Every decision you make for your store affects the customer experience, from pricing and product selection to checkout flow and protecting against common eCommerce threats.

By understanding the key eCommerce principles, such as building credibility, marketing strategies, and product reviews, you'll be able to create an outstanding website that sells.

In this article, we'll share 10 eCommerce basics that your online retail store must get right.

While it’s important to keep up with the latest eCommerce trends, you need to get the basics right before you can start branching out. Here are 10 basics retail startup owners need to know.

1. Focus on the Customer

Even when you have similar products or services to the competition, you can still differentiate yourself with customer service. Make it easy for customers to purchase your products on your website. Be sure to simplify the checkout process and make your website easy to navigate.

2. Build Credibility

Build a credible brand by providing useful and informative content on a blog. Take time to create a strong and interesting “About Us” page, so customers can learn about who you are and what you do. Networking with people and brands in your niche can also improve your credibility.

Keep in mind that the people you work with can also negatively affect your credibility, and you need to do what you can to vet any potential business partners or influencers first.

3. Merchant Account

Having your own merchant account is critical for processing orders on your eCommerce store. Make sure to research different payment processors and find one that can offer good credit processing options. Don’t charge any personal expenses to your merchant account.

4. Marketing Strategy

Have a plan for promoting your website and products or services. Invest in marketing to get the word out about your business. Consider utilizing search engine optimization (SEO), display advertising, social media marketing, and content marketing to increase your online visibility.

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Many businesses fail because they don’t have enough money for marketing or advertise to the wrong people. If you’re on a budget, an SEO strategy can be cheap but very effective.

5. Pricing

Price your products competitively. Price too low, and you’ll make little to no profit. Prices are too high, and you’ll discourage customers from buying. Do your research to find the right pricing strategy for your products. Ask yourself if your niche is willing to pay a premium for your products.

6. Shipping Strategies

Provide quality and secure shipping to ensure customer satisfaction. Make sure customers know how your products will be shipped and how much they'll cost. Offer low-cost shipping options, such as a flat rate, if it makes sense. Allow customers to track their shipments.

7. Delivery Times

Be upfront about delivery times. You don’t want customers waiting an unreasonable amount of time for their orders to arrive. Be realistic with delivery times. 46% of customers rank reliability as the most important factor when deciding to buy and remain loyal to eCommerce brands.

Keep in mind that most customers are fine with waiting a while to receive their packages as long as they’re expected to wait. If you don’t have the resources for same-day delivery, don’t offer it.

8. Security

Ensure that your website is secure. Invest in payment gateway software, such as SSL, to protect customer data. Consider data encryption for customer info. If you have employees, train them on how to detect and avoid phishing scams, as human error is the prime cause of hacks.

9. Competition

Research your competition to understand the marketplace. Know who your competitors are and keep track of their pricing and promotions. Look at your competitors' biggest fans and see what they like and don’t like about their favorite brands. See what you can do differently or better.

10. Product Reviews & Reviews Management

Reviews increase customers’ trust in your brand, so ask happy customers to leave testimonials on your website and other 3rd-party sites. If you write up a script for customers (or provide short prompts), you can make sure your customers are representing you in the best way possible.

Here are just a few:

-It can help you build a stronger brand identity. When you scale your e-commerce business, you can define your brand and what it stands for.

-It can help you expand into new markets. Scaling your e-commerce business can give you the resources you need to enter new markets and reach new customers. You can get this from the 8fig e-commerce funding which can be a great way to boost growth and drive even more sales.

-It can help you improve your customer service. As your e-commerce business grows, you’ll have the opportunity to invest in better customer service tools and processes. 

How to Scale Your E-Commerce Brand Without Losing the Personal Touch

Get to know your customers on a personal level. 

The first step is getting to know your customers on a personal level. Take some time to learn about their interests, their needs, and their pain points. 

Communicate with your customers regularly. 

Whether it’s through email newsletters, social media, or even just customer surveys, make sure they know that you value their feedback and want to hear from them often. 

Keep your team small and close-knit. 

As your business grows, it’s important to keep your team small and close-knit. This way, everyone will be on the same page when it comes to providing excellent customer service and meeting customer needs. 

Key considerations for scaling an e-commerce brand

First, you need to ensure that your website can handle increased traffic. This means ensuring that your hosting plan can accommodate more visitors and that your website is optimized for speed.

Second, you need to ensure that your fulfillment process can handle increased orders. This means having enough staff on hand to pick, pack, and ship orders promptly.

What are some common mistakes made when scaling e-commerce brands?

One of the most common is failing to invest in customer acquisition early on. It’s important to remember that acquiring new customers is always going to be more expensive than retaining existing ones. 

Another mistake is not having a clear understanding of your target market. When you’re first starting, it’s easy to try and appeal to everyone. But as you scale, you need to focus on a specific group of people who are more likely to convert. 

To sum up, branding is essential in scaling up your business, and should be at the top of your consideration should you want to expand.

According to Statista figures, 2021 saw £32 billion in trade over the season, up from £22 billion in 2017, and research by delivery company Yodel found that a third of UK adults were planning on shopping entirely online in Christmas 2021.

If you own an eCommerce business, chances are you know you need to invest in your website, but one aspect may be holding back your success: the checkout.

Having a smooth and user-friendly checkout process is key to enabling your customers to purchase easily, and is crucial when trying to tempt them back for more. In this guide, we’ll show you how to do so – right in time for boosting your Christmas conversions.

Payment options

To allow your customers to purchase products easily, you must offer a range of payment options. As well as credit and debit cards, consider adding PayPal functionality, as well as access to credit options like Klarna. This way, you won’t lose a sale at the last hurdle.

Guest checkout

With privacy concerns high in the minds of many internet users, plenty of people want a more anonymous eCommerce experience. Additionally, some may want to avoid the time and commitment of setting up an account.

Offering guest checkout is the way to accommodate these customers – you still hold the customer’s information required for the sale, but the data isn’t held in an account.

Simplify your forms

A well-designed form makes it easier for your customers to input their information and get to the end of the checkout. You need to ensure you get all the information you need, without asking for user data, all in a way that’s simple and quick to do.

Getting the help of an eCommerce agency can make this process simpler, so consider getting in the experts so you don’t scare away or frustrate your users when it comes to form-filling.

Show Progress

If your checkout process is particularly long-winded, there’s no need to despair. A tried and tested method of reducing drop-off in these situations is by installing a progress bar at the top or bottom of the page.

Progress bars mildly gamify the checkout process, as well as give users an idea of how long it will be before they complete the task (as opposed to wondering when the form-filling will ever end!)

Add trust badges

Trust badges are agile and easy ways to show off different aspects of your service in a way that quickly and simply earns customer trust. Taking the form of an image of a badge, they let users swiftly scan your USPs and service benefits, while appearing professional and official.

For instance, displaying trust badges on site for free shipping, secure checkout systems, and accepted payment systems could encourage your customers to take the leap and purchase more than if these benefits were hidden in endless copy.

Be clear on the shipping

Most eCommerce businesses charge shipping costs, but that doesn’t mean you should be sneaky when charging them to your customers.

If you don’t mention shipping throughout the product selection and ordering process, then tack them on the checkout at the end, the customer will be taken aback by this unexpected cost – and may be less inclined to click ‘checkout’.

Instead, be clear and transparent, showing shipping in product listings.

Do you own an eCommerce business? What have you done to optimise your checkout? Let us know in the comments section below.

Financial Planning: The Basics

When you're involved in this type of planning, you first need a sense of your current financial state. Therefore, you'll research and list all of your company's financial assets and liabilities.

In the process, you'll answer questions such as the following:

• What is the total market value of all your current assets?
• How much money do you have ready to invest?
• What were all of your expenses in the past year?

With such information, you can set financial goals for your ecommerce company in the short term and over the long haul. For instance, you might have certain objectives for the next month, quarter, year, or even five years. Three-year plans, by the way, are especially prevalent in business.

On top of that, you'll figure out the most strategic investments you could make to achieve your goals. However, as you plan those investments, you should also set some financial parameters. For instance, you might want to have a certain amount of cash on hand at all times. Naturally, you never want to bet on the house.

In addition, a completed financial plan will tell you what your priorities are. If you're ever low on cash, you'll know which endeavours to keep funding and which you could defund. Keep in mind that, with financial management for ecommerce, there are no guarantees. No one knows, for instance, what the markets will look like over the next decade or what the demand for certain products could be in five years.

For that reason, try to always have extra money on hand in case of an unexpected financial problem: a sudden stock market crash, for example. In all of this, financial planning requires flexible thinking, creativity, keen analysis, and educated guesses. It's a process you'll probably get better at with time and experience.

Why Is Financial Planning So Important?

Many benefits come with financial plans. For starters, when you make a list of your liabilities, you may find some wasteful spending or redundancies you could eliminate. As a result, your ecommerce business will be more efficient. Any money you're currently misspending could be redirected toward your financial priorities, which would ultimately bring in more revenue. Furthermore, solid financial plans — those that are backed up by data — appeal to investors. With that extra funding, you might complete your projects sooner and reach your objectives faster.

These plans can also help you spot problems as soon as possible. Each month, you could look at your financial results and compare them to your expectations. If those numbers are roughly the same, you could keep doing what you've been doing.

On the other hand, if your actual revenue for a given month fell short of your projected revenue, you could immediately take action. You could analyse your operations, figure out what's not working, and make adjustments right away. Perhaps a certain marketing campaign isn't targeting the right audience. Or maybe one particular service isn't taking care of your customers' wants and needs.

By contrast, without those financial expectations, your company's weak spot might not get addressed for a long time. Consequently, your revenue for the year would be lower than it could have been.

Note, too, that financial planning isn't just for established companies. Even if you haven't launched your small business yet, a financial plan could be essential to your work. It would assess the marketplace demand for whatever you're offering and help you estimate your initial profits. Plus, it should be easier to attract your first-ever investors with such a plan.

Here's another advantage: If you've hired employees to work at your ecommerce company, a business plan could help to unify them. When you tell them precisely what your goals are, how you will attain them, and when you're likely to reach them, your whole team could have newfound feelings of confidence and purpose.

Indeed, once they read through your financial plans, your employees will each have a distinct mission. They're likely to feel like they're part of something grand, something bigger than themselves. As such, they'll probably be inspired to put in their best efforts every day.

In the end, it's wise to create new financial plans every year. By doing so, you can continually update your goals and expectations, taking into account new information and unforeseen developments. Your entire company will then have accurate assessments to guide them. And your ecommerce brand will be positioned for many shining achievements in the days and years ahead.

Cyber threats are on the rise and are becoming more sophisticated, and there is a need for eCommerce stores to protect themselves. Cybercriminals attack e-commerce sites looking to exploit information and steal money. Understanding the security threats your e-commerce store faces is essential in figuring out the protective measures to take. Here is a list of the most common eCommerce security threats.

1.    DoS and DDoS attacks

Several online stireshave incurred losses due to disruptions in their sites and sales because of DoS and DDoS attacks. Your online receives an overwhelming amount of requests from several untraceable IP addresses, which makes it crash, making it unavailable to site visitors.

2.    Phishing

Phishing is one of the main ways that hackers use to compromise eCommerce stores. This type of social engineering entails stealing login and password details by sending out spam emails under the disguise of a well-known person or organization. They can even create a phishing profile that resembles the login page of your payment processor or e-commerce site and send you a message to log in to fix an error. Once you fall for this and try to log in, they capture your login details and use them to log into the real e-commerce or payment processor sites.

3. SQL injections

E-commerce sites that use an SQL database are at a high risk of an SQL attack. The hackers inject malicious SQL commands into the sites’ scripts, which changes how your site reads data, allowing the hackers access to certain commands on your site.

SQL injections target query submission forms as their way of penetrating your website database. They then inject malicious codes on your site, allowing them to add, collect, change, or delete data on your website at will.

4.    Malware

Malware results in revenue loss to the eCommerce business. Hackers may target the site server or computers of key people with advanced level access to the site using malware. The malware allows the hackers to control the server and execute commands on the eCommerce site. It allows hackers access to data in the server and access to hijack traffic to your site.

5.    Spam emails

Spam email is a major way through which some cyberattacks like malware and phishing are carried out. The spammers usually hack individual or organizational email accounts that you know to send spam emails to make you believe the spam email is legitimate. The emails are linked to infected and phishing sites that compromise the computer's security and compromise the store.

6.    Credit and debit card fraud

Identity theft fraud through credit and debit cards fraud is a serious threat, with an estimated loss of $24 billion annually. This happens when someone steals credit or debit card details from unsuspecting victims and then uses those details to make purchases from e-commerce stores. The store goes ahead and processes the order, not knowing the card details are stolen, resulting in lost revenue from a chargeback.

2021 has seen most businesses transition from offline to online operation modes, which translates to increased safety issues. An online business is only as safe as its cybersecurity strategy is. Invest in robust and premium cyber security assistance that fits your needs and budget.

Businesses today must keep up with the times to entice all customers and give them little or no reason to go elsewhere. With the world getting smaller by the day due to the internet and how it is used by businesses and customers alike, companies who aren’t riding the wave could find themselves struggling to keep up with their competitors.

The best way in which you can boost your business is to be on top of the latest technology trend and use it to its maximum advantage, and embracing cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum would certainly do that.  However, before you decide that taking Bitcoin will make your business explode overnight, there are a few other things you need to consider first.

The rise of Bitcoin

Bitcoin is very much a hot property, as is Ethereum and, as of this moment, Dogecoin. They are in the news every day, and ‘Bitcoin prices’ is one of the most searched terms on Google. It would be easy to assume that cryptocurrencies would naturally be used to purchase goods in the same way we once used cash.

However, this is not currently the case. It is not because Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are not safe and secure (because everybody already knows this is not the case), but instead, it seems to be a problem of perception, which is always a critical factor in the mass adoption of anything new.

Cryptocurrency trading

While those with a decent working knowledge of Cryptocurrencies do not share this bias, there is a strong current perception (especially in the face of daily stories about the rising price of Bitcoin) that Bitcoin is something you invest in, not something you use to buy everyday items.

It could be argued that, given the current perception of Bitcoin almost as a commodity, that the person in the street is as likely to pay for a newspaper or a can of Red Bull with Bitcoin as they would using a bar of gold.

Accepting Bitcoin for everyday payments

This looks to be the main barrier in the way of accepting, for example, Bitcoin as a method of payment online. The technology should never be a problem; but instead, it is the willingness of the customer to use it.

Social media can play a significant role in this by normalizing the use of Crypto for everyday purchases. Seeing influencers using Crypto as a currency and not something that just sits in exchanges like Coinbase will increase the ability of regular users to see digital currencies the same way they see the ones they use every day.

Final thoughts

Suppose you are not sure about using cryptocurrency or feel that perhaps this is not the way forward. Just think about how customers used to pay on sites like eBay 20 years ago, which was mainly cheque or cash through the post. Paypal was not really trusted as a payment method, whereas now it is most definitely preferred and indeed requested by most if not all sellers.

Andria Evripidou, Policy Lead at Yapily, shares her thoughts with Finance Monthly on the state of finance in Europe and its opportunities for improvement.

Fragmentation has been one of the biggest obstacles to growth in the European Open Banking ecosystem to date. Even within the Berlin Group, there are differences in how banks communicate with technology companies and how they connect with APIs.

Because of this disparity, Europe has been slower to adopt Open Banking than the UK and other countries around the world. There were 178 firms in the UK permitted to share bank account and payment information with third party providers (TPPs) in 2020, but only 36 in Germany, 18 in France, 9 in Spain and 6 in Italy.

There is a real opportunity here to consolidate the market and deliver more value-add financial services with the promise of Open Finance. Promoting innovation and creating a level playing field for all payments and data companies, while giving consumers greater visibility over their data and enhancing their financial wellbeing.

Open Banking is the first mile in the Open Finance marathon, and Europe’s regulators are starting to make their next moves towards crossing the finish line.

Catch me if EU can

There are a number of different factors that have contributed towards the fragmented Open Banking landscape we see across Europe today. In some countries, like the Netherlands, consumers have deep-rooted trust in their banks but a distrust in cards. As such, iDeal, an eCommerce payment system initiative driven by Dutch banks, was quickly adopted when it launched in 2005.

In comparison, the level of enforcement by National Competent Authorities (NCAs) of PSD2 requirements was patchy in places. Which in turn created a fragmented approach to PSD2’s implementation across central Europe. And so led to mixed uptake in adoption.

There is a real opportunity here to consolidate the market and deliver more value-add financial services with the promise of Open Finance.

How developed a country’s financial ecosystem is has also played a role in Open Banking adoption. Eastern European countries, for example, that have more outdated financial products and infrastructure have been more receptive to innovation than countries with more advanced financial systems that already meet consumer needs.

The ingredients for Open Banking success

The maturity of the market is intrinsically linked to the adoption rate – adding another layer of complexity to the landscape. Those in the industry know and can see the potential of Open Banking and Open Finance. But wider consumers and businesses are still in need of educating on its benefits and security.

There are active discussions and working groups on how to move Open Banking adoption forward. To address the issue and catch up with the UK and other countries like Australia, the European Banking Authority (EBA) recently published its views on what NCAs should do to further adoption across the region. The aim was to ensure they remove any remaining obstacles that could prevent TPPs from accessing payment accounts or which restrict EU consumers’ choice of payment services.

This move has been well received. It is likely that, going forward, Open Banking integration within Member States will become easier. Over time, this move should make payments via Open Banking more prominent within the mainstream.

An open future for Open Finance

The natural evolution of Open Banking is Open Finance, which has the potential to completely change the way we look at our financial lives and bring about the fourth industrial revolution. Use cases are boundless, and the primary objective is enabling people to properly understand and then ‘optimise’ their overall financial position, ultimately leading to greater financial inclusion for all.

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In an Open Finance era, consumers can get a better understanding of their investments using financial management applications that have a holistic view of an individual or business’ financial position in real-time. This will give consumers the ability to consider whether investments continue to meet their needs with access to up-to-date information on costs, tax treatment, performance, risk and other necessary factors.

The same consumer-centric approach that will see the rise of Open Banking across Europe will lay the road for Open Finance.

We have a lot to learn from the Open Banking experience to date to ensure the success of Open Finance. We also know that whichever shape the legislative framework ends up taking, Open Finance needs to be secure and easy to use, and that user journeys need to be properly considered ahead of any legislation design.

A lot more needs to be harmonised compared to the Open Banking experience. And without adequate supervision by NCAs, the implementation of directives is likely to be patchy and may hinder the uptake of Open Finance. But there’s no doubt that we will see the European Open Banking system consolidated in the coming years, giving way to the rise of Open Finance.

Online fashion retailer Boohoo has bought out Dorothy Perkins, Burton and Wallis from Sir Philip Green’s failed retail group Arcadia for £25.2 million.

The deal comes only weeks after Boohoo moved to buy Debenhams, a prominent UK high street retailer also owned by Arcadia Group, for £55 million.

Like the Debenhams purchase, Boohoo will acquire the brands and online businesses of Dorothy Perkins, Wallis and Burton, but not the 214 physical stores that come with them. Administrators Deloitte, which has been overseeing the sales, stated that around 2,450 jobs will be lost as these shops wind down their business.

260 head office roles relating to the brands’ design, buying, merchandising and digital operations will be transferred to Boohoo.

John Lyttle, CEO of Boohoo, touted the deal as the newest entry in a “successful track record” of integrating high-profile British brands into Boohoo’s online storefront.

“Acquiring these well known brands in British fashion out of administration ensures their heritage is sustained, while our investment aims to transform them into brands that are fit for the current market environment,” he said.

Asos, an online retail rival to Boohoo, also bought out a number of Arcadia’s largest brands last week. Topshop, Topman and Miss Selfridge were purchased for £330 million in another brands-only deal that did not include stores or warehouses, putting a further 2,500 jobs at risk.

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Commenting on the news of Boohoo’s latest purchases, Sendcloud CEO Rob van den Heuvel cautioned against viewing the move as demonstrating that physical retail no longer has value. “Consumers are craving the face-to-face retail experience now more than ever, with 44% of consumers planning to start shopping at retail stores as soon as businesses reopen,” he noted.

“While shifting to eCommerce may be one of the only ways businesses survive in the short-term - now is not the time to tear down brick and mortar stores.”

Credit card giant Mastercard is set to increase the fees it charges EU merchants for taking payments from online shoppers in the UK by at least 400%, sparking fears that merchants could choose to pass on these costs to UK consumers.

The Financial Times, which first reported Mastercard’s latest move, said that the increase would benefit banks and card providers rather than Mastercard itself.

Since 2015, the European Commission has capped credit card interchange fees at 0.3%. Now that the UK is no longer part of the EU, however, payments between the UK and the European Economic Area are now deemed “inter-regional”, so the interchange fees will increase to 1.5%.

The fee for debit card payments is also slated to rise from 0.2% to 1.15%. Both fee increases are set to take effect on 15 October.

MP Kevin Hollinrake, chair of the parliamentary group on Fair Business Banking, said the move “smacks of opportunism.”

"I would urge the regulators to step in as a matter of urgency to ensure that financial institutions do not use Brexit as an opportunity to hike up costs that consumers will ultimately bear," he said in a statement to the FT.

Anton Komukhin, Head of Product, at Unlimint, also expressed concern. "The increase in fees announced by Mastercard for UK purchases from the EU will definitely be a challenge for businesses on both sides (both EU and UK) and such a significant increase in price will undoubtably impact trade with the UK," he said. "It’s obvious that such a reaction is not aimed at maintaining cross-border turnover or trade -  and looks only like an attempt to make more money from merchants in an already challenging environment due to Brexit and the pandemic."

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Mastercard has defended its decision, pointing out that the new interchange levels are already paid by EEA merchants on all cards issued outside of the EU, and that there is no evidence that European businesses charge consumers in these regions higher prices than those levied for consumers within the EEA as a result of this.

"In practice, only EEA merchants making eCommerce sales to UK cardholders will see a change,” the firm said. “Interchange is not a consumer facing cost but the fees paid between merchants and banks for the provision of payments. Consumers should not feel any impact of changes in interchange fees.”

This latest change comes as UK businesses face a number of new hurdles stemming from the country’s withdrawal from the EU. Increased red tape has led to delays in goods imports and exports, and the trading of European shares has moved away from London due to new restrictions.

Finance Monthly hears from Stuart Lane, CEO of Trade Nation.

2020 was an extraordinary year for traders as the coronavirus spread across the globe, triggering worldwide lockdowns and restrictions and bringing unprecedented volatility to the markets. And while the effects of the pandemic are still far from over, 2021 is set to look very different. Not only do the new vaccination programmes give hope for an eventual return to normality, but we will also see how major political changes play out, such as Brexit and Joe Biden’s first year as President of the United States.

For traders hoping to get ahead of the markets in 2021, here are five key areas for them to keep their eyes on over the next twelve months.

Brexit

With Brexit now pretty much done and dusted, we may see the pound sterling continue to recover from the lows seen last March. However, the big question is whether its strength will hold back possible gains made on the FTSE 100, which has been lagging behind US indices and the German DAX — both of which recently hit record rights. The FTSE, on the other hand, is still more than 12% below the highs experienced in early 2020.

It’s commonly believed that sterling strength weighs heavily on the FTSE due to the fact the majority of the index’s constituents export goods abroad. The higher the value of sterling, the more these goods cost foreign importers, which in turn means less are sold.

Biden Presidency

On the first full trading day of 2021, all five of the major US tech giants (Alphabet, Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft) — which have effectively driven the extraordinary rally in the US stock indices since the pandemic lows of last March — were down 1.8-2.2%. This is because it looked like the Democrats were about to win control of the Senate, giving the party a clean sweep: Presidency, Senate and House.

As it turned out, the Democrats did win those two vital Senate seats in Georgia. For now, the Republicans have no majority anymore. It also means that Vice President Kamala Harris has the deciding vote whenever there’s a 50:50 Senate split. The Democrats now have the clean sweep they were hoping for, making them much more likely to pursue a radical programme of high spending reforms. This has gone down well with investors who have already rushed to buy stocks, pushing all the major US indices to fresh record highs.

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The Future of Retail

The high street changed beyond recognition in 2020, although it’s well-known that the move away from bricks and mortar to eCommerce was already well-advanced. Now, old-style department stores which were once the foundation of every mid-sized town shopping centre look unlikely to survive. Therefore, a strong online presence is vital for retailers. There will be considerable pressure on the UK government to get involved and save the high street. But will this mean a shake-up on things like business rates and rents, or a lazier approach that simply involved dishing out temporary relief?

As we have seen from early reports on holiday-period spending, food retailers continue to perform well, as do online retailers. But following a boost to high streets in early December, footfall collapsed before Christmas as fresh COVID-19 restrictions were brought in. It’s now reported to be down by 43% in 2020 compared to the previous year. The big question is whether this misfortune will reverse once restrictions are lifted, or will the hope offered by vaccination programmes come too late to save many of our high street favourites?

Technology

When it comes to technology, perhaps the most exciting thing for traders to follow are the advances in medical tech. The mRNA vaccines are a massive development; a new method of vaccine production that will help bring fresh vaccines to market much faster than was previously possible. Also, mRNA vaccines can be adapted quickly and cheaply to address new virus variants, thereby opening up the prospect of vaccines for previously untreatable conditions too.

Elsewhere in tech, Tesla’s stock price soared to a fresh record high in the first week of 2021, making founder Elon Musk the richest person on the planet — overtaking Amazon owner Jeff Bezos. Many analysts continue to insist that Tesla, along with Bitcoin, is in an unsustainable bubble, and one day all those paper-millionaire investors will wake up broke. But for now, the owners of Tesla shares and Bitcoin are laughing the loudest.

‘Ethical’ Stocks

Ethical investment could be one of the biggest buzz areas in 2021. The sector has matured to a great extent, so ethical investment no longer means merely pruning portfolios of defence, tobacco, oil, and mining stocks. Now, there is a large and expanding ‘green’ industry to consider. Last year the UK saw more than $4 billion put into funds claiming to focus on ESG — environmental, social and governance investing. However, not all funds are the same, and careful diligence must be taken to separate those with a genuine will to manage their businesses ethically, and the bandwagon jumpers.

We are already seeing a rise in ethically questionable investments too, water being the most notable. CME Group has recently started offering water futures, and this is also relevant to farmland which is a very big consideration in the US. In fact, these are both areas in which Michael Burry (of The Big Short fame) is now heavily invested. Will more traders now be tempted to follow his lead? Only time will tell.

Retail sales volumes in the UK saw a historically tepid rise over the Christmas period despite the easing of November lockdown restrictions on 2 December.

New data published on Friday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that retail sales rose by just 0.3% in December from the previous month, far below economists’ expected gains of 1.2%. Overall, retail sales fell 0.4% in Q4 from the previous quarter.

The figures show that UK retail sales experienced their largest annual fall in history last year, slumping 1.9% overall. Clothing stores were hit the hardest, with a 25.1% sales drop, followed by sales at petrol stations, “other stores” and department stores, which fell 22.2%, 11.6% and 5.2% respectively.

“During December, there was initially a period of eased restrictions early in the month, however, there followed a number of tighter restrictions to non-essential retail in England, Scotland and Wales later in the month,” the ONS noted in its release as a factor that affected retail turnover.

“Despite the monthly recovery, sales in the sector are still 14.2% lower than December 2019 and continue to remain at a lower level than before the pandemic struck.”

Despite the grim outlook for retailers, the ONS also noted that online sales grew by 46.1% during 2020 – the sharpest annual growth the sector has seen since 2008.

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The pound was trading 0.5% lower against the dollar at $1.366 and 0.4% lower against the euro at €1.124 on Friday morning as the ONS’s figures were released. This shift comes on the back of dashed hopes for an early exit from lockdown, as ministers’ comments indicated that nationwide lockdown measures could last beyond spring.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it was “too early to say” when restrictions would be eased, refusing to rule out measures continuing into the summer.

London-based online food delivery company Deliveroo has been valued at over $7 billion (£5.1 billion) after its most recent fundraising round.

Deliveroo announced on Sunday that it had secured another $180 million from its existing investors, including minority shareholder Amazon, as it gears up for a blockbuster initial public offering in the coming months. The IPO will be London’s biggest new share issue in three years.

The company, which had already raised $1.5 billion from its investors, plans to use the newly raised funds to innovate, expand its online grocery business and establish delivery-only kitchen sites.

"This investment will help us to continue to innovate, developing new tech tools to support restaurants, to provide riders with more work and to extend choice for customers," said Deliveroo founder and CEO Will Shu in a statement.

Deliveroo is among a range of eCommerce companies to benefit from the shift in consumer spending caused by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Last April, the Competition and Markets Authority approved Amazon’s purchase of a 16% stake in Deliveroo after the firm warned that restaurant closures in the first UK-wide lockdown could cause its collapse.

With the ensuing country-wide rise in demand for online food delivery, Deliveroo managed to double its revenues in the UK and Ireland, achieving profitability in the second and third quarters of 2020. It is now planning to add a further 100 cities and towns in the UK to its coverage, having already built up a base of 140,000 restaurants on its platform.

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A successful IPO would complete the company’s recovery from the initial shock caused by the pandemic. JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs have been hired to advise on its stock market flotation.