Bloomberg Falling gasoline prices pushed down Canadian retail sales for a second straight month in December, ending what was a weak fourth quarter and lackluster year for the industry. Retailers posted a 0.1 percent drop in receipts in December, extending a 0.9 percent drop in November — the most sluggish back-to-back monthly performance last year. For all of 2018, sales …
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Bloomberg Internet retailers such as Amazon.com Inc., Asos Plc and Boohoo Group Plc should pay higher UK taxes to help save ailing shopping districts that are losing revenue to e-commerce, according to a government report. An online sales tax, higher value-added tax and “green taxes†on shipping and packaging should all be considered to help soften the blow to physical …
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Bloomberg Sweden’s largest food retailer ICA is preparing for its largest transformation yet to cater to a growing number of customers who want to shop for groceries online and have them delivered home. The 81-year-old company is following in the footprints of other Swedish retail giants like Hennes & Mauritz AB and Ikea in shifting investments towards e-commerce, advanced analytics …
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Bloomberg Debenhams Plc’s lenders are prepared to grant the struggling department store chain more credit in an effort to ward off a potential low-ball buyout from billionaire shareholder Mike Ashley. After extending a 40 million-pound ($52 million) loan facility to Debenhams last week, the group of about 10 firms including hedge funds Alcentra, Angelo Gordon & Co. and Silver Point …
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Bloomberg Walmart Inc. finally gave the US retail sector some good news. The company brushed off the industry’s disappointing December sales with its best holiday quarter in at least a decade, soothing concerns about the sector’s outlook for 2019. Comparable sales for Walmart stores in the US — a key performance barometer — rose 4.2 percent in the quarter that …
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Dubai / Emirates Business Majid Al Futtaim, one of the Middle East’s leading retailers, is spearheading the digital transformation of the region’s $313 billion retail market, both in taking a growing slice of e-commerce and enhancing Carrefour customer shopping experiences online and in-store. The Middle East retail sector is undergoing a sea-change. As more malls open, the GCC’s retail sector …
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Bloomberg Yayvo, Pakistan’s second-largest online retailer, is planning to bring in new investors amid competition from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. The e-commerce company has appointed advisers to help with the fundraising, Yayvo’s head, Adam Dawood, said in an interview in Karachi last week. Yayvo aims to start meeting with potential investors in the Middle East and China next month, according …
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Bloomberg Payless Inc. is liquidating its US and Puerto Rico stores and shutting down its online operations as the upheaval in the retail industry claims its latest victim. The discount shoe chain is starting liquidation sales on February 17, and expects the stores to remain open until at least the end of March, according to a statement. The company was …
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Bloomberg So much for a merry Christmas. That is, if you trust the numbers. Commerce Department figures show US retail sales fell 1.2 percent in December from the previous month, the most since 2009, rather than the slight increase economists had forecast. Even more confusing: There was a pullback in a measure based largely on internet sales, which had been …
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Bloomberg Longreach Group, the buyout firm founded by former UBS Group AG investment banker Mark Chiba, is considering an initial public offering of its jewelry business Primo Japan Inc., reports said. The owner has been working with Nomura Holdings Inc. to explore options that could also include a sale of the Tokyo-based diamond ring seller, the people said. Any deal …
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