Year: 2019

Finally, a government addressing the business rates fiasco

Regardless of your political colours, small businesses up and down the land will be pleased to hear of at least one policy which looks set to survive the transition from manifesto wish lists to actual policy and legislation, and that is a business rates overhaul. The prime minister, Boris Johnson,…

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Italian exhibition group launches ‘vo vintage’

An exclusive event on the Italian and international trade show scene, with legendary creations and extremely rare examples of watch and jewellery history together with the sector’s most authoritative players. Italian Exhibition Group (IEG) is launching VO VINTAGE entirely dedicated to the collector’s segment with some of the most sought-after,…

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Airbnb is the latest ‘big tech’ monolith to run rings around our outdated legal apparatus

It may seem tangential to those who do not work in real estate, but there is a court case on the continent with major implications for the future of many sectors, which reached a critical phase yesterday. It is the case of Airbnb vs the French tourism association, in which…

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Vera Lynn’s gin dispute is a window on a fascinating trademark problem

Everyone knows a bit of cockney rhyming slang, but what if your own name is the one being used, and then somebody tries to use it as their brand? This is exactly what happened to the singer Dame Vera Lynn, who has just been awarded £1,800 in legal costs from…

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Laings reveals first full-year results as one brand

Luxury jewellers Laings has announced it achieved sales of £42.3m in the year to 31 May 2019. It is the first full year that the jewellers has operated under one brand. Sales also saw a like-for-like increase of 17.4%, and an operating profit of £4.2m was also reported. The company…

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Missoma victim of data breach

Missoma has been the victim of a cyber security heist, confirmed the jewellers in a statement released today. Affected customers of the brand have all been informed of the data breach via email. Whilst the company says that the issue is now resolved, personal customer details such as name, address,…

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Local jewellers more influential than celebrities, reveals survey

The local jeweller is more influential than celebrities when it comes to jewellery purchases, according to a recent survey conducted by NAJ. The survey, carried out on over 2,500 UK consumers, revealed that only 8% of respondents said that celebrities influenced their jewellery purchases. Meanwhile, 61% of consumers said that…

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‘Jingle bots’ are artificially ramming online shopping baskets to use up stock

I have my reservations about this story because we spend a lot of time in our office poring over the news for interesting stories and takes, and we haven’t seen it reported like this before. But it comes from a company called Radware, which is a publicly traded web app…

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The ‘elite’ master watchmakers and experts featuring at Vicenzaoro

Giulio Papi, Sandro Fratini and Stefano Mazzariol: three key players in the history of vintage watches who, from Saturday 18 to Monday 20 January will be appearing at the exclusive VO VINTAGE event, an exceptional format entirely devoted to the collecting sector with some of the most sought-after and unique…

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1/3 of Brits would gift second-hand jewellery for Christmas, survey reveals

Some 43% of Brits would “gladly” give a pre-owned gift for Christmas, according to a study by experts in pre-owned luxury jewellers, William May.  The study found that one in eight of the 3,000 Brits surveyed admitted they get more satisfaction from purchasing second-hand items than brand new. The survey…

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