Handel

Britain's third-largest supermarket group Asda said on Friday it would give more than 120,000 store workers an 8.4% pay rise from July 1, following a similar move by other large British retailers as the government's national minimum wage goes up.more

The Body Shop is closing a further 75 shops, after the skincare and cosmetics chain announced it was going into administration earlier this month. A total of 489 jobs will be lost as a result of the closures, which will take place over the next four to six weeks. more

Millions of supermarket chickens show skin burns from living in their own waste, a BBC investigation has found. "Hock burn" is caused by ammonia from excrement. A sign of poorer welfare on farms, it can be seen on a third of birds in some supermarkets, data shows.more

Grocery price inflation has dropped to a two-year low after intense 'price match' competition among supermarkets brought down the cost for shoppers. Supermarket prices were 5.3 per cent higher than a year ago in February, the lowest rate since March 2022 and a significant drop from January's 6.8 per cent, according to analysts Kantar.more

Oxford Street has begun to bounce back, with the proportion of vacant shops down by 40% and almost a fifth of its troublesome candy and souvenir shops now closed.more

Waitrose was today crowned Britain's most expensive supermarket of the year - and Aldi the cheapest - in a price comparison of 43 shopping basket essentials. The news will boost sales at the German discounter which - along with rival Lidl - has seen a boom against the background of the cost of living crisis.more

Russia's denunciation of its agreement with the UK on fishing rights in the Barents Sea will not cause shortages of cod and haddock - fish that are used for the most typical English dish, fish and chips - the UK government and industry body NFFF assured yesterday.more

British companies export equipment and machinery - including dual-use goods - worth hundreds of millions of pounds to third countries, from where they almost certainly go on to Russia, Sky News reported yesterday, based on trade figures.more

The market is growing only thanks to higher prices, because in reality Poles' purchases are shrinking. Alcohol still has the largest share in food expenses, reports "Rzeczpospolita" today.more

Poles are increasingly divided on the issue of the Sunday trading ban. Although recently almost 60% of the population was against this solution, now this result has dropped below 50%. Businesses also have different approaches to the ban. Galleries and shopping centers are in favor of its abolition, but grocery chains are far from clear on their opinions.more

Biedronka is launching the sale of goods online, the chain announced on Thursday. 4,000 products are to be available in the e-store, it added, including dairy, meat, beverages and bread, among others.more

UK retail sales rebounded dramatically in January, with volumes rising by 3.4% after a disastrous December, offering hope that the UK’s recession will prove to be the shortest in history.more

The Body Shop has collapsed into administration in the UK less than three months after it was taken over by a private equity company, in a move that puts more than 2,200 jobs at risk at the cosmetics chain. Aurelius, the German company that bought The Body Shop for £207m in November, said it had been unable to revive the fortunes of the business after dismal trading over Christmas and new year.more

The British are facing a shortage of their national drink - tea. The reason is attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels on ships passing through the Red Sea, through which most of the tea reaching Britain is transported.more

Violence and abuse against shop workers rose to 1,300 incidents a day last year, according to a leading trade body. Incidents against staff were up by 50% in the year to September 2023, up from 870 incidents a day the year before.more

For the first time in more than two years, food prices in the UK have fallen and this is one of the main reasons why the annual inflation rate did not rise in January, contrary to forecasts, but remained at 4 per cent - reported the Office for National Statistics today.more

TikTok and Temu have pulled cheap electric heaters from their online stores after Which? found they could explode or start house fires. The consumer group tested eight heaters, the cheapest of which was £7.20, and found most did not meet UK safety standards.more

46 per cent of respondents are in favour of abolishing the Sunday trading ban, while 44 per cent support its continuation. Never before has the difference between these antagonised groups been so small, reports 'Rzeczpospolita' today.more

Tesco has struck a deal to sell the bulk of its banking business to Barclays for £700m in a deal that will include the transfer of about 2,800 staff to the bank.more

The minimum unit price (MUP) for alcohol in Scotland is to be raised from 50p to 65p, it has been announced. Deputy First Minister Shona Robison announced the plan on Thursday in a statement to Holyrood. This means shops in Scotland will not be able to sell a bottle of wine for less than £6.09.more

The Co-op is installing in its supermarkets more than 200 secure till kiosks, locked cabinets for bottles of spirits and AI technology to monitor self-checkouts after a 44% surge in retail crime last year to about 1,000 incidents a day.more

Traffic in shopping malls in Poland decreased by 1.5% last year. compared to 2022, and the number of customers surveyed decreased by 0.1%. - according to a report by the technology company Proxi.cloud.more

Britain said today that it will extend duty-free trade with Ukraine for almost all goods until 2029, ensuring Kiev will continue to enjoy favorable trade conditions after Russia's invasion.more

Tesco has issued a four-week warning to customers to spend their Clubcard vouchers before they expire at the end of the month. The supermarket giant warned Clubcard shoppers only have until 29 February to use £18m worth of Clubcard vouchers before they expire.more

The Treasury’s independent forecaster is to review the axeing of tax-free shopping for tourists, raising the possibility that a decision that leisure companies and retailers have blasted for deterring visitors and losing the UK billions in sales could be reversed.more