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
Asda says it plans to open 110 convenience stores this month as it aims to become the second-biggest grocery retailer in the UK.
The supermarket will only actually open one new site, and will convert 109 shops it bought from the Co-op and EG Group to its Asda Express brand.more
A fifth of post offices in the UK will stop selling lottery tickets and scratchcards, its operator has said.
Last year, the Post Office ended its group contract with the National Lottery, giving branches a choice on whether to stock the products.
Allwyn, which took over running the lottery days ago, said reasons ranged from religious beliefs to low sales.more
Months after announcing adverts would soon appear on its platform, Amazon Prime Video, the day has arrived.
In the US, ads arrived on January 29, but on Amazon.co.uk, we got an extra, blissful week of uninterrupted streaming on this side of the pond.more
Asda has announced it will introduce vacuum-pack mince packaging to save plastic.
The supermarket said on Friday it is replacing the traditional plastic trays across its Just Essentials beef mince range with a lighter plastic film alternative.more
A number of food products of animal and plant origin and cut flowers imported into the UK from the European Union must have a health certificate. The new regulations in force yesterday may result in increased costs for consumers and problems with deliveries, although the government assures that there will be no disruptions.more
A large farmers' protest has been taking place in Brussels in front of the European Parliament this morning. More than 1,000 Belgian tractors entered the city and blocked access roads to the European Parliament, where the EU summit was scheduled for today.more
Checks on goods imported into Northern Ireland from the rest of the United Kingdom will be almost completely abolished and European Union regulations will no longer automatically apply in Northern Ireland, according to the agreement presented yesterday, aimed at ending the two-year political crisis in the province.more
Beauty giant Avon has come under fire for maintaining links with Russia despite the ongoing war in Ukraine. The BBC has discovered the firm is still recruiting new sales agents in the country and continuing production in a huge plant in the Moscow region. Avon, which has its headquarters in the UK, started doing business in Russia 30 years ago.more
