THE HUB RETAIL RECRUITMENT’S WEEKLY NEWS SNIPPETS

img

THE HUB RETAIL RECRUITMENT’S WEEKLY NEWS SNIPPETS

  • Date: 4 January 2017
  • Posted By: admin

Well Happy New Year! Whether you’re already back at work, or still enjoying some time off, we wish you a great 2017. 2017 is only 4 days old, The Hub Retail Recruitment’s Weekly News Snippets brings you some stories that will be of interest: A mixed picture on the High Street; Women can now shave for the same price!; and The gender pay gap is alive and well.

A mixed picture on the High Street: It’s been reported widely today that the fortunes of Next took a dive on the run up to Christmas and the New Year sales. The first of these articles talks about why that might be, and that Next is in danger of undermining its fashion business in the same way that M & S has done. John Lewis and Waitrose had a good run up to Christmas, but found the period in between Christmas and the New Year pretty sluggish – which was probably due to the way the bank holidays fell. And let’s face it, we do rather stock up as if the shops will be closed for a month. Certainly, we didn’t need to do any shopping for quite some time! Whilst the full retail sales results won’t be out until next Thursday, the commentators are already predicting that we’ll have less money but rising prices because of Brexit, and that’s why we haven’t been spending so much this Christmas. But is it? If you’ve been reading our blog throughout 2016, you’ll know that we reported a cultural spending shift way before the Brexit vote: as a nation, we’re spending our money on entertainment and experiences, so holidays, cinema, restaurants, rather than all the latest fashions. So if it’s a cultural shift, the retail industry will need to have a bigger re-think than blaming everything on Brexit. That’s not to say the weaker pound doesn’t have an effect – it does, both good and bad. So yes, our petrol has gone up – again, and our clothes will be more expensive. But our manufacturing is flourishing. Maybe producing more of our own goods is the way to go?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38497998

http://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2017/01/john-lewis-the-latest-to-fall-victim-to-post-christmas-slump

Women can now shave for the same price!: For those women that prefer to shave than wax, it’s long been a source of consternation that disposable razors cost much more than mens. Tesco has at least decided to do something about charging twice as much, and equalised its prices. Will the others follow? Do we care? Well, yes, we do, and should, care. A newspaper investigation last year discovered that female based products, including toys, cost on average 37% more. And if your razor is pink, it cost 100% more! Since she joined the House of Commons last year, backbencher Paula Sherriff, has been championing cheaper products for women, and it was she who put pressure on Tesco to look at this issue. Whilst Tesco says it could get better wholesale prices for mens’ razors, it has found ways of sorting this out. Just goes to show – a little pressure can go a long way.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jan/01/tesco-cuts-price-of-womens-razors-so-they-cost-the-same-as-mens

The gender pay gap is alive and well: Unfortunately. And whilst there has been some improvement, what this latest report reveals is the extent to which the gap widens as a woman’s career becomes more successful. Particularly when she’s in her 30s, which is when she’s likely to take time off to have a child.  Taking time off, and probably returning part-time, is what causes the gap, and it’s unlikely to close over the rest of her career. The Government is hoping that the requirement from April this year for all large organisations to publish their gender pay and bonus gap data will help to start putting this right. The name and shame approach – will it make a difference? We’ll certainly be watching and will let you know.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/women-pay-gap-penalty-become-mothers-parents-gender-equality-workplace-income-job-a7508611.html

Now if you’re back to work today, your spirits probably weren’t helped by the news that today is Fat Cat Wednesday. That on only the 4th day of the year, the best paid people in the UK will have earned as much as the average earner gets for a whole year. Apparently, these Fat Cats are earning in the region of £4million per year. We wish.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/jan/04/uk-bosses-will-make-more-by-midday-than-workers-will-earn-all-year-fat-cat-wednesday

That’s a round up of the week’s top stories that we found of interest this week. Do come back next week – Wednesday 11 January – to find out what our News Snippets are. In the meantime, do check out our website: https://thehubrecruitment.co.uk to find out what we’re all about, view our past blogs, and see if we have any jobs that might be of interest to you.