Retail

Spending on essential items grew 5.3 per cent year-on-year as online grocery shopping surged Food and drink specialist stores, which includes butchers, greengrocers and fresh food box services reached a record high of 63.3 per cent growth Spending on non-essentials dropped 22.1 per cent, as much of the high-street remained closed Confidence in the wider UK economy rose to its highest point in the past 12 months The Barclaycard report combines hundreds of millions of…

The opening of the first Amazon Go cashierless grocery store in the UK is perfectly timed to reduce physical contact during the pandemic, says ParcelHero The online giant Amazon is launching its first ‘brick and mortar’ shop in the UK. It may be a physical store but there is no need for any actual physical contact – Amazon Go stores are contactless and cashierless. The home delivery expert ParcelHero says the launch of the first…

People with unreturned goods have an average of £165 tied up in unwanted items Around a fifth of people expect their spending to increase again once lockdown restrictions lift UK shoppers are sitting on a potential £2.4 billion[1] of unreturned goods they have purchased online, as lockdowns restrictions have made returning unwanted items significantly harder for them.  This is according to new research released today from InPost, the UK’s leading locker network, which finds that well…

2021 has kicked off with non-essential stores closed once again and more big-name retailers struggling for survival. The home delivery expert ParcelHero reveals the 30 biggest names to fall into administration in 2020 and warns that, unless stores get to grip with e-commerce, this could be just the tip of the iceberg. The home delivery expert ParcelHero says that 2020 was the worst year on record for High Street retailers, with many of Britain’s favourite…

October’s 48-hour Prime Day bonanza will top $10bn worldwide, forecasts the home delivery expert ParcelHero. It predicts UK shoppers will spend a record amount snapping up early Christmas gifts before Amazon’s strict new Brexit rules kick in. Amazon’s Prime Day 48-hour shopping fest, which takes place 13-14 October, will see shoppers spend over $10bn worldwide, forecasts the home delivery expert ParcelHero. It says 15 million Brits look set to splash £1bn in early Christmas shopping…

InPost UK, has today announced a deal to provide its 24/7 self-serve parcel locker service to leading online fashion retailer Missguided. As online shopping continues to gather pace, Missguided was keen to offer buyers a convenient contact-free delivery and returns option. The lockers are outdoors, available 24/7 enabling Missguided’s customers to collect or drop returns when they feel safe, and the InPost Lockers are self-serve so there is no interaction with another person. Parcels are…

With many EU countries snapping out of lockdown far faster than the UK and Brexit shenanigans still half a year away, ParcelHero says now is the ideal time for SME retailers to start selling to the EU. Many specialist UK manufacturers and retailers are still suffering low or zero sales, as ‘non-essential’ stores remain closed for another gruelling ten days in England. The international delivery specialist ParcelHero says that, while UK sales are stalled, many…

A range of nutritious produce boxes directly from wholesalers will soon be available through the Uber Eats app, thanks to a partnership with New Covent Garden Market. The announcement comes in light of new research revealing that 1 in 5 Brits (21%) have consumed more healthy foods during lockdown than they would have previously, 18% are being more experimental and 61% of the nation would like to broaden their horizons by trying exotic fruit and…

Spending at supermarkets rose 21.3 per cent and specialist food & drinks stores 30.5 per cent – with the latter up 80 per cent the week before social distancing measures were introduced Travel fell by 40.5 per cent and fuel decreased by 4.2 per cent as Brits spent more time at home Online purchases rose 5.5 per cent while in-store transactions dropped 4.0 per cent Confidence in the UK economy fell to 25 per cent…