A delegation from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Northern Ireland Retail Consortium (NIRC) has met with the Article 50 Task Force within the European Commission (EC) to discuss the priorities of retailers and consumers in Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the Brexit process. The agreed date for the UK to exit from the EU is March 29 this year. Pic: Pxhere The issues addressed at the meeting between the UK retail trade associations and the EC’s task force included VAT, data flow

Kohl’s Corporation, an omni-channel retailer, has seen 1.7 per cent rise in the comparable sales during fiscal 2018. The fourth quarter comparable sales increased 1.0 per cent. The company will close four underperforming stores in April, but will open four new smaller format stores later in this year. Kohl's ended the fiscal year with 1,159 Kohl's stores. Pic: Kohl's Corporation It is consolidating call center locations which support both its Kohl’s charge and online customers. Additionally,

Amazon India recently signed an agreement with Kudumbashree, a poverty eradication and women empowerment programme of the Kerala State Poverty Eradication Mission for its initiative called Amazon Saheli. Amazon will support, train and empower women entrepreneurs associated with the organisation and provide a marketplace for them to showcase products. Pic: Amazon Kudumbashree has more than 1,000 community development societies reaching more than four million women across 14 districts in Kera

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the Scheme to Rebate State and Central Embedded Taxes to Support the Textile Sector. This will enable the government to take various measures for making exports of apparel and made-ups zero rated, thereby boosting India’s competitiveness and ensuring growth of the domestic industry. Pic: Pxhere At present, apparel and made-ups segments are supported under the Scheme for Rebate of State Levies (RoSL). However, certain stat

In the first nine months (9M) of financial year 2018-19 (FY19), India’s overall textile and apparel sales increased by 9 per cent, according to the latest Wazir Textile Index (WTI). There has been a revival in the EBITDA with a significant increase of 17 per cent in 9M FY19 as compared to 9M FY18. Raw material cost saw an increase of 8 per cent. Pic: DWilliams on Pixabay While employee cost saw an increase of 7 per cent in 9M FY19, other costs also saw an increase of 10 per cent for the same

Bangladeshi garment manufacturers recently urged the US government and their own to sign a cotton purchase agreement to avail duty privileges on export of apparel products to US markets and ship more products, according to Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) president Siddiqur Rahman, who met US Ambassador in Dhaka Earl R Miller. Ambassador Miller discussed various trade issues with apparel exporters at the BGMEA office, according to Bangla media reports. If th

Cut-make-produce (CMP) industries in Myanmar have imported raw materials worth over $885 million during the first three and a half months of the current fiscal, which started on October 1 last year. The figure is up by over $187 million compared to the figure of $698.413 million during the same period last year, according to the country’s commerce ministry. During the first three months of the current fiscal, export earnings from the CMP garment industry amounted to over $1 billion, accordin

Amazon recently launched Project Zero, a program to empower brands to help drive counterfeits to zero by combining the company’s advanced technology, machine learning and innovation with the sophisticated knowledge that brands have of their own intellectual property and how best to detect counterfeits of their products. This will be done using three tools. Pic: Amazon The tolls are automated protections, self-service counterfeit removal tool and product serialization, according to the compa

Grasim Industries Limited has signed a definitive agreement, to acquire 100 per cent equity shareholding of Soktas India Private Limited (SIPL) for an enterprise value of ₹165 crore, subject to net debt and working capital adjustments, as of the closing date. The transaction will be funded by the company primarily out of internal accruals. Pic: Skotas India Private LimitedSIPL is currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of Söktas Tekstil Sanayi ve Ticaret AS, a well-known producer and market

Farfetch, global technology platform for the luxury fashion industry and JD.com, China’s largest retailer, are expanding their strategic partnership with a view to provide the ‘Premier Luxury Gateway to China’ for luxury brands. Under the deal, Toplife will merge into Farfetch China. In addition, Farfetch will gain a ‘Level 1’ entry point on the JD.com app. Pic: Farfetch The deal will provide JD.com’s 300 million customers with instant access to more than 3,000 brands via Farfetch’s network