Retail Week
Martin Stabe
Martin Stabe was online editor of Retail Week between 2008 and 2010.
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Selfridges' online debut
April 1, 2010
Selfridges’ much-anticipated transactional website finally went live last week. -
RWC2010: Ebay to launch specialist fashion channel
4-Mar-2010
Ebay is to launch a specialist fashion section within the next two months, the online giant’s UK managing director has revealed at the Retail Week Conference. -
Ikea to launch first Latin American store
February 26, 2010
Ikea has opened its first store in Latin America. The store is located on a 753,500 sq ft plot in the Dominican Republic’s capital Santo Domingo.The store cost $85m (£54.5m) to build and will provide as many as 2,500 direct and indirect jobs. -
Paperchase stung by Twitter design furore
February 19, 2010
Paperchase has admitted errors in its handling of design plagiarism allegations, which provoked an online outcry. -
Paperchase ‘chastened’ by Twitter uproar over copied artwork
16-Feb-2010
Paperchase has withdrawn four products and apologised to an artist whose work was copied in their design after a week of intense online criticism of the retailer. -
Bundlebox.com
November 20, 2009
In theory, the internet should enable a global retail market. In practice, of course, the cost and complexity of international payments and fulfilment logistics have limited cross-border retailing. -
Ifoapplestore.com cements Apple's cult following
November 13, 2009
Few retailers command the sort of brand loyalty that leads customers to create online communities around their products - let alone their stores. Apple, of course, has a cult following, with specialist sites pouring over every vague patent application and rumours from the suppliers in Asia of the latest products to come from the notoriously secretive electronics company. -
Amazon.com/payphrase
November 6, 2009
Will phrase and PIN be the new username and password? -
Twitter.com/Twelpforce
October 9, 2009
Best Buy has a reputation for excellent customer service and online savvy that has its UK rivals worried even before its debut here next year. Some of its efforts in social media are examples of both. -
Amazon launches standalone footwear site Javari
2-Oct-2009
Amazon UK has launched its standalone footwear and handbag site, Javari.co.uk. -
Blacks to seek exits on store leases
1-Oct-2009
Blacks Leisure is to contact landlords over the coming weeks to seek exits from the leases on the stores it intends to close, and could agree a company voluntary arrangement by November. -
Flying Brands moves fulfilment functions to UK
1-Oct-2009
Flying Brands has moved some of the fulfillment functions of its flower business to the UK from Jersey and as appointed a new sales and marketing director. -
‘Son of Woolworths’ Alworths set for November launch
1-Oct-2009
Updated: A chain of Woolworths-like stores is set to open next month under the name Alworths, but could face legal hurdles. -
Rugby.com/iphone allows users to create their own shirt designs
September 25, 2009
Several cutting-edge technologies – mass customisation, QR barcodes and oversized touchscreen store displays – are cleverly combined in the latest campaign by Ralph Lauren sub-brand Rugby. -
Woolies Watch: What happened to your local Woolworths?
28-Aug-2009
Updated: New research shows that 60% of former Woolworths stores have been let. Retail Week is monitoring local reports of the impact these new store openings are having in communities across Britain. -
Biduhappy.com brings ‘reverse shopping’ to independent retailers
August 21, 2009
A new website is promising independent retailers a new “reverse shopping” route to the online market without setting up ecommerce infrastructure of their own. -
Poundland dips toe in contactless payment
August 21, 2009
Poundland is trialling contactless payment technology at two of its London shops as it seeks to cut queues at its checkouts. -
Need to know... Smartphone applications
July 31, 2009
As mobile phones evolve, retailers can target consumers in ever more sophisticated ways through smartphone applications -
Razwar.com takes razor blades online
July 31, 2009
Razors and blades have been synonymous with the marketing strategy that has been used to sell them since King C Gillette started using razor blade handles as a loss-leader to encourage ongoing sales of his disposable razor blades in 1901. -
Ocado.com is making an impression
July 24, 2009
“Loving the Ocado iPhone app – just did the shopping on the bus,” one Londoner enthused on Twitter last week, just hours after the online grocer launched on the Apple smartphone. -
Digital media sales raise new customer service questions for retailers
22-Jul-2009
Although it is far from a mature market, it is always worth watching developments in electronic books — and it has been a busy week in the sector. -
Tesco opens website to developers of applications
22-Jul-2009
Tesco.com is providing third-party programmers with access to some of its data to ensure the site becomes available on the growing number of devices that consumers use for internet access. -
Every little innovation helps
15-Jul-2009
Could Tesco’s revamped application programming interface (API) be the spur for other retailers to encourage third-party developers to build new customer-facing e-tail applications? -
Budget 2009: Darling’s credit insurance top-up scheme ‘too little, too late’
22-Apr-2009
Updated: Chancellor Alistair Darling has confirmed that the Government will implement a credit insurance top-up scheme, under which it will match insurance offered by the private sector. -
Website of the week: Walmart.com
27-Mar-2009
Access Walmart.com from an Apple iPhone and you will be automatically redirected to a stripped-down version of the site where tiny links are replaced by large buttons suitable for chubby fingers tapping a screen. -
Website of the week: remix.bestbuy.com
20-Mar-2009
Best Buy may be delaying its UK debut, but it got a lot of attention this week when it formally launched Best Buy Remix, a long-promised service that lets third-party web developers create new ways of displaying the retailer’s product catalogue online. -
Video: John Lewis partners cheer 13 per cent bonus
11-Mar-2009
The John Lewis Partnership’s 70,000 staff will this year receive a bonus equivalent to nearly seven weeks' pay, the company revealed in its stores on Wednesday morning. -
CBI: Retail sales and employment fall in February
24-Feb-2009
More than half of retailers reported lower sales in the year to early February and retail job cuts rose to a record rate in the same period, according to the CBI’s latest Distributive Trades Survey. -
John Lewis sales down in last week of January
6-Feb-2009
John Lewis has reported that sales slipped in the last week of January, but stressed that the month as a whole had been “hugely fruitful”. -
Automated Q&A feature drives Zavvi’s online sales
26-Nov-2008
Zavvi has reduced abandonment rates and increased conversion levels on its web site after adding a tool that provides automated customer service. -
Asda Direct launches digital magazines service
21-Nov-2008
Asda Direct has started selling downloadable online versions of consumer magazines through a “digital newsagent” service. -
Netto UK boss Richard Lancaster quits
12-Nov-2008
Netto UK managing director Richard Lancaster has resigned to join another retailer. -
GfK NOP Christmas study: consumers cautious on festive spending
3-Nov-2008
Consumers have grown more cautious about their Christmas spending plans as the key trading period kicks in, according to an exclusive survey available on retail-week.com. -
Alliance Boots revenues up 11.3 per cent
30-Oct-2008
Alliance Boots executive chairman Stefano Pessina described the group’s trading performance as “relatively resilient” as the group revealed first-half revenues were up 11.3 per cent. -
New stores lift House of Fraser sales
30-Oct-2008
New store openings have boosted sales at House of Fraser by 2.7 per cent in the 39 weeks to October 25.
