Retail news round-up on January 21, 2016: Amazon leads in customer service, Co-op chief accused

Amazon ranks top in customer service

Amazon replaced John Lewis as the best British company for customer service, with a score of 86.6.

It was followed by Utility Warehouse and HSBC-owned online bank First Direct on the semi-annual index from the Institute of Customer Service (ICS).

John Lewis has moved out of the top three for the first time in seven years. "It is however one of the organisations that has consistently delivered excellent levels of customer service and – alongside organisations like Waitrose, Nationwide and M&S Food – has scored higher than 80 in every UK Customer Satisfaction Index since 2013," the ICS said.

Co-op chief accused of breaking own policies

Richard Pennycook, the chief executive of the Co-operative Group, was accused of breaking his own procurement policies and ignoring conflicts of interests at an employment tribunal.

But he defended hiring highly paid consultants as the Co-op Bank came close to collapse in 2013 and 2014.

The mutual retailer spent more than £100m in fees related to the recapitalisation of the bank.