News roundup—20th January 2009


News roundup—20th January 2009

Electricals retailer Empire Direct is the latest
victim of the downturn. The company, which mainly traded online,
also operated 14 stores across the UK. Administrators KPMG said
158 of the 350 employees have been made redundant, reports
The Yorkshire Post.

Comet’s parent company Kesa Electricals said strong
post-Christmas trading helped limit a decline in UK
like-for-like sales to 2.5 per cent, according to The Press Association. The
better-than-expected news meant shares rose more than 2 per cent
following the trading update.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld
complaints against La Redoute for not spelling out the
terms and conditions of a promotional offer clearly enough. La
Redoute sent customers a promotional mailing offering iPods to
the first 150 customers who called in. The ASA found that small
print on a separate page from the introductory text informed
customers of the promotion’s start date but that call centre
staff had not been made aware it and incorrectly told customers
they had been successful in obtaining an iPod ahead of time. And
despite there being only 150 iPods to give away, the ASA
estimates that 3,000 customers were inconvenienced by the error.

Philip Turner, managing director of alumni and regimental
apparel catalogue Smart Turnout, explains to the
The Telegraph why word-of-mouth is crucial
to the success of his business.

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