Retail

Bloomberg Shin Kyuk Ho, the 93-year-old founder of Korean-Japanese retail giant Lotte Group, has lost his board seat at the family-controlled conglomerate’s lodgings and duty-free sales unit Hotel Lotte Co. amid a leadership struggle between two of his sons. Shin’s term expired on March 28, Lotte Group said in a statement. He had been a board member since 1973, when …

NEW YORK / AP Enjoy, an online concierge service for gadgets, is expanding beyond San Francisco and New York City nearly a year after it was launched. The startup, founded by former JC Penney CEO and Apple executive Ron Johnson, will be adding certain neighborhoods of Los Angeles this week and then Chicago in May. The service allows customers to …

Bloomberg Craigslist could learn a thing or two from Quikr. The Indian equivalent of the free classifieds service publishes product ratings, handles payments and shipping and — crucially — releases payment only after a buyer gives their purchase a once-over and a virtual thumbs-up. In so doing, the site that lists for sale everything from smartphones to cars is trying …

LONDON / Reuters British consumers are still driving the country’s recovery despite a gloomier outlook for the economy and the approach of the European Union membership referendum, figures showed. Official data showed retail sales fell more gently than expected in February after a bumper January. A separate survey by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) showed sales volumes fell slightly …

Rome / Reuters Italy’s luxury fashion house Versace said that its revenues in 2015 grew 17.5 percent, thanks largely to sales of its accessories and its cheekier second line, Versus. While the brand’s revenues grew by 645 million euros ($720 million), its retail sales were 28.9 percent higher at 400.7 million euros and income from e-commerce was up 31.2 percent. …

Reuters GameStop Corp, the world’s largest retailer of video games, forecast first-quarter revenue below analysts’ estimates, blaming a lack of major videogame releases and weaker hardware sales. The company’s shares were down 5.6 percent at $28.55 in after-market trading this week. They had declined as much as 8.3 percent earlier. GameStop’s sales have been languishing as videogame publishers such as …

Bloomberg Latam Airlines Group SA and Avianca Holdings SA were both downgraded further into junk territory by Fitch Ratings, which said that the economic slowdown in the region will be an obstacle for them to cut debt. Fitch cut Latam’s long-term foreign currency credit grade one step to B+, four levels below investment grade. The outlook for the Santiago-based carrier …

Bloomberg Next, one of Britain’s biggest fashion retailers, warned that 2016 was set to be its toughest year since the global financial crisis, sending its share price tumbling. “The year ahead may well be the toughest we have faced since 2008,” chief executive Simon Wolfson said in the company’s annual results statement as Next slashed its sales forecast. “We are …

Bloomberg US retailers adopting cage-free eggs sooner rather than later could gain a profit advantage over competitors. Retailers, including Albertsons Cos., Kroger Co. and CVS Health Corp., announced plans this month to convert to 100 percent cage-free eggs in the next decade, amid a push from consumers and shareholders at US firms. The change likely won’t hurt profits for retailers. …

Reuters TreeHouse Foods Inc has announced it would introduce more premium, healthy snacks and popular drinks to revitalise the struggling private-label business it bought from ConAgra Foods Inc last month. TreeHouse’s $2.7 billion acquisition of ConAgra’s business — its biggest ever — makes it the largest private-label food company in the US, with 2015 pro-forma sales of about $7 billion. …