PLT Customer Ban

 

Fast-fashion brand PrettyLittleThing (PLT) is facing criticism from customers who have had their accounts with the company deactivated because of the number of times they have returned their purchases. In an email seen by the BBC, shoppers were told on Friday that their accounts had been reviewed and shut down so they would not be able to place any further orders. Some of those affected have used social media to criticise the new policy, claiming they had only made one return so far this year, or suggesting they would return fewer items if the firm was more consistent in its sizing of clothing items. PLT did not immediately respond to the BBC's request for comment. The online retailer, which is part of the Boohoo Group, had come under fire earlier this month after scrapping its free returns policy. One PLT customer branded the latest move a "joke" and said returns would not be necessary if the sizing and the quality of the clothing was not "awful". For fashion retailers, covering the cost of returns can be expensive and they have to consider the environmental impact of using delivery trucks for this purpose too. More have been opting to shift costs on to customers as a result, as well as clamping down on returns by introducing stricter inspections to spot when clothes have been worn for an occasion and sent back after one use.

PLT Return

Heinz Every Sauce

Do you like to mix your ketchup with your mayo, or even throw a little bit of sweet chilli into the mix? Enter the ‘Every Sauce’ – a combination of not one, not two, but a whopping 14 sauces from Heinz’s flavour range. Experimenting with flavours isn’t a new thing for the cult brand, as its 150-year history has seen it try out everything from truffle mayo to pickle ketchup. Now, the ‘Every Sauce’ has been hailed the ‘holy grail’ of condiments, combining: Heinz Burger Sauce, Garlic Sauce, Aioli Sauce, Smokey Baconnaise, Sweet Chilli, Chip Sauce, Saucy Sauce, Mayoracha, Mayomust, Truffle Mayo, Garlic & Caramelised Onion Mayo, Curry Ketchup, Pickle Ketchup, and Smokey Bacon Ketchup. What a list. Whether you’re totally on board or believe that mixing flavours is sauce sacrilege, the new flavour was inspired by research from Heinz that saw almost a quarter (23%) of Brits admit to being obsessed with condiments – a figure that rose to 44% among 18 to 34-year-olds. Elsewhere, the stats revealed that the average person has five condiments in their home – and an impressive 15% have 10 or more One sauce isn’t enough for over seven in 10 (73%) people, who admit to using multiple at once. Want in? This is only for verified mega fans, as Heinz is asking hopeful winners to take a quiz for a shot at winning a bottle of the elusive Every Sauce. 100 bottles will be given away at random to the highest scorers on Friday June 28, which leaves just four days to swot up and shoot your sauce-loving shot.

Every Sauce

McVities Zero

Pladis appears to be readying its McVitie’s and Jacob’s brands for healthier treatments. It has applied to register the brand name ‘McVitie’s Zero’ and a logo for ‘Jacob’s Bites’ with the Intellectual Property Office under class 30, covering biscuits and wafers for the former, and crackers and crispbreads for the latter. A spokesman for Pladis claimed McVitie’s Zero related to a reduced sugar Digestives biscuit available in Turkey, which “we currently have no plans to launch elsewhere”. “We routinely trademark our brand names in territories around the world,” he said. On Jacob’s Bites, he said: “We don’t have any news to share at this stage. Like all companies, as part of our planning process we trademark brand names from time to time, sometimes speculatively.” However, Pladis has spent recent years developing HFSS-compliant spin-offs for both brands.  It debuted Rich Tea Delights and Wholesense Digestives – each boasting 30% less sugar than their standard counterparts – in 2022. Both were relaunched under ‘The Light One’ banner in 2023, bringing in £7.1m and £2.2m respectively  By comparison, value sales of traditional Rich Tea biscuits came to £31.5m over the period, while original Digestives raked in £56.0m. For Jacob’s, meanwhile, Pladis reformulated Crinklys to make it HFSS-compliant last July. It claimed the Cheese & Onion variant was the second-highest retail value sales launch of 2023 in non-HFSS.

McVities Zero 

Top Deck Returns

 

Cadbury has brought back its retro Top Deck chocolate bar after a two-decade hiatus. The bar – which first launched in 1993 and disappeared from sale in the noughties – comprises a layer of white chocolate on top of a milk chocolate base. Top Deck remains part of Cadbury’s permanent range in Australia and South Africa. It reappeared for a limited time in the UK in 2020, exclusively at B&M. The bar (rsp: £1.85/110g) will return to supermarket shelves later this month for a limited run, as part of Cadbury’s continued 200th anniversary celebrations. Wrapped in “vintage-inspired packaging from the original Top Deck”, it would provide “a trip down memory lane for 90s babies”, said Cadbury. “We’re delighted to be answering Cadbury fans’ requests and relaunching Cadbury Top Deck in the UK for a limited time,” said Cadbury brand manager Mara Popa. The relaunch will be supported by in-store activity, social media and PR. It comes after Cadbury this week announced a strategic partnership with Lotus Bakeries, which will see it launch a series of Biscoff co-branded chocolate lines, starting from early 2025.

Top Deck

Supermarket Sandwiches E-Coli Outbreak

 

Food manufacturers are recalling at least 60 types of pre-packed sandwiches, wraps and salads sold in major supermarkets because of possible contamination with E. coli. E. coli bacteria have not been detected in the products, but they are being recalled as a precaution. It is understood these are items containing salad leaves. Retailers involved include Aldi, Asda, Co-op and Morrisons. Some 211 people across the UK are known to be affected by E. coli currently - up from 113 last week. At least 67 people have been admitted to hospital, the UK Health Security Agency says. E. coli can sometimes contaminate the water or soil used to grow lettuce and other vegetables. Darren Whitby, head of incidents at the Food Standards Agency, said: “This is a complex investigation, and we have worked swiftly with the relevant businesses and the local authorities concerned to narrow down the wide range of foods consumed to a small number of salad leaf products that have been used in sandwiches and wraps."

Supermarkets E-Coli

Wizz Air Ranked Worst

 

Wizz Air has been named the worst airline for UK flight delays for the third year in a row. The carrier's departures from UK airports were an average of 31 minutes and 36 seconds behind schedule in 2023, according to analysis of official data by the PA news agency. Turkish Airlines recorded the second worst punctuality followed by Tui. The generally poor showing comes as airlines fares have been rising as a result of higher fuel costs and green taxes. Wizz Air said it had made "significant improvements" but acknowledged there was "still work to be done". Irish carrier Emerald Airlines was the most punctual airline with an average delay of just 13 minutes and six seconds, while Virgin Atlantic came second at 13 minutes and 42 seconds. Wizz Air's UK operations serve Aberdeen, Birmingham, Gatwick, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool and Luton airports. Passenger numbers at the Hungarian carrier - which operates in Europe, north Africa, the Middle East and other parts of Asia - hit a record 62 million in the 12 months to the end of March, up by more than a fifth on the previous year.

Wizz Air

Vauxhall Factory Celebrates 60 Years

Staff at a Vauxhall factory are celebrating 60 years since the first car rolled off the production line in the north west of England. Past and present employees gathered at the Ellesmere Port plant in Cheshire on Wednesday to mark six decades of manufacturing - with one family marking a special milestone. Keith Tabiner worked on the first car, a Vauxhall Viva, made at the plant in 1964 and has three sons still working at the factory. The Ellesmere Port plant was built in 1962 and opened for production of the Viva in 1964. Mr Tabiner, has four sons - three of whom work at the plant - meaning the family has a combined 152 years of employment at the site. It was Mr Tabiner's job to spray an engine every minute, something a machine now does. The Cheshire factory has been the home of several famous models including the Vauxhall Chevette and, since 1980, seven generations of the Astra - and now produces the latest generation of electric vans among other passenger vehicles. The plant is now the UK's first electric-only vehicle plant and the first Stellantis plant worldwide, said Diane Miller, plant director.

Ellesmere Port

Nvidia Value Hits $3tn

Nvidia's market value has surged past $3tn (£2.3tn), lifting the chip giant ahead of Apple to become the second most valuable publicly listed company in the world. The firm's share price rose more than 5% on Wednesday, to more than $1,224. It extended a breathtakingly rapid climb that started last year, powered by bets that the US firm is positioned to be a major winner from a wave of investment in artificial intelligence (AI). Its market value now sits just behind Microsoft, another key player in the industry thanks to its investments in Chat GPT-maker OpenAI. Founded in 1993, Nvidia was originally known for making the type of computer chips that process graphics, particularly for computer games. Long before the AI revolution, it started adding features to its chips that it says help machine learning - all of which has helped it increase its market share. It is now seen as a key company to watch to see how fast AI-powered tech is spreading across the business world, a shift boss Jensen Huang has declared the dawn of the "next industrial revolution". His company has seen explosive growth, reporting sales of $26bn in the three months to 28 April - more than triple the same period in 2023, and up 18% from the previous three month. Apple had appeared to be losing out earlier this year as sales growth stalled. But in recent weeks, its shares have been buoyed by anticipation over how it plans to incorporate AI into its own strategy.

Nvidia

McDonalds Loses Mac Trademark Battle

McDonald's no longer has the exclusive right to use the label "Big Mac" in reference to chicken burgers sold in the European Union after a ruling by the EU's highest court. The American fast-food chain popularised the nickname for large burger sandwiches, registering it as a trademark in the EU in 1996. But following a legal challenge from Supermac's, a rival chain in Ireland, other companies will now be free to use the name "Mac" to sell poultry products or in their chains' names. The European Court of Justice found that McDonald's could not show it had made genuine use of the trademark for a continuous period of five years. McDonald's noted in a statement that the court's decision did not affect its right to use the "Big Mac" trademark. But it does open the door for other chains to use the name, including Supermac, the firm that brought the challenge. Supermac, founded in 1978 in Galway, sells beef and chicken burgers and chicken nuggets at 120 red and white branded outlets across Ireland. Supermac's accuses McDonald's of "bullying" smaller firms through the defence of its trademarks, aiming to stifle competition.

Mac

Tesco Laser Etching Avocado

 

Tesco is trialling the replacement of barcode stickers with laser etching on its extra large avocados. The supermarket is also testing the replacement of plastic tray packaging on two of its most popular avocado lines with a cardboard container that is easier to recycle. Tesco avocado buyer Lisa Gilbey said:  “We’re always looking for innovative ways to reduce the environmental impact of our products, and cut down on plastic waste in the home through changes to our packaging. “We’re really excited to hear customer feedback on our new laser-etched avocados, avoiding the need for a barcode sticker that can easily be forgotten and left on when recycling through household food waste.” he supermarket said the Lincolnshire based firm has conducted extensive trials to ensure the quality, shelf life and taste of the fruit is not affected. Tesco sells nearly 70 million avocados a year and has seen demand for the fruit grow by 15% in the last year. The trials will take place in around 270 Tesco stores in south-east England and if feedback from customers is positive, will be rolled out across the Tesco estate.

Tesco Avocado

Shops Rush For Christmas Stock

 

European retailers are rushing to place their Christmas orders early as soaring shipping costs and trade route disruption threaten holiday deliveries, experts say. For the last few months, vessels belonging to Western firms have been attacked in the Red Sea by Houthi rebels backing Hamas in its war with Israel, driving shipping prices up. Container prices, which peaked in January and briefly declined, have rebounded sharply in recent weeks. The average cost of shipping a 40ft container now exceeds $4,000, a 140% increase from 2023, according to freight market tracker Xeneta. Peter Sand, Xeneta's chief analyst, said that importers have learned many lessons from the pandemic including that "the most straightforward way to protect supply chains is to ship as many of your goods as you can as quickly as possible". "That is what we are seeing with some businesses telling us they are already shipping cargo for the Christmas period - in May," he said. Typically, retailers start importing goods for the November Black Friday sales and Christmas shopping season between late summer and autumn.

Christmas Stock

Abercrombie Sales Surge

It is not just styles from the 1990s that are making a comeback. One of the decade's biggest brands is too. Abercrombie & Fitch appears on track for a second year of double digit sales growth - its first such streak in more than a decade. The company, which also owns Hollister, has told investors it expects sales this year to rise 10% from 2023. That is nearly double its prior forecast, and comes after a 16% surge last year. Known in the 90s for appealing to teens, and infamous for its shirtless models, the company is now going after grown-ups with wedding-wear, work appropriate offerings and wide leg, baggy jeans. It has also taken a more inclusive approach, introducing a wider range of sizes, among other steps  a not insignificant shift for a company whose former chief executive, Mike Jeffries, once declared "a lot of people don’t belong” in the firm’s clothing. Abercrombie in 2004 paid £39m to settle claims that its hiring practices had discriminated against minorities and women. Abercrombie, which Mr Jeffries left as boss in 2014, has since succeeded in reinventing itself - the turnaround sent shares in the firm, which has more than 750 stores globally, surging from around $25 (£19) a piece at the start of 2023 to more than $189 (£147) on Thursday.

Abercrombie Revival

Greggs Launch Fish Finger Sandwich

Greggs fans across the North East are in for a (fishy) treat as some tasty additions have been added to the bakery's made-to-order menu for the first time in the UK. The launch sees Greggs take on a quintessentially British classic as fish finger sandwiches and a fish finger wrap will be exclusively available to customers in 10 selected shops across the region this week. A staple of British childhood and championed by families across generations, the Fish Finger Sandwich (from £3.90) will be available with a choice of either ketchup or mayo and is made from a lightly battered cod fillet fish, dressed with iceberg lettuce inside a soft-corned top roll. The new range will be trialed in 10 shops and will be added to a further 10 across the region in June before a potential national roll out in forthcoming months. To announce the new menu at the weekend, Greggs opened their very first mobile seaside fish and chip shop on Whitley Bay’s promenade, named ‘Finest Catch by Greggs’ and was wrapped entirely in vintage Greggs newspaper.

Greggs Fish Fingers