Black Friday

 

Protests are being staged at Amazon buildings in the UK, US, and Europe - on Black Friday. The shopping sales day is among Amazon's busiest all year. An international coalition of unions, equality and environmental groups called "Make Amazon Pay" is staging a day of action. The movement is demanding Amazon make changes to its business, including improved pay, an end to employee surveillance, and union engagement. Analysts PwC predict £8.7bn will be spent on Black Friday - up from £7.8bn in 2019 and about twice as much as last year's event which took place during lockdown. This is despite warnings to expect less generous discounts and some shortages. Black Friday, which began in the US, sees retailers slash prices to entice shoppers ahead of the Christmas period. PwC predicts about 60% of adults in the UK will make purchases, spending an average of £280 each. There are concerns some retailers will not be able to meet demand on the day, leading to long waits for orders to be processed and delivered. Some big brands such as M&S and Next have shunned Black Friday this year, with M&S again saying its focus was on "offering great value throughout the whole season". Many independent shops have also opted-out as they cannot afford to offer deep discounts in the vital Christmas shopping period. An investigation by consumer rights group Which? found that 92% of Black Friday deals in 2020 were the same price or cheaper in the six months before the event.

Black Friday

Lush Leaving Social Media

Lush has announced it is closing its accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok until the social media sites do a better job of protecting users from harmful content. The campaigning beauty retailer said it had “had enough” after the allegations of the Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, who claims the company puts profit ahead of the public good. The Lush chief digital officer, Jack Constantine, said the company would not ask customers to “meet us down a dark and dangerous alleyway”, adding that some social media platforms were “beginning to feel like places no one should be encouraged to go … Something has to change.” Constantine said the company spent a lot of time inventing products to help people to unwind and look after themselves. Social media platforms had become the antithesis of this, he argued, with algorithms designed to “keep people scrolling and stop them from switching off and relaxing”. As anyone who has tried knows, giving up social media is not easy. This holds true for Lush too, as this is the second time the company, which has more than 400 stores in 48 countries, has said it is quitting the sites, having previously announced the step in 2019. The company blamed “Fomo” (fear of missing out) for the relapse. But by quitting social media Lush is also switching off a channel for criticism of the company, something for which it may be grateful. The retailer said it planned to find better channels of communication elsewhere, as well as using tried and tested routes. For the time being it will continue to have a presence on Twitter and YouTube.

Lush

Lidl Expansion

Lidl has committed to opening another 235 stores across the UK, creating up to 4,000 jobs. It comes as the discounter revealed a bounce back into the black in the year ended 28 February 2021 as revenues jumped 12% to £7.7bn. The rise in sales throughout the pandemic helped Lidl move from a £25.2m pre-tax loss in the previous year to profits of £9.8m. Earnings before interest and tax was also up 311% to £44m. Lidl said today it aimed to have 1,100 stores in its estate by 2025, increasing its previous goal of 1,000 sites by 2023, which it also added was on track. It opened 55 shops during the financial year, despite the challenges of the pandemic, to take its estate to 865 strong. Lidl invested more than £17.5m in colleague remuneration during the period: £8m in raising hourly wages for colleagues and a £9.5m one-off thank you payment and gift voucher given to colleagues in recognition of efforts during the pandemic.

Lidl Growth

Unlimited Holiday

Workers at a London stockbrokers will have unlimited holiday from next year to try to prevent staff burnout. Finncapp employees will have to take a minimum of four weeks leave plus two or three days every quarter. Unlimited paid holiday is a perk popular among some US tech firms but less so among financial services companies. For some companies it works well, increasing productivity, but others found staff took less time off. Ms Smith said the company really started to notice how much mental health strain employees were under in February this year. On Zoom calls, people were getting frustrated and some were not wanting to communicate. Staff had worked very long hours from home in the pandemic, especially during lockdowns, and the "lines between work and life became blurred", Ms Smith said. And because everyone else was working, that put more pressure on people to just keep working, she said. By June, mental health pressures were starting to hit employees' physical health, with people taking time off, and the company decided to change its working practices. Other firms have been trying to deal with workplace stress by giving workers some time off. Dating app Bumble temporarily closed its offices in June for a week to combat workplace stress. In April, LinkedIn shut down for a week, giving nearly all of its 16,000 employees a break. Nike headquarters staff in Oregon also got a week off in August to support their mental health.

Unlimited Holiday

Apple Car Due 2025

Apple is stepping up its plans to enter the car market and aims to launch a self-driving electric vehicle in 2025, according to a report. The tech company’s much-rumoured automotive project has bolstered its ambitions under new leadership and is pushing for a fully self-driving vehicle with no steering wheel or pedals. The car’s interior would be designed for hands-off driving, with one possible design featuring passengers sitting around a U-shaped seating formation. Despite looking at a design with no steering wheel, Apple has also discussed fitting the car with an emergency takeover mode. Apple’s below-the-radar car venture – known as Project Titan – was dealt an apparent blow in September when the executive in charge of its development, Doug Field, defected to Ford. But the iPhone maker appears undaunted by the challenge of entering the competitive electric vehicle market despite a number of senior leadership changes at Titan this year, Field’s the most significant among them. Apple shares gained as much as 2.4% to $157.23 after Bloomberg reported the news. 

Project Titan

M&S x Costa

 

Marks & Spencer is to provide sandwiches and hot food to more than 2,500 Costa Coffee outlets as the retailer seeks new ways to reach commuters now working from home. M&S said it would be providing more than 30 different items to Costa including children’s food, hot meal boxes and salads under the collaboration with the UK’s biggest coffee shop chain. The retailer said the partnership with the coffee shop, which was bought by Coca-Cola in 2018, would help it reach neighbourhood locations, drive-throughs, high streets and retail parks. The deal is M&S’s latest effort to widen the distribution of its food after it bought a share in Ocado’s retail arm and replaced Waitrose as the online grocery specialist’s main partner. The deal with Ocado resulted in M&S being able to begin selling groceries online for home delivery for the first time just over a year ago. Analysts said the tie-up could be good for both parties, with M&S benefiting from extra sales and the higher volumes lifting its profit margins. Costa has the chance to extend the variety food it offers, particularly on healthy eating and new trends such as plant-based foods in which M&S has already developed full ranges. M&S has been revamping its stores and products to appeal more to families, helping the group return to a pre-tax profit in the six months to October after a loss of almost £88m in the same period last year.

Cost Partnership

Real Living Wage Rise

 

More than 300,000 people working for employers who have voluntarily signed up to the Real Living Wage are getting a pay boost of 40p to £9.90 an hour. This is not to be confused with the compulsory National Living Wage, which is currently £8.91 an hour for anyone over the age of 23. Companies already accredited include half of the FTSE 100 and big household names such as Everton Football Club, insurer Aviva, luxury goods brand Burberry and the Nationwide building society. The recommended rate is intended to ensure all staff earn a wage that meets the real cost of living and covers everyday needs. Latest research by the Living Wage Foundation shows that there are still 4.8 million jobs - 17.1% of all employees - still paying less than the Real Living Wage in the UK. Record numbers of employers have been signing up this year because ultimately they want to do the right thing by their workers. 

Living Wage

Robo Bar

Soon, however, those bar staff might not even be human. Enter Cecilia, a robotic bartender that mixes and serves cocktails, and uses artificial intelligence (AI) to talk to customers in much the same way that Alexa, on an Amazon Echo speaker, or Siri, on an iPhone can respond to you. The company says that each unit can be filled with 70 litres of different types of spirits, and that it can serve up to 120 cocktails per hour. Customers can either buy a Cecilia for $45,000 (£34,000), or hire one for $2,000 a month. Mr Kobi believes that the traditionally change-resistant pubs and bars sector may increasingly turn to such technology in a bid to "wow" customers, and to stand out from the crowd. Celilia.AI is also aiming the system at hotels, airports, stadiums, casinos and cruise ships. Proponents of bartending robots also note that they can help bars become more efficient - which, in turn, helps their bottom line. There's always a shortage of workers. You have to train them, but then they leave. There's a huge turnover of staff. As is the case with other industries, the rise of bartending robotics is likely to raise concerns about job losses.

Robo Bar 

Walkers Crisp Shortage

 

Supplies of Walkers crisps have been disrupted by an IT upgrade. The Leicester-based crisp giant confirmed products including multipacks of ready salted, Quavers and Wotsits had been affected. A number of these are currently unavailable on the Tesco website and there are reports of empty shelves in some shops. A spokeswoman said the firm was "working round the clock" to increase the supply to stores across the UK. She added: "We are currently experiencing disruption to the supply of some of our Walkers snacks products, as a result of a recent IT system upgrade. "We're very sorry for the inconvenience. "We're incredibly grateful to all our colleagues in Leicester and our other sites for their hard work and dedication as we work through this issue." Hoarders however are cashing in on the lack of the availability of the crisps and selling packets online, some for up to £8.

Walkers Shortage

Christmas Comes Early

 
Customers are Christmas shopping early, retailer Marks & Spencer has said, with nearly half expecting to have finished buying gifts by the end of November. Rival John Lewis said that many people were planning big family get-togethers after lockdowns last Christmas. Retail expert Steve Dresser said people were "spooked about shortages of stock" and were budgeting in tough times. In October, shop footfall was higher than in September, British Retail Consortium (BRC) data suggested. Marks & Spencer said that many customers were shopping early and planning ahead, while nearly 40% were planning to do more to celebrate Christmas than prior to Covid. More than two thirds (68%) were planning to have a big family Christmas, the retailer added. Both M&S and John Lewis have launched their Christmas adverts slightly earlier than last year to try to entice people to buy from them. People were concerned about the future of the UK economy "against a backdrop of cheerless domestic news" including "fuel and food shortages" and "surging inflation squeezing household budgets".

Christmas Comes Early

Shopping Green

 

The Co-op’s Ethical Consumerism report shows UK households are spending an average £100 a month on lowering their carbon impact. The report’s findings include tracking the increase in the total size of the ethical food market from £1bn a year in 2000 to £14bn today, a year-on-year increase of 12%. In the last year plant-based foods saw a 34% increase to £1.5bn at the same time as the Co-op introduced a price-match initiative for its own brand vegan foods against equivalent meat products. The report also found that free-range egg sales topped £1bn for the first time as more supermarkets followed the Co-op’s lead in selling only free-range eggs. There has also been a growth in zero waste shops with approximately over 320 independents setting these up whilst Five of the UK's biggest supermarkets have promised to halve the environmental impact of a weekly food shop by the end of the decade. Tesco, Sainsbury's, Waitrose, Co-op and M&S said they would reduce carbon emissions, deforestation and the food waste and packaging they produce with many trialing the zero waste approach.

Shopping Green

Christmas Soup

Heinz has launched a Christmas Dinner soup complete with turkey, Brussels sprouts and pigs in blankets in a move sure to bring joy to consumers fretting over empty shelves this festive season. The brand’s first cans of Christmas Dinner Big Soup contain “big chunks” of turkey, pigs in blankets, Brussels sprouts, stuffing balls and potatoes, with a gravy and cranberry sauce. Just 500 cans will be produced this year, but Heinz has hinted it could roll the line out in greater numbers next year if it proves a success with shoppers. A survey for Heinz suggests 36% of those who celebrate Christmas prefer the traditional dinner to any other meal. The limited edition tin which was priced at £1.50 sold out within hours of launching on Monday which prompted Heinz to consider bringing it back next year.

Christmas Soup

Tesla Surpasses $1 Trillion Valuation

Tesla surpassed a market value of $1 trillion on Monday, making it the fifth such firm to reach the milestone. Shares in the electric carmaker climbed 12.6% after it struck a deal to sell 100,000 vehicles to the car rental firm Hertz. Tesla has been the world's most valuable carmaker for some time, but brands like Ford and GM make more cars. Previously only Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Google-owner Alphabet have reached a $1tn valuation. For years, Tesla struggled to ramp up production of its cars, leading some investors to speculate it would fail. But last year the company, led by billionaire Elon Musk, upped its game and became profitable for the first time, prompting its shares to take off. Following the jump in its share price, Mr Musk's 23% stake in the business is worth around $230bn. The deal with Hertz is the biggest-ever rental car order for electric vehicles and seen as a further vote of confidence. What makes Tesla's achievement all the more remarkable is that it is the first carmaker to hit this milestone. Tesla is now worth as much as the combined market cap of the nine largest carmakers around the world, including automotive giants like Volkswagen and Toyota. Yet Tesla makes up less than 1% of global car sales. Elon Musk and company are being rewarded for anticipating the future direction of the industry.

Tesla Trillions

Ikea on Oxford Street

 

Ikea is buying the former flagship central London store of Topshop for £378m following the collapse of Sir Philip Green's retail empire. The Swedish giant will turn several floors of the huge Oxford Street site into a furniture store as part of a strategy to open inner-city outlets. Ikea said despite the growth of online sales, bricks and mortar remained key. Peter Jelkeby, retail manager of Ikea UK & Ireland, said societies were seeing big changes in the way people live and shop, including soaring online sales and a desire for more local physical outlets. Ikea, famous for its huge out-of-town warehouses, has been trialling inner-city formats across Europe for more than two years. The new store is planned to open in autumn 2023 and will focus on home-furnishing accessories, with the full range available to buy for home delivery. The company opened its first inner-city outlet in Paris in 2019. It also has city centre sites in New York, Toyko, and Madrid, with outlets planned for Vienna, Barcelona, Berlin and Prague. Ikea currently has 22 UK outlets. "Even though online shopping continues to accelerate at a rapid pace, our physical stores - large and small - will always be an essential part of the Ikea experience," said Mr Jelkeby.

Ikea Oxford Street

Vending Machine Comeback

Traditional machines serving offices, schools, and hospitals saw their business evaporate as workers, students and visitors stayed at home. In the UK, of the 24,500 employees servicing these machines, some 5,000 were made redundant. But innovative and niche machines, often boasting upmarket, healthier and specialist products, tell a different story. David Llewellyn, chief executive of the Vending and Automated Retail Association, says automated micro markets saw 367% growth last year. These are small convenience stores, without staff and where customers pay using a smartphone app or at an unattended till. And the vending options are always expanding. For example, you can now purchase fake eyelashes from a machine and perfume and even collect your prescriptions. In April, Rome got its first automated pizza vending machine - on the Via Catania near La Sapienza university district. The red contraption cooks and dispenses pizzas in three minutes, ranging from margherita to diavola, for between €4.50-6 (£3.80-5.10). Italy has one vending machine for every 145 people, lagging only Germany for vending machines' popularity in Europe. Both countries though trail Japan, with one machine for every 25 people.

Vending Machines