Tobacco display ban coming soon
The government announced last March that any large retailers will have to hide tobacco products and cigarettes from the sight of customers, if they had a store that is more than 3,000sq.ft in area. There is a 100-day countdown to the legislation coming into effect and within three months all large supermarkets and retailers will [...]
Shoppers love fashion label
SuperGroup, the fashion operators behind that Cult and Superdry products has announced that over the Christmas period they saw a 10% increase in sales compared to their competitors. The clothing brand, which also sell gloves, mobile phone cases, wallets and scarves, has managed to leave it’s competitors in its wake and looks set to make [...]
Christmas sales fell despite cuts
The major fashion and retailer saw a 16-month low in sales, despite the firm reducing prices on the run up to Christmas as it tried to encourage more shoppers. The rampant discounts failed to stop the disappointing sales figures for general products in the high street stores. Non-food products saw slashed prices as the retail [...]
Consumers slam loan company
Payday loan and short term money lender, Wonga.com, has come under fire for promoting “financial freedom” for students by offering loans that have a 4,214% APR rate. With students generally unable to find the time to work while studying, the repayments are be crippling for those that are already trying to cut spending and watch [...]
Restaurants and jobs to be lost
The 54-year-old Little Chef roadside restaurant chain has announced that 67 restaurants and 600 jobs are being axed in a bid to rekindle the firm’s dire financial status. With “Charlie”, the Little Chef mascot, not being as well-seen on the UK’s motorways starting this month and into next, the firm is taking severe action in [...]
Big competition for graduate jobs
This year’s university students are set to have more dire news after a report shows that those students that left university last year and filling up the graduate posts rapidly, leaving not many free for this year’s graduates. Twenty percent of applications to employers have increased by 25%, meaning that students from last year have [...]
Inflation drop benefits consumers
December 2011 saw a drop in shop price inflation to 1.7%, a 16-month low, according to the latest conumer reseach reports. With the price cuts affecting footwear, cloting and electricals being the most hit. This will help shoppers buy more goods and not feel the pinch as much after last year’s VAT rise. As shoppers [...]
Shoppers movements get tracked
The eyes in the sky are using mobile phone signals to track shoppers’ movements in order to gauge consumer trends, according to a recent source. The UK high streets and Princesshay Shopping Centre in Exeter in particular have been first to enable the technology, which has been popular in the USA for a while, and [...]
Wealthy shoppers boosting sales
John Lewis, the department store, was expecting an austerity Christmas but in a turn of events it received its best weekly sales figures. The large chain took £133.1m on the run up to December 17th, taking a 10.6% hike on last year’s Christmas week, and a 7.8% increase on the week before. With a 42% [...]
Mortgage tests get scrapped
The FSA has gone back on its proposal to put an end to interest-only mortgages, after brokers around the country claimed that mortgages can be given to people after evaluating their individual circumstances, rather than let them fall into the trap of being held into a mortgage that is far too expensive for them. The [...]