Shoppers can use technology to advise them on outfit choices based on their body shape and style preferences Marks & Spencer is using artificial intelligence to advise shoppers on their outfit choices based on their body shape and style preferences, as part of efforts to increase online sales. The 130-year-old retailer is using the technology to personalise consumers’ online experience, and suggest items to buy. Continue reading...

Increase will lift minimum rates by 9.8% and comes after online retailer defeated GMB union bid for bargaining rights on pay Amazon has announced a pay rise worth nearly 10% for tens of thousands of UK employees, after defeating an attempt by the GMB trade union for bargaining rights over pay and conditions. The online retailer said the increase would lift minimum pay rates by 9.8% to between £13.50 and £14.50 an hour, depending on location. Staff with at least three years’ service will receive a minimum of between £13.75 and £14.75 an hour. Continue reading...

TUC insists fight will go on after GMB fails to secure right to represent retailer’s staff by just 29 votes * Business live – latest updates The TUC has insisted the battle for union recognition at Amazon will go on, after workers at the US retailer’s Coventry warehouse rejected the right to collective bargaining by a majority of just 29 votes. In a historic ballot that could have forced Amazon to recognise a union for the first time in the UK, 50.5% of the workers who voted chose to refuse the proposal for the GMB union to represent them. If 15 had switched sides it would have gone the other way. Continue reading...