Just 52% of food packaging, including cardboard, glass and plastics, can be easily put into household recycling bins, according to Which? Researchers analysed the packaging of 46 own-brand items from Aldi, Asda, Co-op, Iceland, Lidl, M&S, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose. The consumer champion broke down each item’s packaging and assessed whether every piece could be recycled […]
Whitbread, the UK’s largest hotel operator, has blamed ‘weak trading conditions’ for a fall in demand for its rooms. Sales at Whitbread’s Premier Inns open at least a year fell 4.6% in the first three months of 2019. Total sales fell about 1%. As political and economic uncertainty continued, the regional business market was less […]
Discount supermarket chain Lidl plans to open 40 new stores in the south-east of England. The £500m investment will take place over five years and will include a new UK head office in south-west London. The move will create 1,500 new jobs, a boost for the traditional retail sector which has seen high-profile store closures […]
New research shows consumer appetite for points and plastic is as popular as ever. According to Hawk Incentives’ The Loyalty Evolution Report – which surveyed 2,500 people across the UK – a massive 82% (82%) of Brits currently subscribe to at least one loyalty programme. Over two thirds of people (64%) are signed up to […]
A study of more than 34,000 consumers across 18 countries highlights how a hybrid workforce is key to meeting customer expectations in an ‘always-on’ era of service and in continuing to honour consumers’ need for the human factor Two-thirds of consumers recently surveyed said they are more likely to switch to brands that provide the […]
Surging demand for floral prints and soft tailored dresses have helped Boohoo post a huge jump in revenue for three months to the end of May. The fast fashion retailer, which also owns PrettyLittleThing and Nasty Gal, said strong block colours and ankle boots had also sold well. Group sales jumped 39% to £254.3m, although […]
Shares in Ted Baker lost more than a quarter of their value on Tuesday morning after the firm said profits would fall short of expectations. In response to the profit warning, investors sold off shares wiping more than £150m from the company’s value. The fashion house blamed ‘extremely difficult’ trading conditions for the lower than […]
John Lewis is planning to expand its offering from furnishing homes to extending and renovating them. The employee-owned business said it wanted to be involved in every area of home improvement from design to construction. John Lewis already runs a booking site for tradespeople and last year it acquired a home improvement firm, Opun. But […]
Gatwick Airport has launched a trial where passengers are offered reusable cups instead of disposable paper ones. The reusable cups can then be dropped off at designated points before passengers board their aircraft. About seven million paper cups are used at Gatwick each year with more than 5.3 million of those being recycled. Starbucks and […]
Online giant Amazon is testing out a series of pop-up kiosks in the capital as it experiments with physical shops. The firm has so far conducted a one-day trial in some of London’s main stations and said it planned more going forward. The stands will only sell one thing that people can either pay for […]
