Retail

The contrasting fortunes of the Bunnings and Masters hardware businesses reflect the broader performance of their relative corporate owners.

Retail giant Woolworths has been ordered to pay more than $11 million to a Victorian property developer for breaking a contract for the construction of a Masters hardware store.

Dick Smith will close every one of its concessions in David Jones department stores next week as the receivers seek a buyer for the ailing electrical retailer.

Wesfarmers has announced plans to spend over $1 billion in the UK market after sealing a deal to buy the Homebase home improvement chain for $705 million and rebrand it as Bunnings.

Woolworths is abandoning its multi-billion dollar foray into the Australian home improvement market following years of losses, putting 7,000 jobs at risk.

Woolworths is understood to have finalised a deal to open a new supermarket in the southern suburb of Coolbellup, which will underpin a $65 million apartment development at the former Coolbellup Hotel site.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve asked the Wesfarmers leadership when they would look at an international expansion.

Dick Smith's fate may not be decided for another six months, with administrators set to apply for more time to investigate the downfall of the electrical retailer.

Perth-based conglomerate Wesfarmers is poised to make its first major move outside Australasia, offering $A700 million to acquire the Homebase home improvement chain in the UK and revealing plans to develop a new Bunnings-branded business in that market.

Dick Smith chief executive Nick Abboud has quit the troubled electronics retailer, which has gone into into receivership with debts of about $390 million.

Fears for China's growth prospects and turbulence on global markets are weighing on consumers.

More than 30 parties have shown interest in the assets of the collapsed Dick Smith retail business in Australia and New Zealand.

Laura Ashley faces an uncertain future in Australia after the women's clothing and homewares retailer, famed for its pastels and prints, called in the administrators.

The consumer watchdog is speaking with the receivers at Dick Smith to find out how the electronics retailer's collapse will affect customers.

The Dick Smith chain of technology and electrical goods shops is probably a poor example of the wider problems confronting retailing but its collapse this week is a reminder that the shake-out which has rattled the retail world over the past few years is far from over.

Car dealers in Western Australia will be hoping for a pickup this year, after the release of data showing a 7.9 per cent fall in new car sales in 2015 in WA, while the rest of the nation reported its best year on record.

Aldi remains on track to open its first Western Australian supermarkets by the middle of the year, ramping up its recruitment drive while construction is under way on 14 stores.

Shoppers might be busy spending up at the post-Christmas sales, but new figures are expected to reveal retail sales got off to a modest start ahead of the recent festive season.

Dick Smith, one of Australia's best known electronics retailers, has been put up for sale, with lenders taking charge of the troubled company after it failed to secure a funding injection.

Consumers have started the year in an upbeat mood as confidence about their finances improves.

The Turnbull government has sought to head off a Labor-trade unions scare campaign on weekend penalty rates by leaving any change to the independent workplace umpire.

The consumer watchdog has decided not to approve GPC Asia Pacific’s proposed $43 million acquisition of Automotive Holdings Group’s Covs Parts business on the grounds that it would substantially lessen competition.

Woolworths has performed a major backflip and reintroduced Qantas frequent flyer reward points for shoppers, two months after it angered many loyal customers by dumping them.

Woolworths is expected to reinstall a version of Qantas frequent flyer points after dumping it for a revamped rewards scheme.

Window blinds manufacturer and retailer Kresta Holdings has been provided with a CNY50 million ($A10.6 million) loan by its Chinese parent company to pay off an existing facility and expand its east coast manufacturing operations.

Supermarket giant Woolworths allegedly pressured more than 800 of its suppliers for make extra payments worth up to $60 million to shore up the retailer's profits, the consumer watchdog says.

Woolworths and Aldi have vowed to give suppliers more bargaining power following complaints against the supermarket giants' conduct.

The recent approval for an estimated $450 million expansion of Westfield Whitford City has added to a long line of shopping centre redevelopments proposed in Perth, although ongoing economic uncertainty is casting doubt on how many will actually go ahead.

Motor vehicles sales in Western Australia for the year to November are down 8.5 per cent on the same period last year, with sports utility vehicles the only part of the market that held up.

Australian retail spending rose 0.5 per cent in October, official figures show, which beat economists' expectations.

Shares in electronics retailer Dick Smith have halved after a sales downturn forced it to abandon its profit forecast.

Supermarket wholesaler Metcash has suffered a 12.7 per cent decline in underlying earnings as the food and grocery price war eats into its bottom line.