All Retail Week articles in January 2021
Browse all news stories and articles from this date or time period.
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GalleryStore gallery: Tesco’s first superstore in six years goes big on sustainability
Tesco has today opened its first non-Jack’s superstore in six years, which sets out the new template the UK’s largest grocer believes will help it achieve its 2035 carbon-neutral target.
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AnalysisH&M boss Helena Helmersson: Our post-pandemic recovery plan
Fashion giant H&M has been battered by coronavirus, with swathes of its global store estate shut and profits plummeting. Chief executive Helena Helmersson reveals how the group plans to rebound in 2021.
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NewsH&M profits tumble as Covid-19 batters sales
H&M has suffered a slump in full-year profits and sales as the coronavirus crisis battered its top line.
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NewsBoohoo closes in on £25m deal for trio of Arcadia brands
Boohoo is closing in on a deal for three of Arcadia’s high street brands as the fashion etailer presses ahead with its ambitious acquisition spree.
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AnalysisThe Big Question: Do fashion retailers need stores any more?
As online-only businesses such as Boohoo and Asos snap up struggling fashion players who have suffered tumbling store sales during the pandemic, Retail Week asks whether fashion still needs a bricks-and-mortar footprint in 2021.
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OpinionLisa Hooker: ‘Long live the store – but it needs to evolve’
It’s a familiar and frightful story: the once-beloved UK high street is in terminal decline. The perfect storm of a global pandemic, online shopping and crippling rents and business rates is set to usher in the end of the physical store.
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NewsJohn Lewis customer experience director Peter Cross exits
John Lewis Partnership’s customer experience director Peter Cross is to step down after almost eight years with the business.
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Retail VoiceHow to empower consumers with frictionless self-service journeys
Retailers today face many challenges. Consumption patterns have changed – and keep on changing – and Covid has only expedited this change process.
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VideoFace time: Tesco’s Tony Hoggett on sustainable superstores and the post-Brexit border
Tesco’s chief operating officer Tony Hoggett discusses the grocery giant’s first new superstore in six years, protecting frontline staff as the pandemic grinds on and issues at the border following Brexit.
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OpinionMove of the Week: WBA’s Brewer hire marks a big step in the right direction
It’s hard to overstate the significance of Rosalind Brewer succeeding Stefano Pessina as the new chief executive of Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA).
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AnalysisShein: The rise of China’s $10bn fast-fashion disruptor
Fast-fashion etailer Shein has seemingly appeared out of nowhere to disrupt fashion retail and put itself in the mix to takeover Topshop.
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Digital editionRetail Week magazine: January 2021
In the first issue of the year, we examine why 2021 is the year the retail industry will fundamentally change, Boohoo boss John Lyttle explains how it will make Debenhams a force to be reckoned with online, and how B&Q chief Graham Bell plans ‘to beat the pureplays’.
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NewsBRC urges government action as store vacancies soar
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has urged the government to extend the business rates holiday beyond April to avoid more high street damage after vacancy rates soared at the end of 2020.
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NewsScrewfix sales hit £2bn as store estate grows
Screwfix has doubled its sales to £2bn over the last five years, while continuing to open new stores despite the pandemic.
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NewsLidl boss: The costs of going online just don’t add up
Lidl GB boss Christian Härtnagel has ruled out wading into the burgeoning online grocery market as he believes the pandemic has artificially inflated demand and the costs are too high.
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NewsLidl store investment leads to £13.6m loss
Lidl reported sales of more than £6.9bn in the UK last year, but pre-Covid investment in new stores, logistics and supply chain drove it into the red.
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NewsJoules interim sales and profits slip as chief financial officer departs
Fashion retailer Joules has blamed store closures due to coronavirus for falling sales and profits on the day it announced its chief financial officer would be stepping down.
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AnalysisHow Dixons, Joules and Hotel Chocolat’s online prowess saved Christmas
Bricks-and-mortar retailers up and down the country had feared a Christmas washout as the UK veered in and out of lockdowns at the end of 2020.
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Opinion‘Retailers must rebuild after Covid crisis – start-ups can help’
Last year’s Retail Week Discovery 50 (which I was also lucky enough to judge) feels a bit like it was a lifetime ago.
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Retail VoiceHow fulfilment can be an advantage in 2021
In March 2020, no one knew what to do. Everyone scrambled to adapt, consumers and retailers alike. There was a migration of new customers to the online market, brought there by convenience and a lack of other options.