Marcus Wright 
Costco UK, 29 warehouses with no on-demand delivery partner, is likely to appear on Uber Eats or Deliveroo by March 31, 2027. Three signals from the past month, led by Uber and DoorDash going nationwide in the US, point to the UK as the next box on Costco’s per-country checklist.
Selfridges Group chief executive Andre Maeder and Paul Smith chairman Ewan Venters have called for Sunday trading hours in England and Wales to be extended by two to three hours. The 1994 law has seen off three reform attempts, and independent shops and the union Usdaw are already lined up against a fourth.
The government has confirmed that English mayors can charge a percentage-based Overnight Visitor Levy on hotel and short-let stays, with no statutory cap and first charges expected by 2029. Independent retailers’ body Bira warns the money must be spent on the high streets that serve visitors or the levy will drain local spending.
Fortress Investment Group, owner of Poundstretcher, is in early talks to buy Poundland from Gordon Brothers, with first bids due in October. A deal would create a 900-shop UK discount group with around 15,000 staff.
Signals point to the Netherlands, not Germany, deciding whether Wero becomes a real alternative to card checkout, with the first Dutch webshops likely collecting live Wero-rail payments before 31 December 2026. The pattern suggests the Netherlands overtakes Germany as Wero’s largest e-commerce market by the end of Q2 2027.
Senior retail executives are leaving before new chief executives arrive, not after. The pattern points to restructuring charges and target resets landing by the March 2027 reporting round.
US Customs and Border Protection switches on Entry Type 13, its first electronic entry type for international mail, in ACE production on September 22, 2026. A second deadline on October 22 pushes free trade agreement claims, Chapter 98 and 99 goods and partner-agency merchandise out of the simplified postal process entirely.
TJX reports second-quarter results on August 19, hours after 50% Section 338 tariffs on Canadian goods take effect at 12:01 a.m. Eastern. The Street expects about $15.1bn in sales and $1.18 a share from the retailer that has treated trade disruption as a buying opportunity.
Fully managed hands pricing to Temu; local-to-local keeps it with you. The right pick depends on margin, stock location and control.
Cost per delivery is mostly a density problem. This is how batching, delivery radius and rider utilisation drive the number.