Did you know ...? Japan's economy emerged from recession and grew faster than expected in the first quarter as a post-COVID consumption rebound offset global headwinds, shoring up hopes for a sustained recovery, reports Reuters. But mounting signs of a slowdown in US, European and Chinese growth cloud the outlook for the export-reliant economy, heightening uncertainty on how soon the central bank can phase out its massive stimulus programme. "Consumption will continue to underpin growth as removal of COVID curbs boost tourism and service spending," said Yoshiki Shinke, chief economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute.
Did you know ...? Retailers including REWE Group, Dirk Rossmann, Md S.p.A, Coop Italia, Aldi Netherlands, A.S. Watson and Musgrave Retail Partners Ireland were among the big winners in the 2023 International Salute to Excellence Awards, organised by PLMA, reports ESMmagazine.com. The winners, including 39 retailers from 20 different countries. were announced ahead of PLMA's 'World of Private Label' trade show, which takes place in Amsterdam on 23 and 24 May. Commenting on this year's selection of winners, Leonique White, PLMA’s director of trade and retail relations, said, “The best-of-the-best in innovation, concept and quality in private label was brought to the table. It’s amazing to see what retailers and their suppliers developed in the past year.”
Did you know ...? Lidl is has announced that it is testing a joint retail sector project on flexible full-time working in Finland, according to Kaupan Liitto (the Confederation of Finnish Trade Unions). The share of part-time workers in the retail sector in Finland is around 60%. In the grocery trade, the proportion of part-time workers is around 80%. Flexible full-time work is a model agreed in the collective agreement for the retail sector, whereby an employee working less than 37.5 hours earns wages for the full month. In exchange, the employee takes on the so-called 'flexi-hours' in addition to the shifts on the roster to ensure that the total hours are equivalent to full-time work.
Read More: Did You Know ...? 16 May 2023
© 2023 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Donna Ahern. For more retail news, click here. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
