Lingfield College Business

Great video on what "leadership" really is:

E-Commerce Sheds Generating High Returns on Investment Jim Riley     23 rd November 2015 Take a look around during any journey up and down the M1 or across the M62 and you'll see them. Sheds. Big sheds. Unglamorous and perhaps even ugly. But, they provide an essential part of e-commerce in the UK and their value is rising! I was drawn to the headline above in the FT which reported on a significant increase in the price of space at warehouses ("sheds") across Europe. The article explains that investors in sheds (e.g. property developers) are earning returns on investment over 20% as the relentless growth and spread of e-commerce drives up values for the facilities needed to distribute goods ordered online. Many of the UK's leading e-commerce businesses have already moved quickly to secure shed space and facilities when there was more widely available supply. You may have noticed the impressive John Lewis shed complex at Magna Park (junctio...

Solid Growth Continues for UK E-Commerce Sales Jim Riley 20 th November 2015 The ONS has just released its latest statistical bulletin on retail sales and reported continued growth in online sales. The headline changes from the ONS are: Average weekly spending online in October 2015 was £839.1 million; this was an increase of 11.2% compared with October 2014 The amount spent online accounted for 12.8% of all retail spending, excluding automotive fuel, compared with 11.6% in October 2014 The summary table for the October 2015 data is shown below: Taking all retail activities as a whole, e-commerce now accounts for 12.8% of sales. However, that percentage varies somewhat when you look at particular retail segments. For example, online sales in the UK food sector (including groceries) are still relatively low at 4.3%. That might start to increase more significantly following the entrance of Amazon into UK food sales and Aldi's decision to start an...

Case study StepJockey: health app developer wins £600,000 private investment From:Innovate UKHistory:Published 21 September 2015 Part of:Research and development and UK economic growth A business that developed its health app with an SBRI contract has secured new investment and is working with blue chip companies worldwide StepJockey sign Smart signs at the foot of stairs can be read by the StepJockey app Health app developer StepJockey Ltd is set to grow its business after securing £600,000 in private investment. The StepJockey app was developed with a £200,000 SBRI (Small Business Research Initiative) contract from the Department of Health. The company promotes health and fights sedentary behaviour in multi-storey office buildings by placing smart signs on the stairs and offering a corresponding app with a gaming platform. The signs use near field technology and display calorie burn data for the stairs, increasing stair use in buildings by 20%-40%. Th...

15 OCTOBER 2015 - 6:00PM   UPDATED  |  POSTED BY   SEB JOSEPH Unilever’s online sales are growing at twice the rate of the global ecommerce market 651 Shares Unilever’s online sales are outpacing the global ecommerce market, propelled by growth from the UK, Ireland and France. The world’s second biggest ad spender said ecommerce sales across its business were growing at 40 per cent compared to 20 per cent for the global market. While it’s still early days, early gambles have the company on track to see its volume ecommerce sales account for around 6 per cent of its retail sales this year. A large chunk of its ecommerce spurt is coming from the UK and Ireland, which are growing in the “mid-teens”, according to the company, with ecommerce now accounting for 7 per cent of the business in the former. Its third biggest market is France where the business is seeing gains from alternative and “highly pop-up” models.   The boost help...