Your commercial news round-up: Lidl, Amazon, Chelsea Football Club, HS2 rail

Reading time: three minutes

It’s nearly Friday! Time to grab a cuppa and reflect on what’s been happening this week:

• Wearing a mask has been deemed the single most effective public health measure for avoiding covid-19.
• Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently admitted his failings in how he handled the Owen Paterson lobbying case.
• The cost of living is the highest rate it has ever been in almost a decade.

Here is a summary of some of the week’s commercial news.

• In retail news, Lidl is on its way to becoming the UK’s highest-paying supermarket following an £18 million investment in employees’ wages. The budget-superstore announced a pay rise, which will come into effect from March 2022, and plans to increase its minimum pay for employees outside London to £10.10 per hour and experienced workers to £11.40 per hour. This announcement makes Lidl the first supermarket to pay £10 per hour. The announcement follows news of supply chain issues leaving supermarket shelves empty, which could lead to panic buying before Christmas. Lidl currently has more than 850 stores in the UK and aims to increase this figure to 1,000 by the end of 2023.
   
• From January Amazon will stop accepting Visa credit cards for payments in the UK. The online retailer announced this change because the costs of processing payments on cards has become too expensive. Amazon has blamed the high fees of Visa charges for processing card transactions however, Visa has hit back accusing Amazon of restricting the customer’s choice of payments. A Visa spokesperson said: “When consumer choice is limited, nobody wins.” UK Amazon customers can still use their Visa debit and credit cards today and throughout the Christmas season.
   
• In sports news, Chelsea Football Club has announced a three-year partnership extension with MSC Cruises. This partnership includes LED perimeter advertising, VIP hospitality and star player engagement, among other things. Chelsea Chief Executive Guy Laurence said: “We are thrilled to extend our partnership at this exciting period for the travel industry.” The deal will run its course until 2024, with MSC cruises leveraging their digital presence via social media campaigns with the premier league side. Three months ago we reported that Chelsea announced an official partnership with Parimatch Tech. 
   
• Were you looking forward to the HS2 high-speed rail lines? Don’t hold your breath as the government has scrapped the rail extension between East Midlands and Leeds. HS2 trains were initially meant to run on a new East Midlands to Leeds high-speed line but will instead run on the existing route. The HS2 is an innovative project that is part of the government’s £96 billion rail programme intended to create high-speed rail journeys between London and major cities like the Midlands. The Department of Transport has faced some criticism regarding the environmental impact of implementing this project.

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