Handel

From September 1st, Lidl employees in the UK will earn more. Thanks to the fifth pay rise in two years, Lidl will invest over £70 million in wages, according to industry magazine Grocery Trader. The new rates will apply across the UK and exceed both the real minimum wage and the London minimum wage.more

Greggs has announced that it plans to open up brand new ‘Bitesize Greggs’ stores. These will be designed to fit into places like train stations and retail parks which might not have enough space for the full bakeries, but where the easy to-go food would still be a welcome option.more

The grocery chain Iceland is offering customers who shop a thief a £1 reward on their loyalty card. The frozen food specialist said that anyone who spots a suspected shoplifter in its stores should inform the nearest Iceland employee who will verify the incident before adding the reward to the individual’s loyalty card for immediate use.more

Fashion accessories chain Claire's is set to appoint administrators for its UK and Ireland business - putting around 2,150 jobs at risk. The move will raise fears over the future of 306 stores, with 278 of those in the UK and 28 in Ireland.more

Policing Minister Dame Diana Johnson has said shoplifters "will be pursued and will face consequences" regardless of how much they steal, as she visited a town centre. Dame Diana made the comments on a visit to Woking as part of Surrey Police's involvement in the Safer Streets summer initiative.more

Poundland is continuing to undergo huge structural changes which will see almost 50 stores close this month.more

Marks & Spencer has resumed its click and collect service 15 weeks after it stopped the service following a hugely damaging cyber attack. The retailer stopped taking orders on its website and app for clothing and home deliveries and also paused its in store collection service on 25 April.more

Ham and bacon sold by supermarkets including Tesco, and Marks and Spencer still contain cancer-causing chemicals almost 10 years after the World Health Organization warned about the dangers of their use in processed meats.more

Tesco has released a birthday cake-flavoured sandwich two months after the controversy sparked by the viral M&S strawberries and cream sandwich.more

The UK does not have a better deal on tariffs with the US than the EU, an EU source has assessed, according to which the 10 per cent rate on British goods does not include all tariffs, while the 15 per cent for the EU is the total rate. Unlike the UK, the EU will not open the market to beef from the US.more

Just under half of people in England and Wales are shopping more in charity shops, or considering doing so due to the ongoing cost of living crisis according to recent research by the Co-operative Bank. And with over 11,200 charity shops to choose from, one in ten shoppers say that the majority of their clothing purchases in the next year will be second-hand.more

Lidl was the cheapest supermarket in July, with an average household basket full of groceries and other essentials coming in at £128, a study by consumer group Which? found. Aldi came in second, with the same shopping list costing only £1.25 more at £129.25. The German discounter lost its crown of cheapest supermarket after a 20 months reign.more

Food inflation will rise to 6% by the end of the year in a “significant challenge” to household budgets in the run-up to Christmas, industry leaders have predicted. Retailers warned of rising prices and job losses if the Chancellor hiked taxes in the next budget, with two thirds of chief financial officers expecting further price rises, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said.more

A chaotic attempt to change global trade and an empty, short-lived victory – this is how the British broadcaster BBC describes the introduction of tariffs by US President Donald Trump today.‘The Telegraph’ daily added that the new trade war is taking America back to the 1930s.more

Yesterday, US President Donald Trump signed regulations establishing new customs duties on imported goods from over 70 countries around the world. The president also increased customs duties on goods from Canada from 25 to 35 per cent, while only countries with a trade deficit with the US retained the previous rate of 10 per cent. The new tariffs will come into effect next week.more

Retailers say theft is "spiralling out of control" after official figures show shoplifting in England and Wales is at its highest level since current records began more than two decades ago. There were 530,643 reported shoplifting offences in the year to March, a 20% increase from the previous year, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).more

The U.S. struck a framework trade agreement with the European Union on Sunday, imposing a 15% import tariff on most EU goods - half the threatened rate - and averting a bigger trade war between the two allies that account for almost a third of global trade.more

River Island has said it could collapse unless its landlords back a restructuring plan involving the closure of 33 stores and a sharp reduction in rent payments.more

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer signed a trade agreement with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi today. According to analysts, this is the most important trade agreement since the UK left the European Union, as well as India's first free trade agreement with a partner outside Asia.more

Shoppers using buy now, pay later (BNPL) will need to pass stricter affordability checks under new rules coming into force next July. It means some shoppers will be refused this type of credit and the ability to splash out on something potentially unaffordable in a few clicks could be slowed down.more

A potentially deadly salmonella outbreak has been linked to tomatoes, health and safety watchdogs have warned. The outbreak caused more than 100 people to get sick and at least 14 to be hospitalised with the diarrhoea-causing bug in 2024. Food safety chiefs believe the outbreak was caused by multiple foods including eggs, red meat products and tomatoes. more

Asda has been fined £640,000 for selling out-of-date food at two of its stores in Cardiff, Wales. Trading Standards officers discovered 115 expired items, some more than two weeks past their use-by date, at the Leckwith and Pentwyn branches.more

US President Donald Trump gave notice yesterday that the Coca-Cola conglomerate had agreed to use cane sugar in its drinks sold in the US, following a conversation with him. The corporation has not confirmed these reports. Currently, Coca-Cola in the US is sweetened with glucose-fructose syrup.more

The chief executive of Co-op has confirmed that all 6.5 million of its members had their data stolen in a cyber-attack on the retailer in April. "I'm devastated that information was taken. I'm also devastated by the impact that it took on our colleagues as well as they tried to contain all of this," Shirine Khoury-Haq told BBC Breakfast in her first public interview since the hack.more

Sainsbury’s is axing free crisps and biscuits from staff rooms as the Government steps up a drive to tackle obesity across Britain. Sainsbury’s has sent managers a new list of food items that they are allowed to buy in for staff, urging them to swap crisps and biscuits for “light meal” options.more