Retail

I've often been vocal in my criticism of Lazada.com's service. For years it's been terrible in every possible direction.

But not now. A remarkable turnaround in many aspects of the business has created a level of service that is, quite simply, the equal of the dominant force, Amazon.com.

Mail order (remember when it used to be called that?) is heating up to be a serious battleground across South East Asia. Three problems plague local platforms.

Amazon's UK operation is set to beat them without even opening a distribution centre in the region.

It might not look much but Australia has just thrown a huge spanner in the works of international internet retailers who want to operate in their market. Whether it sets a precedent remains to be seen but, if so, cheap goods sent from overseas might have to be a lot less cheap. At the heart of this is unproven conduct by Wiggle Limited, a UK company, which the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC) found to be in breach of Australian law. This is a significant extra-territorial application of domestic law - and it also interferes with the right to include a choice of law and choice of jurisdiction clauses in international contracts. And as if that's not enough, the ripples reach into call-centre operations worldwide.

Australia has long been in conflict with foreign discounters marketing, amongst other things, by internet. It all started with a fight over the price of books.

Tokyo's famed Tsukiji Fish Market closes for the last time in October 2018. The last trade-only auction that allowed in visitors was on 15th September. The last full trading session was on the 6th October. Nigel Morris-Cotterill photographed the wholesale market and the "outer market" in the last days before the wholesale market was closed.