NEWS
NEWS IN BRIEF n Shop Direct has
announced the next phase of changes to its retail team, which could see as many as 100 jobs axed, as it strives to “simplify the business”. The pureplay retailer and financial services provider, which operates the Littlewoods and Very brands, plans to align its retail team around the group’s four key product categories – fashion, home, electrical and developing categories – with some job roles set to be merged and other new positions created. n B&M has announced plans to have all of its cargo come into the Port of Liverpool in a permanent move, following frustrations with delays at southern ports. B&M has already run a trial through the port, and has taken the decision to run 80% of its stock via Liverpool, upping the volume by 30% in recent months. The bargain retailer, which operates 600 stores, said it has taken the decision amidst “ongoing distress in southern ports”, leaving it increasingly frustrated with delays and ongoing inland logistic issues. n Wilko has signed a lease for a new store at the Putney Exchange Shopping Centre in southwest London. The new 8,000sq ft store is expected to open in April and will generate more than 40 new jobs within the local area. The retailer says applications have already started coming in, with residents keen to be a part of the Wilko team. Head of retail Craig McGregor said: “We are delighted to have signed the lease at Putney Exchange Shopping Centre and can’t wait to open our doors.” n M&S is taking action to prevent plastic waste from going to landfill with the launch of a new initiative, which will enable customers to bring back non-recyclable plastic packaging and see it transformed into shop fittings and playground equipment. Customers can drop a variety of plastic packaging in M&S’s new recycling bins, including black ready meal trays, crisp packets, sauce sachets and certain cosmetics containers; all of which aren’t currently recycled by local councils and would end up in landfill.
4 DIY WEEK 14 JANUARY 2019
Smart Garden Products buys Briers out of administration
Smart Garden Products has announced
the purchase
of the Briers business and assets from administrators Duff & Phelps. Smart Garden chairman Paris Natar explained: “The business was short of cash flow and their directors were trying to find a buyer for some months without success, eventually placing the company in administration.
MD Jonathan Stobart said:
We came in at the end of this process with an acceptable offer and managed to complete very quickly, within days in fact. It was all very quick!”
“The timing could be better with the season upon us and Chinese New Year holiday factory closures. “Fortunately there is some stock that has recently arrived at UK ports and even more in transit; in addition to that already in the Briers warehouse. So, we are now bringing that in and arranging for early shipment
B&Q leaks data on 7,000 suspected shoplifters
B&Q has reportedly given out information on around 70,000
shoplifters on
Elasticsearch, according to Australian security researcher Lee Johnstone.
The exposed data included the names of thieves, along with the product codes of the things they had attempted to steal, plus the total price of the losses, and location data for the stores. Also included were detailed descriptions of people and their vehicles.
report,
According to Mr Johnstone’s the
instance was
operated by TradePoint, the arm of B&Q that focuses on trade- only sales.
He said that it was operating an internal program to track incidents of theft across its stores, along with information about the offenders. The retailer stored all this information in an Elasticsearch database that was connected to the public internet, and without any form of authentication.
SCS pulls out of talks to buy
Sofa.com
Initially, there was
no identifying information about the retailer involved and the security researchers discovered it was B&Q from the store geodata. Accorrding to his account, Mr Johnstone made effort to contact Tradepoint and B&Q. He initially contacted them on January 12, 2019 but, in spite of assurances that they were looking into the matter, the Elasticsearch instance only became January 23.
inaccessible on
Sofa Carpet Specialist (SCS) confirmed it is no longer in the running to buy
Sofa.com Ltd, as reports suggest that Mike Ashley has already agreed a deal to purchase the business for a nominal sum.
SCS published a statement to update on press speculation and said it “is no longer in discussions regarding a potential acquisition of the business and assets of
Sofa.com.” It gave no reason as to why it had conversations had been terminated but it has been reported that Sports Direct owner Mike Ashley, who recently purchased House of Fraser, has snapped up the
Sofa.com business at an attractive price. If true, the deal is the latest in a long list of retail acquisitions for Mr Ashley, who bought
The BBC has reported that B&Q refutes some of the details in the incident, questioning the numbers of records involved. It also claimed other inaccuracies without detailing what they were. Under GDPR, a data breach must be reported to the regulator with full details on what happened, within 72 hours.
department store chain House of Fraser out of administration last summer for £90million, and more recently took on Evans Cycles for an undisclosed sum. He also has a share of nearly 30% in Debenhams.
The move could also see Mr Ashley increase the number of
Sofa.com concessions within House of
Fraers outlets. The
furniture business was put on the market last month, potentially impacted by House of Fraser store closures, which led to a number of its own branches shutting down.
Last October SCS announced plans to close all of the 27 outlets it operates within House of
Fraser stores, stating that
the partnership was “no longer beneficial” and reporting a 52.5% decline in concession sales.
Global DIY Summit names Ace Hardware CEO as speaker for 2019 announced
The Global DIY Summit has
Venhuizen, be
that John president
and CEO of Ace Hardware, will
the Global DIY
Summit’s Keynote Speaker in Dublin on June 6, 2019. As head of the World’s largest
hardware retail cooperative, serving over 4,900 stores, Ace Hardware has had increasing
success, being globally trusted and locally embraced by the consumers in its 63 countries of operation. All
Hardware’s 4,900 global stores are locally owned and operated by the store-owners, who are also the only shareholders in the company. The Global DIY Summit
next but 100 of Ace
has said John Venhuizen’s powerful message will be on management and his and his
of other goods already on order, mostly made, as soon as the factories re-open in the second half of February. It’s not where we would like to be with this, but also not irrecoverable by any means.” Mr Natar
added: We are
determined to restore normal and full supply of this fantastic range and brand to our retail partners as soon as practically possible, doing whatever it takes. We will be supplying Smart Standards and Smart Service Levels. This is a brilliant opportunity for Smart Garden Products
and we make the most of it.” intend to
team’s passion for service for his independent retailers. The
Global
DIY
Summit will take place from June 5-7, 2019 in the European headquarters of many of the world’s leading corporations, Dublin. To book your
place and join other
managers at the event, go to
diysummit.org/tickets-2019/
www.diyweek.net
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