Retail

Bloomberg Many Britons seem to have tightened their belts this festive season in an early sign that retailers won’t have received much of a boost from the holidays. Forty-seven percent of consumers said they spent less on Christmas in 2017 than last, according to a survey by Retail Economics. A quarter said they wouldn’t shop in after-Christmas sales because they ...

Bloomberg President Donald Trump said the US Postal Service should charge Amazon.com Inc. more to deliver packages, the latest in a series of public criticisms of the online retailer and its billionaire founder. The post office “should be charging MUCH MORE” for package delivery, the president tweeted from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, where he’s spending the holidays. “Why is ...

Bloomberg Ikea is the latest company ensnared in the European Union’s sprawling tax probes as regulators look at whether the retailer’s revenue deals in the Netherlands allowed it to avoid hundreds of millions of euros of taxes. The tax breaks may have given Inter Ikea Group, which operated the Swedish furniture maker’s franchise business, an unfair advantage over rivals, the ...

Bloomberg To get to Ivanka Trump’s store in Trump Tower, shoppers must first walk past metal barricades and police in body armor toting automatic weapons. Through the revolving doors is another checkpoint, where security employees check your bags. Then, once you’ve made it through, the now famous lobby and its golden elevators appear. In an alcove just to the side ...

Bloomberg The US economy is booming, unemployment is low and the White House is occupied by a president synonymous with ostentatious luxury. Why, then, have Americans stopped buying expensive watches? Swiss watch exports to the US fell 0.4 percent in November, extending the decline for the year so far to 4 percent after a 9 percent drop in 2016. By ...

Bloomberg Considering that the last major innovation in luggage was a four-wheeled suitcase patented in 1972, it’s understandable that recent shifts have thrown the travel industry for a loop. For the past few years, makers of so-called smart luggage—that’s bags with anything from a USB charging port to motorised wheels—have disrupted the market. Airlines are now taking note with arched ...

Bloomberg Freight hauler XPO Logistics Inc. jumped the most two years after Recode reported that Home Depot Inc. is weighing a possible acquisition as part of a push to compete with Amazon.com Inc. The home-improvement retail giant has held internal discussions in recent months about making a bid, according to the report, which cited an unnamed person familiar with Home ...

Bloomberg Phoebe Philo, the widely praised creative director of LVMH’s Celine label, is leaving her position in January, the company said. LVMH didn’t announce a successor in its emailed statement. Philo’s departure was well-telegraphed, with the trade publication Business of Fashion reporting in October that the luxury conglomerate was interviewing potential replacements. Still, the move is significant for Celine, which ...

Bloomberg Nike Inc. shares fell the most in nine months after its North American sales slump worsened, overshadowing strong growth in other regions. The world’s largest sports brand posted quarterly sales that fell short of estimates in its home market, while beating them in Greater China and Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The results show that Nike still faces ...

Bloomberg Tencent Holdings Ltd. and JD.com Inc. will buy a slice of one of China’s largest online retailers for $863 million, forging an alliance to take on Alibaba in e-commerce and digital payments. The pair agreed to buy shares in US-listed Vipshop Holdings Ltd. at a premium of 55 percent to their previous close. The deal comes with a business ...