Yes, it’s the July news round already. Only 4 more until Christmas!!! It’s certainly feeling a bit Autumnal at the moment, but let’s hope August bucks up and we get back to summertime. Our pics for this month’s stories are: We’re buying more food; Tesco picks up the axe again; MySale is up up and away; UK economy isn’t doomed; Charges to be dropped.

We’re buying more food: As we’ve been reporting in our blogs recently, the downturn in food sales has been worrying. But now they’ve bounced back – by 3.9%, which is the biggest growth in 4 years. Why the turnaround? The hot weather mainly, so sales of ice cream were up by 34%, and suncream by 40% – we can concur, because we certainly hit the ice cream chillers ourselves! The German retailers continue to have the highest sales – Lidl at 19.4% and Aldi at 17.9%. However, Tesco’s share of the market has increased, mainly because of strong online sales which can only get stronger with its announcement of same day delivery. But talking of Tesco…see the next article.

https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2017/07/supermarket-sales-see-best-growth-since-2013/

Tesco picks up the axe again: Since he took over as the new CEO, Dave Lewis has certainly started to turn Tesco around. However, there have been heavy human costs, with job losses now amounting to over 17,000. The latest announcement is that 25% of jobs at its head office in Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire will go – that’s 1200 jobs. And this is hot on the heels of last week’s announcement that 1100 call centre jobs will be axed. Add that to the previous job cuts, and the total is 17,300. Apparently Mr Lewis has a nickname – Drastic Dave. Whilst amusing, we wonder, has he gone too far, and if the business is doing better, won’t he be needing those jobs again? We’ll be keeping a watch, that’s for sure.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/06/28/tesco-axe-quarter-jobs-head-office/

MySale is up up and away: Its sales are up by a whopping 58%. The Australian online flash retailer – which joined up with Sports Direct last year – is doing very well according to these numbers. And apparently it’s not stopping at joining forces with Sports Direct – it’s in talks with another retailer to see if a partnership might work. It’s not saying which retailer, so it’ll be interesting to see who it is, if it does happen. In case MySale is new to you, it offers fashion, accessories, home, and beauty products at discount – have a look at MySale.co.uk

https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2017/07/mysale-earnings-skyrocket-58/

UK economy isn’t doomed: If you’re a regular reader of our blog, you’ll know that we’ve refused to join the doom and gloom club over the UK economy. Rather, we’ve been watching with interest, and reporting accordingly. So it’s good that last week we had a lower than expected rise in inflation, and this week, although it’s a slowdown, the UK economy did grow slightly by 0.3%. So that’s 2 really major pluses, rather than negatives. Although it’s up only slightly from the previous quarter, and it’s certainly lower than last year, when you look at the graph in this article, you’ll feel grateful we’re nowhere near where things were a few years ago. We were delighted that the Office for National Statistics (ONS), in reporting on the latest figure, said that the increase was partially due to the film industry. With great British films around at the moment such as Dunkirk, we’re not surprised.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40726833

Charges to be dropped: Not criminal ones! It’s the charges that were introduced four years ago, for bringing a claim to an Employment Tribunal. Claims have dropped by nearly 80% over those four years, as people couldn’t risk paying the £1200 charge and then losing their case.  The Government had already said that, if the Supreme Court’s decision was that the charges were unconstitutional, it would repay everyone that had bought a claim and had to pay to do so. Of course, what it can’t do is compensate those people who would have bought a claim but couldn’t afford to do so. Let’s not lose sight of why the charges were introduced in the first place – to stop malicious and weak cases being bought. What’s the solution to that? We certainly don’t have one, but perhaps you have – let us know if you do.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/jul/26/union-supreme-court-fees-unfair-dismissal-claims

Well, that’s our round up of the stories that caught our eye in July. We hope you found something of interest. Do come back next week when we’ll have our weekly news snippets for you to look over. Until then, enjoy the final days of July – and here’s to a warm and sunny August.

Welcome to this week’s News Snippets. The stories we’ve selected are: We carried on spending in June; Inflation DOWN not up; How do you feel about pay at the BBC?; and Take your dog to work.

We carried on spending in June: The last few months have seen nothing but bad news on the economic front – inflation climbing; wages falling; sterling nosediving. But surprisingly, the stats for June were better than any of the experts expected: sales rose by 1.5% in the quarter – which is a big jump because in the previous quarter they were down by 1.4%. When comparing annually, sales were up 3% on the previous year, with online sales seeing a strong 15.9% jump. And apparently, most of it was due to our spending on clothes, with the heat wave driving us into the shops – and of course the sales were starting too, so there were bargains to be had. Does this improvement in consumer spending signal better times ahead? Well, the next item might suggest so.

Retail sales boost drives “renewed sense of optimism” in June

Inflation DOWN not up: Given the steep rises in inflation over recent months, yesterday’s news from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) that inflation had dropped from 2.9% to 2.6% was a very welcome surprise. You’ll know from our previous blogs that experts were expecting it to break through the 3% barrier this year. This article isn’t exactly saying that’s now unlikely, but it’s certainly giving a more positive outlook. And it makes the point that, if inflation is now under control, consumer spending will stay strong because our pay packets won’t be under so much pressure, and importantly the the Bank of England won’t put up interest rates. Next months stats though will be very telling. Here’s hoping that the economic outlook has taken a turn for the better at last.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jul/18/uk-inflation-consumers-incomes-interest-rate

How do you feel about pay at the BBC? There’s quite a few layers to this one: firstly there’s the eye watering pay some people are getting – you might feel Chris Evans is worth £2.2m for a 3 hour radio show 5 times a week, or you might not; then there’s the gender pay gap – which isn’t looking great when the best paid female presenter, Claudia Winkelman, is earning in the region of £450-499,000 – so around 25% of Mr Evans’ pay. And then there’s the money the national broadcaster is spending on hiring talent – £193.6m!!! But apparently we shouldn’t worry because all these figures are coming down, according to Tony Hall, Director General of the BBC. Mr Hall also uses the line that if we want the best people working at the BBC, they have to be paid  well because of competitors such as ITV. But we also understand that there’s a very valuable premium for the entertainers who work at the BBC – it sets them up for life. And therefore is it really necessary to pay these sorts of salaries? The BBC’s gender pay gap reporting is going to make very interesting reading when its released next year. Mr Hall does make some very good points in this article, so do have a read.

https://www.employeebenefits.co.uk/issues/july-online-2017/bbc-spends-193-6m-talent/?cmpid=ebnews_3683440&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=eb_daily&adg=DEB315C4-22DB-4C7C-AB44-6C6C2302EFD0

Take your dog to work: You know that The Hub Retail Recruitment is a great advocate of dogs at work – we have our very own office dog, Jack, and know only too well the difference he makes – his calm presence, taking proper breaks so he gets his exercise, and we get ours, and giving him lot’s of hugs which really reduces the stress levels. And more and more companies are finding out about these advantages. Take Nestle for instance. Yes, it has a vested interest as it produces Purina PetCare. In this article, the HR Director sets out very well the advantages the company has found over the 14 years it has allowed dogs at work and makes the point that increasingly we are looking to blend our work and home lives – and having your dog at work certainly does that.

https://www.hrgrapevine.com/content/article/news-2017-07-03-nestl-s-head-of-hr-on-the-benefits-of-dogs-at-work

Well that’s it for this week. We hope you manage to dodge the storms, and enjoy the sunshine when it does appear. See you here again next week, when it’ll be our Monthly Newsround.

On this first Wednesday of July, the sun is shining, the Pimm’s is flowing at Wimbledon, and all is well with the world. Or is it?! On a day like this, it’s nice to think so. We’ve got another eclectic mix of stories for you today, which we recommend you peruse over a nice cool lolly or beer: Fancy buying Hobbs?; Sainsbury’s going great guns; Retail prices set to rise; and Wanted – summer perks at work.

Fancy buying Hobbs?:  Apparently, quite a few private equity firms do. The current owner put it up for sale back in January, and the forerunner at the moment is Foschini Group, a South African fashion conglomerate – although this article is doubtful whether it will want to pay the £80m price tag. Mind you, with the Hobbs sale in full swing, maybe that price tag will be reduced too! We didn’t know that Hobbs was the Duchess of Cambridge’s favourite dress shop – it’s nice though rather than always being kitted out in designer outfits.

https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2017/07/foschini-eyes-hobbs-takeover/

Sainsbury’s going great guns: It certainly is, having just achieved its best sales results for 4 years. An increase of 2.3% is just what the retailer hoped for when it bought Argos and Habitat – which formed the Home Retail Group – a year ago. We told you at the time we thought it was a savvy move, so that, whilst you’re getting your groceries you can pick up your click and collect on the vast range of products on offer from Argos. You’ll see from this article, that with the good weather we’ve got at the moment, paddling pools are particularly popular!

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jul/04/summer-sunshine-spurs-sales-surge-for-sainsburys

Retail prices set to rise: You might not have realised it, but over the past 4 years you’ve enjoyed cheaper food prices in the supermarkets. However. That’s about to end, according to the British Retail Consortium. And frankly it does make sense. Last month saw prices almost flat at 0.3% less, the lowest since 2013. With inflation at 2.5%, and rising, the BRC says it’s only a matter of time before the supermarkets can’t squeeze their margins any further and have to put up prices. You could say though, that with inflation heading toward 3%, at least our retail prices are holding pretty firm. Let’s hope it continues that way and any price rises are small.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/07/04/shop-price-rises-inevitable-inflation-piles-pressure-retailers/

Wanted – summer perks at work: As noted at the start of this week’s blog, the weather is glorious at the moment. No surprise then that most of us – 84% – say that summer perks would make us more productive at work. And yet only 7-13% of us have access to them – such as leave early Fridays, shorter hours, ice creams, outside space to catch some rays and fresh air. Have a look at this article, which gives some very interesting stats on what we’d like our work environment to be, yet rarely get. And really, not much cost attached – so to all you employers out there, think about summer perks to boost productivity.

https://www.employeebenefits.co.uk/issues/july-online-2017/84-believe-receiving-summer-perks-makes-productive/?cmpid=ebnews_3622932&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=eb_daily&adg=DEB315C4-22DB-4C7C-AB44-6C6C2302EFD0

Well, that’s it for another week. Make sure you’re back here next Wednesday, 12th July, for our next issue of The Hub Retail Recruitment’s Weekly News Snippets. And in the meantime, enjoy this glorious weather.

Well, we’re almost at the end of June – half way through the year. What a month it’s been, with another barbaric terrorist attack in London, the tragedy of the inferno at Glenfell tower block, and an election that went awry and has left us in a worse political situation than before. We’ve thought about how to put together our monthly newsround in the face of all these dreadful events, and have decided, ‘let’s carry on as usual’. So, our picks of the month, just for you, are: Amazon’s try before you buy; Holland & Barrett and the Russians; Tesco strikes a pay deal; An amazingly well paid job for a nanny – but with a hitch; and A woman claiming to have cancer embezzled £thousands.

Amazon’s try before you buy: We’ve all bought clothes online. We pay upfront, and if we don’t like them, we have to go to the trouble of returning them – and sometimes it’s just not worth it. But Amazon is trialling a new system in the US, for its Prime customers, called ‘Prime Wardrobe’. When you open this link, there’s a video that explains how it will work, but briefly, you order online, don’t pay a penny, a box arrives, you try on (in what it calls ‘the best changing room, your room), if you don’t want anything you put it back in the box and put it outside for collection. Sounds like a great way forward to us. And it isn’t here in the UK yet. But, as ever, we’ll keep you updated.

https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2017/06/amazon-fashion-prime-wardrobe/

Holland & Barrett and the Russians: H&B was originally set up in 1870 by Willian Holland and Alfred Barrett, in Hertfordshire. Starting as a grocery and clothing enterprise, it took many twists and turns before it specialised in health. And it’s certainly had many twists and turns of equity ownership. The latest one is a Russian group called L1, headed up by Mikhail Fridman, who’s board is a very eminent one – it includes John Walden, formerly CEO of Home Retail Group, Karl-Heinz Holland, former CEO of Lidl, and Clive Humby, a c0-founder of dunnhumby, who created Tesco’s Clubcard. L1 has bought the health store chain for £1.8b from its current American owner, with the sale set to complete in September.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40400216

Tesco strikes a pay deal: Last year we reported extensively on the difficulties retailers were having paying the increases to the national minimum wage – and that in finding that money, they were cutting back on other benefits, such as paying time and a half for Sunday working. Tesco has struck a deal that will see it paying an hourly rate of £8.42 by the end of 2018. As part of paying that higher rate, its renegotiated weekend and overtime rates and is also making one-off payments for people who would be disadvantaged in the medium term. It’s quite a complicated deal, but obviously the last thing Tesco needs as its on its turnaround trajectory is to have problems with its industrial relations. But we have to hand it to the union, Usdaw, as the deal its struck is a good one for staff, as it also includes improvements to other benefits such as its maternity provisions. So a good deal all round.

Tesco to increase hourly pay to £8.42 for store staff

An amazingly well paid job for a nanny – but with a hitch!: If you were hiring a live in nanny, you wouldn’t expect to pay £50,000 per annum. However, this job in the Scottish borders, has seen 5 nannies come and go in the last year. Why? Apparently, the house is haunted. The family itself hasn’t experienced any of these supernatural happenings – such as glasses being smashed, furniture moving – as they only occur when they’re out. So the nannies seem to be at the brunt of it. Would you be interested in a highly paid job if you had to put up with ghostly companions? We’re a bit divided on this one!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/family/looking-new-job-family-offers-50000-nanny-look-children-haunted/

And finally…

A woman claiming to have cancer embezzled £thousands: Kelsey Whitehead was ordered by a court in Lincoln to repay £1 for the £15,000 she had embezzled from her employer, because she had no assets. Ms Whitehead had told everyone – including her partner who gave up her job to look after Ms Whitehead – that she had stage 4, terminal cancer. Her employer lent her £5,000 for treatment Ms Whitehead said the NHS couldn’t pay for, and paid her £10,000 in sick pay. Her colleagues raised £1400 for charity, in her name. But Ms Whitehead didn’t have cancer. It’s a very sad case, but apparently there have been other examples of similar cases. Thankfully, though, there are very few.

That’s a bit of a downbeat story to end with. However, we hope you’ve found all our stories of interest. Next week, we’ll be back with our Weekly News Snippets. So we’ll see you here on Wednesday 5th July, where you’ll find some more stories to pique your curiosity. Until then, have a great week, and we look forward to July being a better month than June.

Today might turn this summer into the hottest since 1995. If you’re feeling a bit too hot, here’s some stories for you to read in the shade – and we’d advise having an ice lolly whilst you’re at it! This week we’ve got for you: Sainsbury’s is shopping again; Tesco home deliveries hit by a glitch; Buy a new car at…Amazon! and It’s go home on time day.

Sainsbury’s is shopping again: As you know from our previous blogs, last year Sainsbury’s bought Argos and Habitat. And it’s proved to be a shrewd move as Argos is holding up its sales figures. Now Sainsbury’s is looking to buy Nisa – the corner shop group which includes Londis and Budgen – a move that is similar to Tesco’s bid to buy Booker. Why are both these supermarkets after our local shops? Well, it’s a reflection of the way we’ve changed our shopping habits: rather than doing our big weekly shop, as we did for many a year, we now buy smaller quantities of groceries, but we buy them more often. And for that we use our local shops, rather than going out to the superstores. Neither Tesco or Sainsbury’s have closed their respective deals yet – but we’ll keep you posted.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/06/18/nisa-poised-sign-exclusivity-deal-sainsburys-closes/

Tesco home deliveries hit by a glitch: Were you one of the 10% of Tesco’s customers affected by its recent IT glitch? Apparently, orders were cancelled across the UK, and some of those customers turned to social media to vent their frustrations. This one gives you a flavour: ‘what are you up to? 2nd grocery shop cancellation in 3wks! Due at 11am+ has the suncream+ picnic for today’s school sports day!’ Tesco of course say its working to resolve the problem and apologies unreservedly for any inconvenience caused. But it’s a very costly glitch – both in lost orders, and most likely returning customers will take a hit too.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jun/20/tesco-home-delivery-service-customers-computer-glitch

Buy a new car at…Amazon!: If you’re thinking of buying a new car soon, you’re probably looking around your local dealerships. Perhaps at VW, Ford, Mini, Honda. How about Amazon? Yes, the online retailer is thinking it might offer to sell you a new car. However, it’s not as much of a stretch as you might think. Apparently, it’s already doing it in France, with Seat, and in Italy, with Fiat. So it’s considering partnering with a car manufacturer in the UK, to offer deals and placement of an order through the Amazon platform. Another development we’ll keep you updated on.

https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2017/06/amazon-soon-sell-cars/

It’s go home on time day: Today is the longest day. Our Summer Solstice. You know that already without us telling you. But did you know that it’s also ‘Go home on time day’? This is an initiative by the charity ‘Working Families’. It’s to help remind us that our work/life balance is really important – and to at least get home from work on time for a day. Why? In the hope that you might not only like it but realise that staying late just isn’t productive. So, make sure you leave on time today.

https://www.workingfamilies.org.uk/news/go-home-on-time-day-2017/

That’s it for this week. Next week will be our Monthly Newsround – a roundup of the stories that have caught our eye in June, which we’ve been saving up for you. We’ll see you back here on then on 28th June. Have a great week until then – and keep putting on the sun screen!