Unpaid Workers Secret Message

Unpaid factory workers allegedly left notes for customers to find when they were shopping at a Zara chain. Shoppers in Istanbul said they had found pleas for help from unpaid workers on tags inside Zara clothes. Messages were said to have read: “I made this item you are going to buy but I didn’t get paid for it.” According to the Associated Press, workers from an outsourced manufacturer for Zara and other retailers have been going into the stores and leaving the secret messages inside the clothes.The notes are a bid to raise awareness of workers who were left underpaid after a Bravo Tekstil factory that made clothes for Inditex, Zara’s parent company shut down overnight.Workers were left owed three months’ worth of wages and a severance allowance when the factory closed. A petition online created to raise awareness of their plight already has over 19,000 signatures.

Unpaid Workers

Takdir Expansion

Popular Indian restaurant Takdir has relocated to new larger seafront premises on East Parade, Whitley Bay, thanks to the help of Barclays. The restaurant, one of the longest serving in Whitley Bay after being established in 1979, is now run by second generation brothers Mamun and Suffian Rahman. Previously located 11 East Parade, the restaurant has moved to 7-8 East Parade, creating a contemporary seafront eatery and cocktail bar. Paul Smith, Barclays business banking manager, put together the funding package for the deal. He said: “It’s been fantastic to work with Mamun and Suffian and see their business grow and flourish.” “The new premises will provide them with more flexibility to expand for the future and they provide a first class offering in Indian cuisine to the local North East community.

Takdir Expansion

Black Friday Bonaza

Wallets will be feeling a bit lighter this weekend as shoppers turn out in search of a bargain ahead of Christmas. It's estimated that £10bn could be spent in the UK over the Black Friday period, £2.5bn in a single day. Retailers like Dixons Carphone say it's a critical chance to boost their market share and provide customers with "real deals," But the chief executive of the fashion chain Fat Face has suggested it is "bonkers" to cut prices now. Anthony Thompson said his stores won't be taking part. "It's bad for customers, it's bad for business, it's bad for UK retail," said Mr Thompson."What customers are looking for at Christmas is great value for money, not make-believe promotions and fake prices, and that's often what they get on Black Friday. ome shoppers say they are weary of the custom, imported a few years ago from the United States.There's the scrum to get to the best deals, the sales gimmicks, and guilt that you've spent more than you planned. On top of that consumer group Which? has highlighted that many supposed deals may not be money-savers at all.

Black Friday Bonkers

Take-away-over

Just Eat's takeover of rival Hungryhouse has been officially given the green light by the competition watchdog. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) ruled in its final decision that the deal - worth up to £240m - does not raise competition concerns, given the rise of new entrants such as Deliveroo, UberEATS and Amazon. Just Eat welcomed the announcement and said it now expects to complete the takeover on 31 January. Also last week Tesco's £3.7bn takeover of food wholesaler Booker has been provisionally cleared by the UK's competition regulator. Booker is the UK's largest food wholesaler, and also owns the Premier, Budgens and Londis store brands. More than 30% of its sales are to the catering sector, which Tesco does not supply, although the supermarket is keen to get a foothold in the market. The CMA concluded that the wholesale market would "remain competitive in the longer term", because Booker's share of the UK grocery wholesaling market, at less than 20%, "was not sufficient to justify the longer-term concerns".

Takeover

Zoella £50 Advent Calendar

YouTube sensation Zoella has been fiercely criticised for an advent calendar which costs a whopping £50 and only has 12 doors. Boots were forced to cut the price of the “Zoella 12 Days of Christmas Advent Calendar" after substantial numbers of customers vented their frustrations it was extortionate. The retailer will now be selling the Christmas calendar at the reduced price of £25 from 16 November. But others argued the 27-year-old vlogger, who has over 11 million subscribers to her YouTube channel, had no influence on the price tag of the advent calendar and sought to defend her. Zoella has been criticised in the past for consumer products which are emblazoned with her name and branding, with people arguing they are not good value for money.

Zoella Advent 

Merry Greggsmas

Greggs has apologised after publicity shots for its new ad campaign included a nativity scene in which baby Jesus is replaced by a sausage roll. Photos promoting the baker’s new Advent calendar showed three wise men gathered round a manger in the traditional fashion but, rather than gazing in wonder at the son of God, their eyes fall upon a Greggs pastry. The stunt was apparently meant to be taken in a light-hearted way but numerous people pointed out that the fresh take on the 2,000-year old scene could cause offence because Jesus was Jewish and eating pork is forbidden in the Jewish faith. Greggs said in a statement: “We’re really sorry to have caused any offence, this was never our intention.” The advent calendar goes on sale in selected Greggs outlets on Monday costing £24 and includes a £5 Greggs gift card on Christmas Eve.

Merry Greggsmas

Singles Day

Now in its ninth year, the day is officially called the 11.11 Global Shopping Festival. 11.11 stands for the 11 November, when it is held. The two numbers were chosen to symbolise the wishes of single people to be in a relationship, as two elevens next to one another appear like two couples. It was originally a non-commercial festival started by male college students who didn't have a girlfriend. They created a day to get together to celebrate bachelorhood. But the Chinese retailer Alibaba caught on to it and has turned it into the largest online shopping day in the world. Alibaba says more than one million retailers worldwide took part this year, including US department store Macy's. Alibaba says this year's sales amounted to $25.3bn (£19bn), $7.5bn more than in 2016. Only half way into this year's Singles Day, sales had already surpassed last year's total.

Singles Day