Essential reading for retailers and suppliers in the home improvement market

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Glee boasts “strongest pet contingent for many years”

Garden retailers and pet buyers will be spoilt for choice, says the show’s organisers, with a host of UK and international exhibitors lined up for Glee 2017, along with a newly-launched Buyer Connect event and news that the Petquip Business Village ... 
21 August 2017

Travis Perkins uses Google Cloud to improve customer experience

Travis Perkins, building materials supplier to construction and home improvement supply stores such as Wickes and Benchmarx, is utilising Talend and Google Cloud Platform to increase data quality, consistency and business agility across multiple ... 
21 August 2017

Johnson’s Ironmongers closes

Johnson’s Ironmongers in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, has closed down. Philip Johnson, who was the fourth generation of the Johnson family to run the shop, had owned the business since 1952, but died in January at the age of 88, and the family decided ... 
17 August 2017

Screwfix powers ahead in Q2, while B&Q sales hit by seasonal losses

Kingfisher’s results for the second quarter revealed like-for-like sales up 10.8% at Screwfix, boosted by new stores and digital capabilities, while B&Q revenues were impacted by store closures and a dip in seasonal sales.Total sales for ... 
17 August 2017

‘Repositioning of business’ hits Bunnings pre-tax profits

Bunnings reported a £54 million ($89 million) loss before interest and tax for its first full financial year of trading its UK and Ireland business since the acquisition of Homebase, as the retailer counts the cost of new store openings and walking ... 
17 August 2017

Ideabright Ltd in administration

Hardware retailer and parent company of Dibranto, Posh Rosh, and Clean Up brands has appointed administrators this week after struggling with “very tough trading”, the company says.Ideabright, which has its head office in Chessington Surrey, ... 
16 August 2017

Tool Shop expands with two new locations

Independent hardware chain secures two new London units – in Camden and Islington – and reveals plans to grow the business further with new acquisitions in coming months.The Tool Shop Group today confirmed that it was adding two further branches to ... 
14 August 2017

Screwfix to open fourth Glasgow store

Screwfix is set to open its fourth store in Glasgow on Thursday, 24 August at Anniesland Business Park, creating 14 new jobs in the area.“We’ve created 14 new jobs and employed people from around the Glasgow area,” said store manager Andrew Doak. “... 
14 August 2017

Axe swings at Wilko

Wilko has started redundancy consultations with nearly 4,000 staff members as it reorganises its business across its more than 400 stores in the UK.Around 1,000 senior supervisory roles and a "significant amount" of customer service posts will be ... 
14 August 2017

Bunnings heads to Weston-super-Mare for ninth location

Bunnings confirms it will open its ninth Warehouse store in Worle later this year, taking over the site of the Homebase on Bristol Road. The new store is approximately 76,000sq ft and will employ an additional 20 full and part-time team members, ... 
11 August 2017

Plant disease poses threat to UK horticulture industry

One of the most harmful bacterial plant diseases in the world, Xylella fastidiosa could pose a huge risk to the UK industry and the Horticultural Trades Association is warning that businesses must make sure they only buy host plants from trusted ... 
11 August 2017

B&M opens new store with garden centre in Doncaster  

The latest new B&M Home store opened in Thorne this week, complete with a large 5,842sq ft garden centre.It's the latest addition to the stores in the South Yorkshire region and has created more than 50 jobs. The new Home store, managed by Nick ... 
11 August 2017

High percentage of consumers make unplanned purchases at discount stores

In a recent survey, 75% of consumers said they had made an unexpected impulse purchase including tools and kitchen products - when shopping at a discount retailer.  Retail consultancy Newton, which published the research conducted across 2,000 UK ... 
10 August 2017

Homewares sales make a comeback in July

While the non-food category saw declines during the four-week period, homeware retailers were a “success story”, says the British Retail Consortium in its latest retail sales monitor. Figures reported in the BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor for the four ... 
10 August 2017

Physical stores drive online growth

New research revealing a symbiotic relationship between a brand’s physical stores and its ecommerce platform has been published by British Land.Using data from Connexity Hitwise, the research, shows that when a new store opens, traffic to the ... 
9 August 2017

Travis Perkins wins military recruitment award

Travis Perkins has been recognised for their work supporting the Armed Forces with a Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) Silver award. The accolade is awarded to companies that are making a demonstrable effort to support, recruit and develop ... 
9 August 2017

DFS acquires Sofology

Furniture retailer DFS has exchanged contracts to acquire Sofology for an initial enterprise value of £25m on a debt-free, cash-free basis payable upon completion. In addition, further payments could be made approximately 12 months following ... 
7 August 2017

Further decline in consumer spend on household goods

Visa's UK CSI data signalled a further decline in household expenditure at the start of the third quarter. Compared to the same month a year ago, spending fell -0.8% in July which was slightly faster than seen in June (-0.2%). Moreover, spending has ... 
7 August 2017

Tesco scraps 5p carrier bags in favour of ‘Bag for Life’

Tesco has today announced that from August 28, it will no longer make single-use carrier bags available to customers, replacing them instead with a new 10p ‘Bag for Life’ made from 94% recycled plastic. The announcement follows a successful 10-week ... 
7 August 2017

Australian housewares chain sets its sights on UK

Australian housewares chain House, which is owned by Global Retail Brands, is preparing to move into the UK market next year. Global Retail Brands aims to open its first tranche of House stores by April 2018, with a total of 75 stores planned within ... 
7 August 2017
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