug has poached Lloyds Pharmacy executive Ghada Beal as its new healthcare director.
  Beal brings 28 years of experience in retail and pharmacy to the role, most recently serving as Lloyds Pharmacy’s retail and pharmacy services director.
  She also spent four years as Walgreen Boots Alliance as director of stores.
  Beal will take up her role from 7 August, replacing interim healthcare director Caris Newson, who will become Superdrug’s head of ecommerce.Subscribe to Retail Gazette
  
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• Ideal World crashes off air as it seeks sale

  05-07-2023 17:55 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  TV shopping channel Ideal World has been suspended and had its website taken offline.
  The news means 250 staff at the Peterborough-based company could potentially face layoffs.
  Revealing the update on its website and Facebook page, the station said: “‘We regret to inform you that Ideal World have had to temporarily suspend broadcasting and our website.
  “We’re sorry for any inconvenience caused; we hope to be back online as soon as possible”.The TV programme, broadca
  
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• Dune partners with Reskinned for new take-back scheme

  05-07-2023 16:40 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  Dune London has teamed up with pre-loved specialists Reskinned to launch a new take-back scheme.
  The service allows customers to return their used shoes in any condition in exchange for a voucher worth up to £40 off their next purchase.
  As part of the deal, Reskinned will be responsible for keeping pre-loved Dune shoes “in circulation for the longest time possible through resale, repair and developing innovative end-of-life solutions for each and every pair”.Subscribe to Retail
  
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• Carpetright owner snaps up UK Flooring Direct in pre-pack deal

  05-07-2023 16:06 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  A subsidiary of Carpetright owner Nestware Holdings has bought online flooring specialist UK Flooring Direct in a pre-pack administration that has saved all jobs at the firm.
  The etailer has been snapped up by Keswick Flooring, a subsidiary of Nestware Holdings, from administrator Teneo Financial Advisory and all 85 employees have been retained.
  Joint administrator Paul Meadows said that the sale gives the business “the strategic backing it requires to fulfil its ambitions”. 
  He
  
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• THG CEO Moulding to sell firm’s headquarters

  05-07-2023 14:36 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  THG CEO Matt Moulding is set to sell its Manchester headquarters with a real estate investor tipped to buy it.
  The ecommerce company’s HQ in Icon Business Park is currently owned by Moulding, who bought the site back in 2019 in a deal understood to be worth £250m
  The 1 million sq ft business park, which is close to Manchester Airport, was completed in 2021 and includes five industrial units and an office.
  According to a report to Warrington Council’s cabinet, a firm named SLBI
  
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• H&M to trial new store concept in Manchester

  05-07-2023 14:09 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  H&M will trial a new store concept at one of its Manchester locations as it looks to update its store estate.
  The ‘Keep-The-Presence’ design, which will be added to H&M’s Market Street branch, forms part of the fashion retailer’s expansion strategy focused on integrating digital and physical channels to provide a holistic customer experience.
  The concept will offer curated capsule collections in “pop-up style areas”, self-checkouts, click and collect l
  
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• From funerals to toilet breaks: Ocado reveals quirky online shopping habits

  05-07-2023 14:05 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  Ocado customers are adding to their shopping list from funerals and during toilet breaks, according to the online grocer’s latest advertising campaign.
  The campaign – which highlights key moments when customers choose to add items to their virtual shopping trolley – is the most recent grocery advert to lean heavily on both humour and customer insights.
  It marks the launch of a new brand platform communicating Ocado’s core proposition of offering more choice, signalling a
  
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• Topps Tiles backs profit guidance as sales rise

  05-07-2023 14:04 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  Topps Tiles has backed its full-year profit guidance after posting a “robust” third quarter as cost pressures begin to ease.
  Group sales for the period rose 4.4% and were 7.6% ahead in the 39-weeks ending 1 July.
  Like-for-like quarterly sales at Topps Tiles rose 2.5% and were 3.7% higher on a year-to-date basis, as margin’s improved due to the easing of inflationary pressures on the cost of goods and shipping.
  The DIY retailer said the performance of Pro Tiler Tools and Tile Wa
  
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• Leicester fined £880,000 for restricting online kit sales with JD Sports

  05-07-2023 13:45
  
  Competition and Markets Authority says Leicester City and JD admitted they broke competition lawBusiness live – latest updatesLeicester City FC has been fined £880,000 by the UK’s competition watchdog after admitting restricting online sales of its football kit with JD Sports.The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said Leicester City and JD had both admitted that they broke competition law. Continue reading...
  
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• BREAKING: JD Sports broke competition law with Leicester City price fixing

  05-07-2023 12:46 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  The CMA has provisionally found that JD Sports and Leicester City FC “colluded to restrict competition” in the sales of the football club’s clothing, including its replica kit.
  The paid admitted to breaking competition law across three seasons as JD agreed to make Leicester City FC clothing exempt from standard free delivery offer for the 2019/2020 season and part of the 2020/21 season.
  Leicester have been handed a £880,000 fine, however, JD Sports escaped financial penal
  
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• Quiz full-year profits rise but sales plummet in Q1

  05-07-2023 11:56 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  Quiz full-year profits and sales have jumped as the retailer benefitted from the end of Covid restrictions, however sales plunged 15% in the first quarter of its current financial year.
  The retailer said the sales fall in the quarter to 30 June reflected the strong comparatives it was up against, as well as “the impact of the macroeconomic uncertainty and inflationary pressures on consumer demand”.
  The retailer expects that profits will remain flat year on year.
  However, it pointed o
  
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• Asos launches sample sale website where everything is £5

  05-07-2023 11:38 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  Asos has launched a pop-up sample sale website where it is selling old own brand stock at a heavily discounted price of just £5.
  The new site is offering shoppers up to 90% off and forms part of the fashion retailer’s strategy to right-size its stock portfolio as it looks to cut costs.
  Visitors can shop from a selection of over 2,000 womenswear and menswear products from Asos-owned brands, including the Design and Edition lines, which are no longer available on the retailer’s m
  
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• Asos launches ‘pop up’ sample sale website

  05-07-2023 11:38 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  Asos has launched a pop-up sample sale website where it is selling old own brand stock at a heavily discounted price of just £5.
  The new site is offering shoppers up to 90% off and forms part of the fashion retailer’s strategy to right-size its stock portfolio as it looks to cut costs.
  Visitors can shop from a selection of over 2,000 womenswear and menswear products from Asos-owned brands, including the Design and Edition lines, which are no longer available on the retailer’s m
  
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• AO World says inflationary pressures are easing, as it returns to profit

  05-07-2023 10:23
  
  Electrical goods retailer reports pre-tax profits of £8m in year to end of March after big restructureAO World has said inflationary pressures are easing, as the UK online electrical goods company bounced back to profitability after a big restructure, including “significant” job cuts.The founder and chief executive of the company, which sells kitchen appliances, mobile phones, TVs and laptops for home delivery, said that inflationary pressures had “levelled out” ove
  
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• M&S trading off to a ‘good start’, says boss as board rethinks fully-digital AGM

  05-07-2023 09:50 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  The M&S food business has made a “good start” to the new financial year despite experiencing a slight setback the year before, according to M&S boss Stuart Machin.
  The chief executive told investors on Tuesday that the company’s food margin took a 130 basis points hit in the year to 1 April as it decided not to pass on the full impact of cost inflation.
  “That has given us a good start by the way into this year,” he said at the retailer’s virtual AGM.
  H
  
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• AO swings to profit as cost-cutting pays off

  05-07-2023 09:41 via retailgazette.co.uk
  Bolton-based retailer AO has returned to the black, despite a drop in sales, thanks to its cost-cutting efforts under its turnaround plan.
  The online electricals retailer posted a pre-tax profit of £7.6m in the year to 31 March 2023, up from a £10.5m loss the year before.
  However, sales plummetted 17% from £1.37bn to £1.14bn over the period due to weaker consumer sentiment and as the retailer pulled back on non-core channels and loss-making sales.
  “Our strategy now
  
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• Matalan suppliers accuse brand of ‘cowboy’ behaviour as it looks to cut costs

  05-07-2023 08:29 via retailgazette.co.uk
  
  Matalan suppliers have accused the retailer of “cowboy buying practices” after it reportedly asked for 20% price cuts on several of its clothing orders.
  Some manufactures have alleged that the fashion and homeware retailer is involved in some of the “most aggressive, unreasonable buying practices” they had ever seen, The Times reported.
  They claimed suppliers were being played against one another in a bid to cut costs, raising issues such as quality to “justify requ
  
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• ‘It has lost its appeal’: Canary Wharf faces an uncertain future

  05-07-2023 08:00
  
  London’s docklands financial district is facing the loss of major firms such as HSBC and its owners are having to innovate to stem the exodus“It’s not happening.” This is the blunt assessment of the success of efforts to turn Canary Wharf into a shopping and leisure destination. “Mondays and Fridays are dead,” says the frank shop worker. “This shop used to take a fair bit before Covid but now everything’s changed.”It’s a verdict that ap
  
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• Topps Tiles backs full year guidance after strong third quarter

  05-07-2023 02:00 via theretailbulletin.com
  
  Topps Tiles has backed its full year guidance after posting group sales growth of 4.4% in its third quarter. Meanwhile like-for-like sales at Topps Tiles were... View Article
  
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• Superdrug appoints new healthcare director

  05-07-2023 02:00 via theretailbulletin.com
  
  Superdrug has appointed Ghada Beal as its new healthcare director. With 28 years’ experience in the retail and pharmacy sector, she was  previously retail and pharmacy... View Article
  
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• Quiz reports 17% increase in annual sales

  05-07-2023 02:00 via theretailbulletin.com
  
  Fashion retailer Quiz has grown its full year revenue by 17% to £91.7 million after its occasion wear offering was boosted by the absence of Covid-19... View Article
  
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• Naked Wines brings back founder as chairman

  05-07-2023 02:00 via theretailbulletin.com
  
  Naked Wines has appointed its founder Rowan Gormley as chairman as part of plans to boost growth. He has succeeded David Stead who has stepped down... View Article
  
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• Marks & Spencer launches second bag with artist Yinka Ilori

  05-07-2023 02:00 via theretailbulletin.com
  
  Marks & Spencer has teamed up with artist Yinka Ilori for a second time to launch a new tote bag. Inspired by his memories of working... View Article
  
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