All articles by George Arnett – Page 4
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NewsletterIntelligence Briefing: Does zero waste delivery work?
Squeezing just into the last day of Plastic-Free July, I spent this week writing my review of two-weeks shopping with zero waste delivery service weekly.shop. What is interesting about this start-up, which currently serves some London postcodes, is that it is laser-focused on making shopping zero waste as simple as ...
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AnalysisNo waste, no fuss: What it’s like to shop with weekly.shop
After years of efforts and attempts by major grocers at plastic packaging reduction, it remains difficult to go to a supermarket and get all the products you want without taking home some disposable plastics too.
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Chart of the WeekThe size of the secondhand market in Europe
New research out from Amazon and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) found that the online secondhand goods market in the UK was worth £4.3bn in 2024.
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NewsGucci sales drop as luxury retail slump continues
Gucci sales dropped by 25% year on year in the second quarter as a challenging period for the world’s high-end retailers continues.
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NewsRiver Island at risk of collapse “within weeks” without rescue plan - report
River Island is set to collapse “within weeks” unless a rescue plan can be agreed with creditors, according to a report in The Telegraph.
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NewsDebenhams “close” to refinancing deal with past department store funder
Debenhams Group is in advanced talks about securing a £175m refinancing package with one of the companies behind the 2003 delisting of the former department store potentially involved, according to a Sky News report.
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NewsWickes sees strong growth as shoppers seek timber and garden fixes
The DIY and home improvement business saw like-for-like retail revenue growth of 6.4% in the six months ending June 28, 2025 vs the year before
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Chart of the WeekIs Lidl set to become Britain’s fifth-biggest grocer?
The latest Worldpanel by Numerator data came out earlier this week, with the headline figure being grocery price inflation reaching 5.2%. That equates to an unpleasant £275 extra per year on the average shopping bill, says the organisation previously known as Kantar Worldpanel.
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AnalysisAI shopping is good – what does that mean for retailers?
OpenAI is reportedly planning to integrate checkout into the ChatGPT shopping tool. Whether this happens or not, the move by various large language model (LLM) providers to push into product discovery is massive news for retailers.
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NewsRetailer profit warnings speed up in May to June
UK-listed retailers issued seven profit warnings during the second quarter of 2025, double the amount seen in the first three months of the year.
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DataWhat retailers need to know about how AI is changing SEO
More people are searching for their shopping using AI tools – here is what we know so far about how to get your brand featured
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Chart of the WeekChart: Food inflation rises for third month in a row
Prices of food and non-alcoholic drinks in the UK rose by 4.5% in June, the fastest yearly increase since February 2024
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NewsB&M reports like-for-like revenue growth in the first quarter
The value retailer saw group revenues increase by 4.5% in constant currency for the 13 weeks ending 28 June, 2025.
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NewsSosandar moderates growth expectations due to M&S cyber incident
The fashion retailer says that lower revenue through M&S and a decision to halt new store openings means they are taking a “prudent view” and cutting sales expectations for this year by £2.6m.
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Chart of the WeekHow businesses are making discounting more strategic
When it comes to discounting, ‘how low can you go?’ seems to be a strategy that cannot pay off in the long run for retailers.
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DataRanking: John Lewis overtakes M&S in customer satisfaction poll
John Lewis has overtaken Marks & Spencer in the latest UK Customer Satisfaction Index (UKCSI), despite M&S impressively maintaining its performance in the face of a cyber attack that shut down online sales
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NewsSainsbury’s head of innovation departs
Sainsbury’s head of own-label product development and innovation Claire Hughes has announced she will be leaving the retailer after seven years.
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NewsMaternitywear brand Seraphine enters administration
Maternitywear retailer Seraphine has entered administration, with the majority of its 95 staff being made redundant.
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NewsWatches of Switzerland surpasses $1bn in US sales
Its fast-growing US business has helped drive record revenues at the British hard luxury retailer.
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NewsCurrys results show “strongest balance sheet in a decade”
The electricals retailer reported £162m in group adjusted profit before tax in the year ended May 3, 2025, a 37% increase year on year.