Amazon has been charged by the European commission with using the sales data of independent retailers selling through its site to illegally gain an advantage in the European marketplace (The Guardian).
The EU has hit Amazon with formal antitrust charges over the way it treats the 150,000 European merchants selling goods through its website (The Financial Times £).
Amazon illegally distorts competition by using the huge amount of data it collects from third-party sellers on its platform to benefit its retail business, the European Commission has said (The Times £).
The move on Tuesday by competition chief Margrethe Vestager was the latest European salvo against US tech giants (The Mail).
Supermarket bosses have launched a fresh lobbying drive to extend Sunday trading hours ahead of a Christmas shopping rush they are warning ministers could put customers’ safety at risk during the COVID-19 pandemic (Sky News). Major grocers including Sainsbury’s and Morrisons have been urging the government in recent weeks to enable thousands of their stores to open for more than six hours on Sundays in December.
Waitrose is bucking the trend by vowing to keep its fresh food counters open and launch virtual versions online next year (The Telegraph). The supermarket’s decision to have deli, meat, fish and cheese counters online as well as in stores come after Sainsbury’s said last week it was closing its counters.
The Telegraph looks at “a boost for butchers as supermarket deli counters get the chop”. Cost-cutting and the pandemic has dealt a blow to fish and meat counters, but it’s not over for the traditional deli.
Premier Foods raised its full-year profit guidance as the maker of Mr Kipling cakes and Bisto gravy granules expected demand for its homely products to pick up during England’s second lockdown (The Financial Times £).
Premier Foods, the company behind Oxo cubes and Bisto gravy, more than tripled its profits as Britons ate more at home during the spring lockdown (The Mail).
Sales of scented candles and retailers’ premium food ranges have soared as cold weather and coronavirus restrictions encourage Britons to hunker down for winter, according to the latest Kantar data (The Guardian).
More consumers bought food online in October than ever before while digital sales reached their highest share in Wales after the country entered a ‘firebreak’ lockdown, according to new findings from Kantar (The Mail).
The Financial Times (£) takes a deeper look at Reckitt Benckiser to assess its prospects beyond Covid. “Pandemic provided big boost to Dettol producer but may be masking lingering problems,” the paper writes.
The Tempus shares column in The Times (£) urges readers not to ditch Reckitt Benckiser’s disinfectant just yet after shares in the group fell after Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine announcement.
Naked Wines sees 20-year shift in buying habits in just one month thanks to the pandemic (The Mail).
Economists have upgraded Britain’s growth forecasts amid hopes that Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine will end the health restrictions that have hammered businesses and the economy this year (The Times £).
Optimism that a mass rollout of Covid-19 vaccines will lead to an economic recovery lifted stocks in London again on Tuesday, to their highest closing level in over four months (The Guardian).
Unemployment hit fresh highs and redundancies rose at the fastest pace in more than a decade in the three months to September as companies prepared for the withdrawal of the furlough scheme (The Times £).
Homebase is poised for its fourth owner in five years, as turnround specialist Hilco looks to capitalise on the pandemic boost for home improvement groups by putting the chain up for sale (The Financial Times £).
The owner of the Westfield shopping centres has failed to win shareholder approval for a €3.5bn capital-raising to reduce its debt after an intervention from activist investors (The Times £).
Land Securities has written down the value of its shops, offices and other properties by a further £945m as the pandemic drives thousands of store closures and mounting rent debts (The Times £).
Simon Property Group, America’s biggest mall owner, and Brookfield Asset Management have been given the green light to buy US department store chain JCPenney out of bankruptcy for $1.75bn, in a deal expected to save about 60,000 jobs (The Financial Times £).
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