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It has been announced that McColl’s, the newsagent and convenience store, has appointed Jonathan Miller chief financial officer to chief executive. This comes as co-founder James Lancaster steps down and becomes non-executive chairman until April 2017. Mr Miller who joined the company in 1991, has held the position of chief financial officer...

The Foschini Group has announced that it has bought and acquired all shares at Whistles, although it hasn’t revealed the amount it paid. Whistles is the South African group’s latest purchase, following its acquisition of Phase Eight in 2015. This adds 46 stores and Whistles’ ecommerce platform to its estate. Chief executive...

Chinese insurance company Anbang has raised an offer for hotel group Starwood to $14 billion (£9.8 billion), topping the $13.6bn offer from rival hotel chain Marriott that gained support from Starwood's board. Starwood owns several hotel brands, including Sheraton, Westin and St Regis. Anbang, whose consortium includes private equity firms JC Flowers...

Tesco has come under fire from consumers for inventing farms where it supposedly sources some products. Outrage has spread over social media after the supermarket created fictional, British-sounding farms on its packaging for certain own-brand products, some of which is imported. The so-called ‘fake farm’ brands, launched on Monday, include Woodside, Willow...

British clothing brand Hobbs is launching a physical presence in Germany, building on its successful web presence in the country. The company’s strategy is to offer products exclusive to the German market in concessions located in two premium department store brands - in Nurnberg and Ulm with Wohrl, and in Bonn...

Beauty retailer Sephora has launched its first ‘smart’ beauty store in Paris, allowing customers to shop both online and in-store at the same time. In the Paris store, a partnership with payments specialist Worldline means customers can browse the 3,500 articles on display in the store while also browsing Sephora’s 14,000...

Scottish family-run department store chain McEwens of Perth has fallen into administration after 150 years of trading. The company, which started out as a tailoring workshop in 1868, is Scotland’s largest independent department store chain. The Bullough family, which has run the store since 1982, said that 110 staff face redundancy after...

It has been announced today that Android Pay or ‘Samsung Pay’ will coming to the UK soon. Systems such as Apple Pay have grown in popularity as shoppers can pay instantly in brick and mortar shops and also online to avoid putting in their payment or address details. The difference with the...

Despite fashion retailer Next seeing a 5% rise in full year profits for the 12 months to January 2016, the head of the company is anticipating the “toughest year since 2008” as it slashes its profit estimates. Figures show that pre-tax profits increased to £821.3 million which is a 4.8% rise...