Retail

Almost 200 Darrell Lea staff are set to lose their jobs today as the confectioner shuts the doors at 32 stores.

An accelerating trend in retail spending continued in June, confirming that spending is getting back into line with rising household incomes.

The competition watchdog says it is making progress in investigating whether major supermarket chains abuse their market power in dealings with suppliers.

With online retailing, it's now a case of the quick and the dead.

Country Road has agreed to buy fellow fashion retailer Witchery Australia for $172 million.

Grocery wholesaler Metcash has paid $46.5 million to take complete ownership of hardware chain Mitre 10.

Australians are paying almost twice as much as US shoppers for some computer games because the IT industry discriminates, consumer watchdog Choice says.

School supplies company Campion Education is looking to capitalise on the collapse of its main competitor Wooldridges by opening new stores in Perth and hiring staff that have been made redundant.

The head of one of Australia's retail giants fears there is no end in sight to the nation's consumer gloom, despite its flagship Coles supermarket boasting a hefty full year sales increase.

Australia's oldest family-run business Lionel Samson Sadleirs Group along with MG Kailis Group and footwear retailer Betts Group have been made the inaugural inductees into Family Business Australi

Truck drivers are rallying outside Coles stores across the country calling for the retailer to be held to account for pressuring truckies and causing accidents.

Carramar Village shopping centre has been sold to an offshore private investor for $22.75 million.

Shares in troubled surfwear retailer Billabong have surged by more than 20 per cent after it received a second takeover offer from US private equity firm TPG.

A bitter industrial dispute at a Coles Melbourne warehouse may be close to an end as workers vote on a new deal brokered between the union and management.

Woolworths has overcome tough trading conditions in the retail sector to lift its sales by 4.7 per cent to $56.7 billion in the 2012 financial year.

Recent rate cuts and household stimulus have helped economy-wide spending rise for the sixth consecutive month in June.

Traditional retailers will get a better idea of their competition when official data on online sales starts being published next year.

Supermarket private label product sales have grown by an enormous 85 per cent in the past five years and will account for a quarter of the $86 billion Australians spend on groceries in the next yea

Supermarket operator Coles says the retail landscape is getting more competitive as big overseas retailers move into the Australian market, but Coles won't be expanding internationally at this stag

Struggling department store Myer is shedding 100 jobs in its latest attempt to shave costs during the toughest trading conditions in a quarter of a century.

Competition from Australia's supermarket duopoly is responsible for Darrell Lea's financial woes, entrepreneur Dick Smith says.

Striking Coles warehouse workers have been threatened with legal action by the company that manages the Melbourne site.

Traditional shopping centres will feel the squeeze over the next decade as shoppers demand more attractive experiences and increasingly move online, a property report shows.

Strike action at a key Coles warehouse will have a significant impact on supplies getting through to all Coles Victorian supermarkets, a union says.

Petrol station fuel price boards will be made more consistent and less misleading for motorists, the federal government says.

Supermarket giant Woolworths has been accused of using "brutal negotiations" to squeeze price cuts from suppliers to help fund a price war with rival Coles.

Automotive Holdings Group has beefed up its Rand Refrigerated Logistics division, acquiring Toll Holdings' interstate refrigerated transport business for $6.5 million, on the same day it offloaded

Retail spending is on the rise as cashed-up consumers enjoy the benefits of lower mortgage rates.

The corporate watchdog will investigate the $1.65 billion mystery takeover offer David Jones received from an obscure UK private equity firm.

Hopes of a $1.65 billion takeover deal for David Jones have been dashed, with the mystery British private equity group behind the proposal making a quick retreat.

Australia's rate of inflation has fallen to its lowest level since the global financial crisis, a survey shows, giving the central bank room to cut interest rates further.