THE HUB RETAIL RECRUITMENT’S WEEKLY NEWS SNIPPETS
- Date: 20 July 2016
- Posted By: admin
Another huge week in British politics. So we thought we’d steer clear of all that this week and find you some topical retail and employment stories. Our news snippets this Wednesday are: A tumble in footfall – but could the Millenials save the High Street?; Who’s our most favourite retailer? Inflation up – thanks to Euro 2016!; and A whopping – but deserved – £290k tribunal judgement for discrimination.
A tumble in footfall – but could Millenials save the High Street? Millenials – anyone under 35 – prefer to buy in store rather than online, according to a recent report. That’s really surprising, given it’s the Millenials that live via the internet and social media. But it’s just as well they do given the very depressing footfall figures just out. Compared to the same period last year, footfall is down by 2.8%. What’s worrying about that figure is, whilst footfall has been falling consistently on the High Street and shopping centres, retail parks had been holding up. Not any more – it’s down by 1%. The High Street has had its worst performance ever – down by 3.7%. Why? Well this article says it’s not just because of the weather, but Brexit too, and the political and economic uncertainty that we’re experiencing at the moment. But don’t forget, there’s also been a persistent move away from goods to travel and entertainment. The challenge for retailers is how to get back on track – and this further article looks at how SME retailers are capitalising on social media for growth. So if the savvy ones are attracting the Millenials on social media, who are then going shopping in-store? Despite the Millenials, the online march continues – with online sales up by 17%! Three really interesting – and related – stories.
http://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2016/07/smes-dependent-on-social-media-for-growth-report
Who’s our most favourite retailer? It’s…wait for it…Amazon. We were expecting John Lewis to top the list. But no, this research shows that for 25% of us it’s Amazon. With John Lewis a poor runner up at 14%. Amazon has been having a very strong 2016 – AmazonFresh is expanding, its second Prime Day increased sales by 60% (that’s some going), and its Head Office is expanding, creating 1000 new jobs. This article tells you about the survey, as well as Amazon’s success story.
http://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2016/07/amazon-the-uks-favourite-retailer-survey
Inflation is up – thanks to Euro 2016: Well, only partly! Inflation is up by 0.5% – and apparently some of that is attributed to the increase in airfares because of all those fans flying out to watch the games in France. No doubt the Welsh fans felt it was money well spent. The English fans? Not so much!
A whopping – but deserved – £290k Tribunal judgement for discrimination: If you were the owner of a football club, and you had told a long-standing female employee – who you sacked – that football ‘was not for women, they should be in the bedroom or the beauticians’, would you expect there to be no consequences. Well, fortunately, on this occasion there were – £290,000 of them! Read the sorry story for yourself.
We hope you enjoyed this nice mix of stories. Let us know either way, as here at The Hub Retail Recruitment we really value your feedback. Next week – Wednesday 26th July – will be our Monthly Newsround. So don’t miss that one as there’s a lot to round up! Until then, have a great week.