A blast of Tesla thinking can rescue high streets from terminal decline
Amazon and its rivals are reinventing shopping spaces - it s time the rest of the high street followed suit
6 June 2021 • 11:00am
A restaurant meal served to you by Tesla. Another big, glitzy Apple store that as far as anyone can tell doesn’t seem to be selling anything. And a haircut delivered by Amazon.
There are lots of traditional industries that, so far at least, have largely been untouched by any form of technological disruption. Music, publishing, television, and more recently groceries, transport, and finance, have seen wave after wave of transformation. Many others have remained largely unchanged since the 1950s or even the 1900s. But that is about to change.
Labour crisis deepens as retailers struggle to find enough staff
Hospitality venues are rushing to hire staff at the fastest rate in years as reopenings happen around the UK
Credit: AFP
Labour shortages are spilling into the retail sector following a hiring crisis in hospitality that has upended the day-to-day running of pubs, bars and restaurants.
Shop workers have been hard to find this year with one in three retail leaders struggling to fill roles, new data has shown. Fashion firms are among the companies hit the hardest, followed by smaller retailers, which employ up to 1,000 staff.
The boss of Cornish fashion brand Seasalt said his store teams have been particularly affected by staff shortages.
Tesco faces £2.5bn bill after European court ruling on equal pay case
ECJ says supermarket shop floor workers’ pay can be compared to distribution centre staff in setback for retailer
3 June 2021 • 10:26am
Supermarket shop floor workers’ pay can be compared to distribution centre staff in legal proceedings, the European Court of Justice said on Thursday in a defeat for Tesco over equal pay.
The supermarket is fighting an equal pay claim that argues its store workers, who are mostly women, are paid up to £3 an hour less than its warehouse and distribution centre workers, who are largely men.
Tesco, which risks a back pay bill of more than £2.5bn for thousands of workers, argues that the two roles could not be compared for the purposes of equal pay. Workers said that the roles are of equal value and should be paid the same.
How to buy and sell clothes on Depop when you’re not a teenager
The Gen-Z-loved second-hand fashion app has been acquired by Etsy
3 June 2021 • 1:40pm
The future of vintage and second hand shopping: Depop has become the main platform for teenagers to go to, but there s something for everyone
Credit: Getty Images / Instagram: @Depop
Whenever I have my heart set on a particular fashion item or look, the first thing I do is scan a few second-hand fashion sites, to see if I can find a preloved version.
It’s not just because I try to make sustainable decisions wherever I can, but also because it often allows me to buy the fashion I love for a fraction of the retail cost. This approach to shopping means that I’ve become very familiar with Depop, the second-hand fashion marketplace that has just been acquired by Etsy for $1.6bn (£1.2bn).