All Covid-19 articles – Page 27
-
OpinionRoger Wade: ‘We need to level the playing field between online and high street’
Last week brought the end of shopping restrictions as retail returned across the UK. Sadly, the second lockdown did more damage than we ever expected as high street retailers suffered a double blow of not only the pandemic, but online competition.
-
Retail VoiceHow to gain a sharper edge in ecommerce
Even before the pandemic, the efficiency, speed and increased sales that ecommerce and back-end technology could bring were top priorities for retailers.
-
NewsKingfisher agrees to return business rates relief in full
The board of home and DIY giant Kingfisher has agreed to return more than £130m in business rates relief in full, becoming the latest retailer to do so.
-
NewsTed Baker slips deeper into the red as revenues fall
Ted Baker has reported deepening losses before tax as its revenues fell and costs associated with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic rose.
-
NewsMike Ashley’s Frasers swoops in with late rescue bid for Debenhams
Frasers Group has made a last-minute rescue bid for ailing department store chain Debenhams, with owner Mike Ashley vowing to save as many jobs as possible.
-
Opinion‘Essential retailers may have shot sector in foot with rates relief repayments’
In the space of a few days, a wave of essential retailers has voluntarily returned the best part of £2bn in business rates relief to the government. In doing so they have won the public relations battle, but have they lost the long-term rates reform war?
-
NewsLidl joins retailers returning business rates relief with £100m payback
Discounter Lidl has become the latest retailer to agree to waive the business rates relief it received at the start of the pandemic by repaying £100m to the government.
-
NewsPrimark posts ‘very strong’ sales after reopening post-lockdown
Sales at fashion powerhouse Primark have been “very strong” after stores reopened following national lockdowns, parent ABF reported.
-
NewsB&M and Pets at Home follow grocers and forego rates relief
Value giant B&M and specialist retailer Pets at Home have become the latest retailers to waive business rates relief after Tesco sparked a spate of such initiatives earlier this week.
-
Retail VoiceIndustry execs reveal what the new customer journey must look like
Critizr recently interviewed 114 retail managers and senior leaders to understand how they have changed their customer journeys amid the pandemic. UK marketing lead Hazel Morton shares the top-line findings
-
AnalysisData: Waitrose tracks online grocery first-timers and changing tastes
Waitrose & Partners’ latest Food and Drink Report highlights that, in a year dominated by the pandemic and national lockdowns, customers moved online more than ever before and became oddly fixated on fermentation.
-
NewsAsda to repay £340m in business rates relief
Asda has become the latest in a growing list of grocers to voluntarily waive business rates relief and repay the government in full.
-
NewsAldi becomes latest grocer to commit to repaying business rates relief
Discount grocery chain Aldi has said this morning it will pay back over £100m in business rates relief, becoming the fourth grocer to do so in 24 hours.
-
NewsSainsbury’s and Morrisons to repay £714m business rates relief
Grocery chains Sainsbury’s and Morrisons have both followed Tesco’s lead by committing to repay a combined £714m of business rates relief.
-
GalleryIn pictures: Festive footfall down as stores released from lockdown
Stores in England reopened their doors today, kick-starting the Christmas spending period after the latest lockdown, but shopper traffic was still steeply down year-on-year in key destinations.
-
AnalysisAnalysis: Tesco’s rate repayment likely to trigger domino effect
Tesco’s decision to repay its business rates relief in full will almost certainly lead to a chain reaction of others following suit. But while other dominoes look set to fall, many in the industry are questioning Tesco’s true motives.
-
Opinion‘Covid may bring chance to rebuild high street experience for a new age’
We’re now in the middle of what would traditionally be the busiest period in the retail calendar and for the probably for the first time ever in the peak season, most shops were shuttered for four weeks.
-
NewsBonmarché collapses into administration in grim week for retail
Fashion retailer Bonmarché has plunged into administration, adding to a grim toll of retail collapses this week.
-
NewsCosmetics etailer Beauty Bay mulls stock market listing
Manchester-based online retailer Beauty Bay is considering following in the footsteps of The Hut Group with a stock market float.
-
NewsTesco to repay £585m business rates relief in full
Tesco will repay the business rates relief it received at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, which boss Ken Murphy has said is “absolutely the right thing to do”.

















