Retailers

Businesses unable to cope with interest increases, research shows

One in 25 businesses would be unable to pay off its debts if the interest rates were to increase, research from insolvency trade body R3 has shown. Some 79,000 (4%) UK companies said that a small increase would affect them financially, almost a quadrupling (20,000) of figures from previous research…

Read More »

Just for Pets expect profits to continue falling

Just for Pets has announced that profits are continuing to fall due to demand being subdued. Wynnstay Group PLC said that it has “continued to experience subdued demand, reflecting general retail trends in the sector, and certain stores in particular have not delivered the expected performance, resulting in losses in this…

Read More »

UK high street could receive £3bn this Bank Holiday

The UK high street business is expected to receive £3 billion* this May bank holiday, according to Worldpay. The weaker pound has prompted a staycation frenzy, as thrifty Brits choose to spend the long weekends closer to home. New data from payments processor Worldpay reveals that in post-Brexit Britain, where foreign…

Read More »

Online sales slow according to new data

Year-on-year internet sales growth has slowed and fallen below the long-run average, according to the latest CBI Quarterly Distributive Trades Survey. Retail sales were broadly flat in the year to May following strong growth in April. The survey of 117 respondents also found that orders placed with suppliers fell modestly…

Read More »

Shoplifter claimed puppy was dead to get money

A shoplifter duped a pet shop out of £130 when she claimed her puppy had died. The unidentified woman visited Pets at Home in Arun Retail Park and began to take items off the shelves before heading to the till. She then told the shop assistant that her puppy had died…

Read More »

Number of independent retailers rises

Data released by LDC and British Independent Retailers Association (bira) has shown that traditional independent retailers opened more shops than were closed in 2016 in Britain’s top 500 town centres. National chains continued to see a fall. Independent shops saw an increase of +159 shops (+0.15 percent) in 2016. This equates…

Read More »

Online sales take the lead with UK shoppers

Internet spending has risen by more than a quarter in the past two years, according to a new report from The UK Cards Association. The report analysed how the UK uses payment cards online. Card spending on the internet totalled £154 billion in the UK in 2016, averaging £422 million a day.…

Read More »

3 minute business loans launched by NatWest

NatWest is launching a new online lending platform which will allow small businesses to borrow up to £35,000 in a process which takes around three minutes, with the money in their accounts within 24 hours. The bank has already pre-assessed half a million small business customers, who will have access…

Read More »

New credit card uses fingerprints

A new credit card that combines chip technology with fingerprints for in-store purchases has been unveiled by Mastercard. The new biometric card has been tested in South Africa, with two separate trials recently concluded with Pick n Pay, a leading supermarket retailer, and Absa Bank, a subsidiary of Barclays Africa. The new…

Read More »

Small business confidence continues to rise

UK small business confidence is at its highest level in over a year, according to the latest Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) Small Business Index (SBI). Despite a rise in business costs there has been a strong recovery pushed forward due to increased international trade. A net balance of 15.6…

Read More »