Retail

Bloomberg Happy Cyber Monday! I know—it’s next week. But really, is it? These days, pretty much every day in November offers an extravaganza of online savings. Walmart.com is shaving $549 off a 40-inch 4K HDTV, Amazon.com has a few pages of “Black Friday” deals and BestBuy.com is offering a “rush sale” and the chance to “get a jump on holiday …

Bloomberg Swiss watch exports rose at the fastest monthly pace in more than four years in October, helped by an easy comparison with last year and fuelled by Asian demand for higher-priced timepieces. Shipments increased 9.3 percent to 1.85 billion francs ($1.9 billion) in October, the sixth consecutive monthly increase, the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry said on Tuesday. …

Bloomberg After years of watching shoppers flit from store to store in search of the biggest deals, US retailers are hoping their attempts at building some loyalty will finally pay off this holiday season. Chains have aggressively rolled out rewards programmes in recent years, and there are signs that the efforts are beginning to get results. Hollister’s stunning 8 percent …

Bloomberg Alibaba Group’s $2.9 billion deal to buy a slice of China’s largest hypermart chain pits it against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in the world’s largest retail arena. China’s biggest e-commerce company agreed to acquire 36 percent of Sun Art Retail Group Ltd., which operates about 400 hypermarkets under the Auchan and RT-Mart banners. As part of the deal, France’s Auchan …

Bloomberg Britain’s exit from the European Union could cost the UK aerospace industry 1.5 billion pounds ($2 billion) in extra customs expenses, the sector’s national lobby group said in a submission to lawmakers. The sum would come from “increased checks at the border” if British and EU processes do not remain harmonised, ADS Group said in evidence to Parliament’s Business, …

Bloomberg Inflation might be the Grinch that steals Christmas in Britain this year. UK household expenditure is set to fall 0.1 percent from a year earlier during the holidays, according to a report by Visa and IHS Markit published on Monday. The slump will likely emerge as a result of faster price growth and the resulting pinch on incomes. The …

Bloomberg The market is buzzing with speculation that Amazon.com Inc. will enter the pharmacy business. Some drugmakers are just fine with changes the tech retail giant might bring to the complex market. Drug companies say getting medicine into patients’ hands is complicated and costly. Some have pointed to the multiple layers of middlemen including insurers, pharmacy benefit managers, distributors and …

Bloomberg Gap Inc. and Ross Stores Inc. are showing that growth is possible for apparel retailers. You just have to offer cut-rate prices. Both apparel companies saw their shares spike after posting comparable sales that exceeded analyst estimates. Gap relied on its budget-minded Old Navy chain for growth. Ross, meanwhile, used its off-price strategy to outperform expectations despite the hurricanes …

Bloomberg Coca-Cola Co., facing a world where consumers fill up Amazon baskets instead of grocery carts, is trying to raise its tech game. The 131-year-old beverage company is taking its understanding of driving real-life traffic to the world of e-commerce. That includes upping the appearance of its “digital shelf,” integrating with voice products like Amazon’s Echo, and adding impulse buy …

Bloomberg For the past year, Amazon employees have been test driving Amazon Go, an experimental convenience store in downtown Seattle. The idea is to let consumers walk in, pick up items and then pay for them without ever standing in line at a cashier. Amazon is vague on the mechanics, but the store relies on a mobile app and some …