Bloomberg Prices in British shops hit a fresh record high, heaping more pain on consumers grappling with soaring energy and housing bills. The British Retail Consortium said shop price inflation accelerated to 5.7% in September, topping the previous 5.1% record increase in August. This is highest level of inflation since the index began in 2005 as retailers pass on …

  Bloomberg Swedish fashion retailer H&M is considering charging for online returns amid a series of efficiency measures to reduce surging costs. The company is trying out the fees in Norway and the UK in coming days, embracing a measure that rivals have turned to as well, Chief Executive Officer Helena Helmersson said. “We are testing it as a possible …

  Bloomberg First they came for factory jobs. Then they showed up in service industries. Now, machines are making inroads into the kind of white-collar office work once thought to be the exclusive preserve of humans. The latest wave of automation is building on advances in artificial intelligence and machine-learning that allow computers to perform tasks like speech recognition, and …