January Furniture Show
19-22 January 2025
Join the Retail Wrap to discover the latest news and happenings from throughout the diverse retail and design industries.
From e-commerce and high street brands to inspirational and trending topics, our weekly series will bring you up to speed on the latest hot topics from across retail, lifestyle and design; covering everything from retailer updates, changes in purchasing behaviour, inspirational case studies, and the latest trends.
Asos discloses ethnicity pay gap
For the first time, Asos has revealed ethnicity pay gap data, and it is believed to be the first major fashion retailer to do so. The stats were disclosed with Asos’ gender pay data, which is not required by law, as the business strives to improve transparency and diversity.
The data revealed that median pay for ethnic minority employees at Asos is 5.9 per cent higher compared to their white counterparts, which is up 21.2per cent since last year.
Debenhams launches new online marketplace in first major move since Boohoo takeover
Debenhams has launched a new online marketplace offering 70,000 products in its first major move since being bought by Boohoo in January.
Debenhams, which already has 300 million UK website visits per year, says the new marketplace will soon become the UK’s biggest offering thousands of fashion, beauty, sport and homeware products.
ScS sees strong year of recovery as sales rocket
Online sales jumped 146% to £46.9m, following continued investment in its online business and an increase in online shopping. North East furniture retailer ScS has hailed a strong year of recovery with revenues rocketing 21.6 per cent to top £310 million.
The Body Shop launches open hiring scheme for those excluded from work
The Body Shop has revealed its open hiring programme designed to bring down employment barriers for marginalised people often excluded from work. The retailer will begin the initiative which eliminates background checks, screening and education requirements to fill temporary in-store roles during the peak trading period.
Morrisons launches fully reusable Halloween costume range
Morrisons is launching a fully reusable Halloween costume range for children in a bid to create a more sustainable Halloween for shoppers. In a supermarket first, the move means all new costumes within the range will be machine washable for the first time, allowing customers to re-use and pass on costumes – eliminating the need for single-use purchases.
Amazon 4-star opens in the UK
Today, Amazon opens its doors to the first Amazon 4-star store outside of the U.S., which offers a curated range of products that are rated 4 stars and above, are top sellers, or are trending on Amazon.co.uk. The store is conveniently located in Bluewater, just southeast of central London.