Who's doing what?

Amazon store may be a model for retail

Or not, but what this giant does is worth tracking

Golden tickets for high street revival

Showbiz won't revive Britain's high streets

NRF focus shifts to consumer

The customer has always been king but this time, he is really in charge

M&S figures disguise poor profits and patchy performance

Payments and loyalty go hand in hand

Hamleys reduces queues via Mobile POS

Toy store Hamleys has implemented a new Mobile Point of Sale (POS) solution from Sanderson in order to offer customers a quick and easy way to purchase goods during the busy Christmas trading period.

Website owners have just 6 months left to comply with new cookie laws

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has warned that website owners ‘must try harder’ in complying with new cookie laws. The UK government has revised the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, which came into force in the UK on 26 May, to address new EU requirements. The Regulations make clear that UK businesses and organisations running websites in the UK need to get consent from visitors to their websites in order to store cookies on users’ computers.

Portas suggests how to improve high streets, but retailers need to stay focused

Retail Marketing Consultant, Mary Portas has published an independent review into the future of our high streets, with the goal of breathing economic and community life back into our high streets and town centres. Portas begins the report by noting that she wants to put the heart back into the centre of our high streets, re-imagining them as destinations for socialising, culture, health, wellbeing, creativity and learning.

Why have West End sales dropped from last year?

Despite attracting a million shoppers to the West End for the first traffic-free weekend of the season in Central London, an estimated 10% less was spent than last year.

Retailers worry that Amazon app undercuts them, but they needn’t fear

The latest development in the increasingly competitive online shopping vs. high street store battle has come to fruition via Amazon.com, which is now offering an app for comparing prices to be used by customers whilst shopping in high street stores.

Even without snow, Christmas deliveries still face delays

With last year’s Christmas postal delays still fresh in the memory, courier firms have now warned that they are so close to their maximum capacity that even without major snowfall, they still might have difficulties delivering the high volume of goods being ordered ahead of the big day.

UK consumers embracing technology at unprecedented pace

A survey of global shopping habits conducted by KPMG has revealed that UK shoppers are embracing technology at a faster pace than many other countries.

Sainsbury's creates 800 jobs in Scotland

As it marks the opening of its 1,000th UK store, Sainsbury’s has announced that it is to create 800 jobs in Scotland over the next 18 months. The positions will be at new stores in Montrose, Pitlochry, East Kilbride (an existing location which is being re-developed) and in new Local stores.

Social media not an ideal commercial platform after all?

Research by IPSOS Mori and the Logic Group has revealed that only 21% of UK consumers would be happy to receive commercial offers via mobile or social media channels.

M&S returns to France after 10-year absence

Following on from the launch of its first international website in October, Marks & Spencer has today opened a new flagship store in Paris, its first shop in France since closing all of its European stores back in May 2001.

Mega Monday set to be busiest online shopping day of 2011

Monday, November 21st is expected to be the busiest online shopping day of the year, with customers expected to spend in the region of £424 million, pushing the total Internet Christmas spend closer to an expected £13.4 billion figure.

GAME shares cut by 35% as sales continue to fall

After reporting a 10% sales decrease and stating that it would miss targets for sales and profits, shares in GAME dropped by a third on Wednesday afternoon. The disappointing sales were encountered in every department, including hardware, software, second-hand sales and accessories.

HMV signals new approach with first technology store

Struggling music retailer HMV has opened its first ‘Techshop’ devoted purely to technology as part of its efforts to reverse dwindling sales of core products such as music and games in its 250 existing stores.

Rising fuel costs blamed for drop in Halfords profits

Halfords has today announced a 20.4% fall in half-year pre-tax profits to £54.7m, a loss that is attributed to cash-strapped motorists that are cutting back on service and maintenance as a result of ever-rising fuel and insurance costs.

Debenhams launches virtual shopping innovation

Debenhams recently tested a new virtual shopping innovation that allows customers to virtually ‘try on’ a range of clothing via an augmented reality app created by GoldRun.

Best Buy UK experiment comes to an end

Carphone Warehouse has announced that it is to close its 11 Best Buy electrical stores across the UK, just 19 months after the US retailer opened its first store here.

Cyber attack on Adidas website forces retailer offline

Sportswear retailer Adidas has taken its website offline as a result of what it deems a ‘sophisticated criminal cyber attack’. The move was taken on November 3, but the company states that there is no evidence to suggest that consumer data had been in any way affected – and that the decision was taken purely to protect customers.

How CCTV can help retailers prevent theft

With recent figures showing a rise in the already high price of theft to retailers, despite continued investment in security, it is more important than ever to adopt smarter loss prevention techniques, according to Axis Communications.

2011 Retail Systems Awards winners announced

Fieldworks would like to congratulate all the 2011 Retail Systems Awards winners.

House of Fraser introduces new reward scheme

House of Fraser has officially launched its Recognition Reward Card, a new customer marketing initiative that enables consumers to manage their rewards online. It is able to offer this service as a result of joining forces with prepaid services company PrePay Solutions.

Is the end nigh for JJB Sports?

JJB Sports has today reported widening losses and warned of critical trading periods ahead, most notably over Christmas, the January sales and next summer’s Olympics. Pre-tax losses for the six months to the end of July totalled £66.5m, compared with £24m last year.

Shopping survey reveals UK’s best (and worst) retail locations

Westfield shopping centre in London has once again been named as the UK’s leading shopping centre by Venuescore, Javelin Group’s annual survey ranking the UK’s top 2,000+ retail venues including town centres, standalone malls, retail warehouse parks and factory outlet centres.

Card Factory profits whilst Clintons reports loss

Greetings card retailer Card Factory has reported pre-tax profit of £55.6m in the year to January 2011, up from £35.6m in the previous year.

Amazon reports losses amidst continued investment in Kindle

Online retailer Amazon has announced a 73% decrease in profits for the third quarter of trading. Following the statement on Tuesday, shares dropped 12% in after-hours trading.

Countrywide installs Memors across entire estate

Austin Reed losses widen

House of Fraser launches first concept store

PayPal outlines seamless shopping vision for offline payments

UK Retail profits rise by 2.5% in September

Pets at Home chief executive to stand down

Apple genius is gone

Marks & Spencer appoints Dom McBrien as new multi-channel trading director

Christmas isn’t coming early for retailers

Race for Iceland heats up as Asda secures financial backing

Tesco to invest £500m into Big Price Drop campaign

Play bought by Rakuten

Christmas spending - Are you going to spend less this Christmas?

Tesco named as UKs favourite retailer

Tesco has been named as the UK’s favourite retailer in consumer research conducted by The REaD Group, a marketing and data specialist. Of the 1,500 British adult consumers surveyed, 74% revealed that they shop with either the supermarket or Amazon at least once a year, highlighting the popularity and dominance of these mammoth brands.

New Look m-commerce increases sales by 500%

Making the UK a global innovation hub

Retailers lose £500m in sales by neglecting online services

Mid-market ecommerce platforms can still prosper in difficult period

Another high profile loss for Blacks

The changing social media landscape

At the fourth annual Retail Systems Multi-Channel Summit, held this past Tuesday at The IoD Hub in London, leading retailers from across the UK converged to explore the multi-channel revolution which has seen the consumer taking control – with the power to shop when, where and how they want.

B&Q owner Kingfisher sets sights on Russian expansion

Asda announce two new appointments to strengthen its executive team

Survey reveals impact of social media on consumer purchasing

Amazon to offer collection from shopping centre lockers

99p Stores to double in size

Discount chain, 99p stores is to take further advantage of the flight to discounting by opening new stores.

Worst month for UK high street in two years

August 2011 witnessed the lowest high street sales in two years, with the blame being proportioned to the combination of rioters and wet weather.

Tesco withdrawal from Japan shows we aren’t a global marketplace yet

Riots are a reason to regain the high street

The rioters are long gone with many already sentenced but the clean-up operation for England’s retailers continues.

Ebay zong deal relies on established payment methods

Ebay's customers to pay by entering mobile phone numbers

Martin Schofield leaves Harvey Nichols to join ITIM

House of Fraser reaches Aberdeen through click and collect

Londis extends EPOS service agreement

Bon-Ton improves in-store signage via retail enterprise suite

Beaverbrooks implements new store management systems

Retail IT Investment suffers as e-commerce becomes priority

Asos defies weak retail climate as it looks towards global expansion

News of the World closes after big name retailers withdraw support

Once Sainsbury's, Co-Op and the other major brands withdrew their support, the News of the World must have realised that the game was up. There is rarely any way back once a brand gets linked to stories as emotive as phone hacking of 7/7 survivors’ families.

John Bovill: 'The single channel to market is dead'

At the recent Fieldworks event held in London on July 5, 2011, John Bovill - outgoing IT Director at Aurora Fashions – shared with an enthusiastic audience his thoughts on why he perceives the single channel to market to be dead, and how retailers are flourishing by embarking on a multi-channel journey.

Single channel to market is dead: How will multi channel affect the retail supply chain

What is the role of the store in a multi channel world?