£22 Wedding Dress

 

Brides-to-be can usually be found browsing in chic boutiques or stuffy department stores but now Sainsbury’s is hoping it can persuade them to hit the supermarket aisle instead as they go in pursuit of the perfect wedding dress. This week its mass market fashion brand, Tu clothing, launched its first bridal collection. The initial offering features two dresses, with more “limited edition styles” due to drop in the next couple of weeks. Sizes range from a UK 8 to 24. A white sleeveless, pleated wedding dress costs £22 while a white bias-cut gown is £50. For brides who don’t want to wear a traditional dress, there is a two-piece Bianca Jagger-esque suit, featuring a double-breasted jacket and wide-legged trousers. The set costs £68. Sainsbury’s is the only British supermarket to offer wedding dresses. Tu’s low prices are in sharp contrast to recent research finding that in 2022 an average wedding dress cost £1,350. “We’re always focused on meeting our customers’ evolving needs and we know that many are looking for affordable, classic styles for wedding events,” said director of product at Tu. “We know that for a lot of our customers, money is tight right now.” According to research, the average cost of a wedding next year is expected to be £24,710, up from £17,300 in 2021. As a result many couples are scaling back their wedding plans and reallocating budgets. While a custom-made gown may have previously featured on a bride’s dream mood board, rising housing costs are now taking priority.

Married at First Sight

Galaxy Shrinkflation

 

In these inflationary times it is a familiar experience: everyday items, from cat food to ice cream, are cut down in size while prices stay high or even rise. The guardians of the Galaxy brand, Mars Inc, have decided to roll out this repeated plotline for its smooth milk chocolate bars. They were 110g but are now 100g. Last October, the recommended retail price for a bar of Galaxy chocolate was raised from £1.39 to £1.50. But the size had remained the same - until last month. A UK spokesperson for Mars said it was not a decision that was taken lightly but was "necessary". "We have been actively trying to find ways to absorb the rising costs of raw materials and operations, as we know the increase in the cost of living has impacted both consumers and businesses," they said. "Unfortunately, the growing pressures mean that more needs to be done." The practice is legal as long as the quantity stated on the pack is accurate, but it can feel underhand.

Shrinkflation

Lego Setback on Plastic Free

Toy giant Lego has scrapped plans to make its bricks from recycled bottles, in a blow to its efforts to cut carbon emissions. The company said in 2021 that it aimed to produce bricks not containing crude oil within two years. But on Monday, it said it had found that using the new material didn't reduce carbon emissions. Lego said it remains "fully committed" to making bricks from sustainable materials. Currently, many of Lego's bricks are made using acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), a virgin plastic made from crude oil. Like many other companies, Lego has been exploring alternative materials to plastic as sustainability becomes more important to customers. One of the challenges has been finding a material that is durable enough to last for generations. In 2021, it said it has developed prototype bricks made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles, with some other chemicals added. The hope was that material could have offered an alternative to oil-based bricks. But Lego has now revealed that after more than two years of testing, it had found that using recycled PET didn't reduce carbon emissions. It said the reason for that was because extra steps were required in the production process, which meant it needed to use more energy. As a result, it said it has "decided not to progress" with making bricks from the material.It said it was currently testing and developing bricks made from "a range of alternative sustainable materials".

 Lego

Microsoft Revised Deal

The UK's competition watchdog has said Microsoft's revised offer to buy the Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard "opens the door" to the deal being cleared. The Competition Markets Authority (CMA) said the updated deal appeared to address concerns it had raised. Under the new proposals, Microsoft will not buy the cloud gaming rights owned by Activision Blizzard. Its original $69bn (£59bn) deal was blocked by UK regulators. Earlier this year, the CMA prevented Microsoft from taking on the whole of Activision over concerns that the deal would harm competition in cloud gaming in the UK. Microsoft then submitted a restructured deal for the competition watchdog to look at last month. Under the new offer, Microsoft agreed to transfer the rights to stream Activision games from the cloud to the French video games publisher Ubisoft for 15 years. The sale to Ubisoft of this portion of Activision's business will mean the cloud streaming of games like Call of Duty, Overwatch and World of Warcraft will not come under Microsoft's control.

Microsoft Deal

H&M Charge for Returns

Fashion giant H&M has become the latest retailer to charge shoppers who return items bought online. On Tuesday it announced customers now must pay £1.99 to return parcels either in store or online, with the cost taken from their refund however it made a U-turn since to say: "There will be no return fee for any parcels returned in store." An H&M spokesperson told the BBC that the information on its website had been "inaccurate" and had now been amended. Rival retailers such as Zara, Boohoo, Uniqlo and Next already charge for online returns. Online shopping rose strongly during the pandemic, but this has also meant a big increase in the number of items being sent back because they do not fit, or are not as expected. Returns can be a headache for retailers, because not only do they often cover the costs of online returns as a way of winning customers from rivals, but it also takes longer for warehouse staff to process returned stock. He said that while some customers might react negatively, most would understand the need for companies to make this decision. Many shoppers are also becoming more aware of the environmental impact of deliveries and returns. Fewer postal returns means fewer delivery vehicles travelling up and down with parcels.

H&M

30,000 Days

 

Australian serial entrepreneur Athan Didaskalou discusses the motivational quote that inspired him to go into business. The founder of luggage retailer July spoke to the BBC as part of their Paths to Success series. Follow the link below to watch what he has to say about being an entrepreneur.

30,000 Days

Shein in talks to buy Missguided

 

Mike Ashley's Frasers Group is in talks to sell its Missguided clothing brand to online fashion giant Shein. Frasers Group bought Missguided for £20m last year after the online fashion retailer collapsed into administration. Shein, which was founded in China in 2008, is a global giant in the world of fast fashion. Both Frasers Group and Shein have been contacted for comment. Manchester-based Missguided was founded by Nitin Passi in 2009 and grew to become one of the UK's biggest online fashion players. But after suffering from supply chain problems, rising freight costs and increasing competition from rivals, it fell into administration in May 2022, before being picked up by Frasers Group. Frasers - which owns the Mike Ashley-founded Sports Direct chain - has expanded rapidly by buying brands that have fallen into trouble. including Game, Evans Cycles, Jack Wills and Sofa.com. While Mike Ashley is no longer Frasers' chief executive, he owns a majority stake in the firm.

Fast Fashion Takeover

Peak Prices at Pubs

The pub group that owns Slug & Lettuce and Yates bars has said it will charge about 20p more per pint during peak hours due to cost increases. Stonegate Group, the UK's biggest pub chain, says 800 of its 4,000 pubs will introduce "dynamic pricing" during evenings and weekends. It said the price rise reflected the higher costs the company was facing, including extra security. Peak-time pricing is used by other sectors like travel when demand spikes. Stonegate said customers would be alerted to the price increases through notices in their pubs. The move prompted an angry response from some customers on social media. The company has introduced temporary price increases before. The chain charged up to 50p a pint more when England football matches were shown in their pubs during the last two world cups. Prices returned to normal after the matches. Ride-sharing companies like Uber also use peak-time pricing, and it is commonly used by the hotel and airline industries.

Dynamic Pricing
 

Chick-fil-A To Try Again in UK

An American fast food chain met with protests from the gay community last time it opened in the UK is planning to have another go. Chick-Fil-A aims to open five restaurants in the UK. The sites have not yet been chosen, but the first will open in early 2025. Its previous foray into the UK market in 2019 faced a boycott over its founders' support for Christian groups opposed to same-sex marriage. The firm is still run by the Cathy family which founded it, but has made a policy change in recent years. It appointed its first head of diversity in 2020 and has changed its approach to charitable giving, focusing on education and hunger alleviation. However, the family's Christian values mean restaurants do not open on Sundays, a policy that will also apply in the UK. Chick-Fil-A said it would invest over $100m over the next 10 years in the UK. Most of the sites would be run and owned as franchises, and would create between 80 and 120 jobs per branch, it said.

Chick-fil-A

Novo Nordisk Becomes Most Valuable Firm

The maker of weight-loss drug Wegovy has become Europe's most valuable firm, dethroning the French luxury conglomerate LVMH. Shares rose after the Danish pharmaceutical giant, Novo Nordisk, launched the popular drug in the UK. At the close of trading on Monday, the firm had a stock market valuation of $428bn (£339bn). The drug is now available on the National Health Service in the UK and also on the private market. Wegovy is an obesity treatment that is taken once a week which tricks people into thinking that they are already full, so they end up eating less and losing weight. Famous personalities such as Elon Musk are among the reported users of the drug, which has captivated Hollywood and the public more widely since it was approved by regulators in the US in 2021. Wegovy and Ozempic - a diabetes treatment with similar effects - have been described as "miracle" drugs. But experts warn the jabs are not a quick fix nor a substitute for a healthy diet and exercise. In trials, users often put weight back on after stopping treatment.

Wegovy 

Vape Waste

Five million disposable vapes are thrown away each week in the UK, a fourfold increase over the past year, according to research from recycling campaign group Material Focus. Only 17% of vapers recycle their vapes in the correct recycling bins, the research found. Vapes can cause fires in bin lorries and waste treatment facilities if not disposed of correctly. The vaping industry says it is working to improve recycling rates. Disposable vapes, cheap plastic devices designed to give a few hundred puffs of nicotine vapour before being thrown away, are often discarded in bins and on roadsides. By law, every shop that sells vapes is meant to take them back, but it is a facility that costs money to provide, and many do not. The potential annual cost of recycling all those vapes would be £200m, a cost which is not being met by producers, importers or retailers, they say.

Waste Vape

One Chip Challenge Pulled

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Amazon and eBay have removed a super-hot tortilla chip linked to the death of an American teenager from sale. The parents of Harris Wolobah, 14, believe that the One Chip Challenge caused his death last week. It was taken off shelves in the US, where it was widely sold, but imports from global sellers remained on-sale. Snack-maker Paqui claims that the single tortilla, sold in a coffin-shaped box, contains a blend of "the hottest peppers available". Millions of people have watched YouTubers and TikTokers attempt the viral dare and their extreme reactions to it. It's thought the popularity of the challenge has inspired lots of teenagers to purchase the product, which carries a warning label, to try it for themselves. On Thursday, Paqui posted a statement on its website about its decision to remove stock from American stores. The company said the challenge was "intended for adults only" and not for anyone with underlying health conditions or allergies. But it said it had seen an "increase in teens and other individuals not heeding these warnings".

One Chip Challenge