All Retail Week articles in 1-7 February 2020
Browse all news stories and articles from this date or time period.
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News
Marks & Spencer rolls out pay-and-go technology to 50 stores
Marks & Spencer has extended its Mobile Pay Go service to 50 branches, mainly in London, following a successful trial in six stores.
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News
Marks & Spencer poaches former N Brown exec for finance role
Marks & Spencer’s hiring spree continues with the news it has appointed a finance chief for its food arm as it continues its turnaround efforts.
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News
Pets at Home poaches Studio Retail Group exec as new chair
Pets at Home has appointed a new non-executive chair to succeed Tony De Nunzio.
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News
Burberry warns coronavirus has had a ‘material’ impact on sales
Burberry has scrapped previous guidance for its full-year results as it warns that coronavirus has had a ‘material negative effect’ on sales in China.
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News
Government failing retail on apprenticeships, BRC warns
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has warned that the apprenticeship levy is “not working” for retailers as the fall in new starters on retail schemes outstrips the national average.
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News
Waterstones books profits uplift as sales rise
Waterstones has recorded a rise in its full-year profits as sales rose, but the retailer said the lack of a ‘significant’ bestseller hampered potentially higher growth.
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Analysis
Why the fear factor is the biggest trend in retail right now
From Brexit concerns to coronavirus and climate change, consumers have a rising sense of anxiety. How can retailers capitalise on the power of fear?
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Opinion
Move of the Week: Bhatia is the kind of disruptive thinker JLP needs
John Lewis Partnership’s latest executive hire will be a new name to many. Nina Bhatia will join on February 17 as executive director, strategy and commercial development, following a career spent largely in consultancy and the energy sector.
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Analysis
Analysis: Will corporation tax save the high street? Don’t bank on it
Following reports that the Retail Sector Council (RSC) was preparing to recommend an increase in corporation tax to fund a cut in business rates, Retail Week discovers it’s far from a done deal.
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News
New John Lewis chair braces staff for store closures and job losses
John Lewis Partnership’s new chair Dame Sharon White has warned staff the retailer may need to reduce its store estate and cut jobs in a bid to improve profitability.
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Opinion
Opinion: Can strategy hires drive transformation at M&S and John Lewis?
In the course of two days, two of retail’s biggest and most challenged names appointed strategy directors as they seek to transform themselves and tap into tomorrow’s world.
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News
The Uptick: From New Jersey to Dorset, retail dreams big
Welcome back to The Uptick! As the dust settles on the flurry of Christmas trading updates and we settle into the new year, we take a look back at the stories that defied the January blues.
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News
Casper faces nightmare after slashing IPO valuation
Casper Sleep has again slashed the amount it is seeking in its initial public offering to encourage investors to buy a stake in the struggling retailer.
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News
Animal rights group Peta buys stake in Frasers Group
The animal rights group Peta has bought a stake in Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group, allowing activists to attend the retailer’s annual investors meeting in September.
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News
Raise corporation tax to save struggling high street, bosses urge
The Treasury should increase corporation tax to fund a business rates cut for high street retailers, a new government-commissioned report has said.
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Analysis
Analysis: Compete or collaborate? Why Tesco, M&S and Harrods are joining forces with rivals
With the threat of Amazon looming over most in the sector, some retailers are doing away with long-standing rivalries in order to take on the online Goliath. But how should retailers decide when to compete and when to collaborate?
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Opinion
Opinion: Julian Richer on his campaign to end zero-hours contracts
Zero-hours contracts, unless freely requested by the employee, create not just poverty but misery. They should be outlawed, and I’m backing an organisation created to do just that.
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Analysis
Sixty seconds with… Botanic Lab co-founder Rebekah Hall
As Retail Week Live nears, we take the chance to interview some of its most exciting speakers. This week, meet Botanic Lab co-founder Rebekah Hall.
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News
Brown Thomas to open new ‘physical and digital’ store in Dublin
Irish luxury retailer Brown Thomas is set to open a flagship store in Dundrum Town Centre, Dublin, which the retailer said will mix “physical and digital” space.
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News
M&S names non-exec as strategy and transformation director
Marks & Spencer has appointed current non-executive director Katie Bickerstaffe as its new strategy and transformation director.