http://www.ted.com/talks/shawn_achor_the_happy_secret_to_better_work.html

It seems that Mothercase has taken this to heart, bringing on board Simon Calver – Chief Executive of Lovefilm – to guide them through some tough time.  The childcare retailer is looking to reduce months of declining sales and recently announced a review of its UK business after posting considerable losses.

Click here to read more.

Asda are creating jobs: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16676688

And UK retail sales did actually rise by a small amount in December, although at a cost to the retailer, as shoppers had to be lured with the promise of heavy discounts: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16644596

And once again, we can see that sales were driven up not by footfall but through the internet, with British shoppers spending 16% more online in 2011: http://www.internetretailing.net/2012/01/uk-shoppers-spent-16-more-in-2011-imrg/

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2. For thoughts about the future of retail, click here
3. What impact could the proposed tax on financial transactions - the so-called Tobin tax – have on EU finances?  According to Ernst & Young, it could have a negative impact of €116bn (£95bn)
4. Find out what the Loyalty Marketer’s Association see being the trends for loyalty marketing over the next 12 months

The news that Tesco saw £4bn wiped off the value of its shared after the UK’s largest retailer warned on profits and revealed “disappointing” Christmas sales figures makes for grim reading.  Once again, heavy discounting by competitors played a huge part, together with an increasingly cautious consumer.

Richard Hunter, head of equities at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers, described the statement as “something of a profits warning for the year”.

Spendthrift consumers are using price-check websites to find the best deals before they hit the aisles or the online store.  It seems that groceries are going the way of holidays and general insurance; becoming a commodity and being compared almost exclusively on the grounds of price.

Tesco themselves are starting to accept that the age of the out-of-town hypermarket may be coming to an end; once again, the internet is king.  And with more and more people doing their shopping via mobile devices, rather than tied to a PC, this seems to be a trend with no growth end in sight.

Interestingly, Tesco performed well overseas – including in its US operation, where sales at its Fresh & Easy stores, excluding fuel, rose by 19.3pc.

Click here to see The Guardian’s coverage of the news.

Click here to read The Telegraph’s take on the story.

We’ve seem some well established brands disappear from the highstreet altogether, whilst some continue to teeter on the edge.  2012 seems unlikely to offer a significant improvement in sales and consumer confidence; it’s shaping up to be another challenging year.

So which retailers have been hit the hardest, and which have managed to survive in some shape or form?  Click here to find out.

It’s just been announced that Google has persuaded Spanish bank BBVA to use their range of cloud technologies.  Although the British arm of the banking giant has said it will use the cloud services only for internal communication, the deal could be seen as a breakthrough in corporate adoption of this technology.

Click here to read more.