Table of Contents
Analyst Comment
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- Vacancy rates hit new lows
- Headline figures don’t tell the whole story
- High streets switch from retail to services
- High street fashion closures
- Retail parks
- But are these short term trends going to hold true in the longer term?
- A complex business
Retail Sales
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- Key points
- Retail sales
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- Figure 1: Retail sales trends, 2016/17
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- Figure 2: UK retail sales y/y growth, BRC vs ONS, Jan 2015-April 2017
- John Lewis
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- Figure 3: John Lewis: Year-on-year growth, March 2016-May 2017
- Inflation and wages
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- Figure 4: Real wages growth: Wages growth vs inflation, 2012-17
- Rising inflation
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- Figure 5: Annual percentage change in the consumer price index for selected product groups, 2016-17
- Looking forward
Sector Focus
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- Market returns to growth
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- Figure 6: Total DIY/hardware specialist sector size (including VAT), 2012-16
- Seasonally affected sales
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- Figure 7: Annual % change in the value of all DIY specialist sales, non-seasonally adjusted, Jan 2016- Apr 2017
- Property transactions
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- Figure 8: Annual number of property transactions with a value of £40,000 or above (non-seasonally adjusted), 2006-16
- Figure 9: Monthly number of property transactions valued at over £40,000 (non-seasonally adjusted), January 2016-March 2017
- Falling number of people buying houses on a mortgage
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- Figure 10: Housing tenure in England, 2005-16
- Quality the biggest concern for shoppers
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- Figure 11: Factors important when shopping for DIY products, March 2017
- What we think
Headlines for the Month
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- Grocers
- Clothing retailing
- Footwear retailing
- Department stores
- Multi-sector retailing
- Home shopping
- Health & beauty retailing
- Garden centres
- Opticians
- Economy
News Analysis – Food and Drink
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- Convenience stores
- UK: Simply Fresh launches new city formats
- Grocers
- UK: Asda reinstates Farm Stores brand to replace Smart Price
- UK: Morrisons
- …cuts the price of 1,000 items
- …like-for-like sales rise 3.4%
- UK: Sainsbury's
- …adds Asian buns and gluten-free options in food-to-go
- …full-year profits slip 1%
- …introduces branded apparel with Russell Athletic
- …plots further growth for Argos and Habitat
- UK: Tesco
- …launches healthier living campaign
- …sells opticians business to Vision Express
- …like-for-like sales rise 0.9%
- UK: The Co-op Welsh store expansion
- UK: Waitrose trialling recipe box subscription
News Analysis - Non-Food
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- Clothing retailing
- UK: Ann Summers turnover declines 3%
- UK: Arcadia set to launch Outfit fascia on the high-street
- UK: Boden to open John Lewis concessions
- UK: Bombinate: New men's fashion marketplace set for launch
- UK: Bonmarché sees improvement in Q4
- UK: Burberry
- …announces staff relocation
- …retail revenues up 3% led by the UK
- UK: Coast, Oasis and Warehouse receive bidder interest
- UK: Honey Birdette plots UK retail roll-out
- UK: Jaeger
- …announces 200 job cuts amid store closures
- …collapses into administration
- UK: Kit and Ace closes shop in the UK, US and Australia
- UK: Monsoon reports decline in profits
- UK: Next total sales down 2.5%
- UK: Primark
- …owner seeks new chairman
- …performs well in the UK and Europe
- UK: Store Twenty One facing potential collapse
- Footwear retailing
- UK: Clarks axes HQ roles
- UK: Jimmy Choo business up for sale
- UK: LK Bennett's founder to return as adviser
- UK: Rylko prepares for UK launch
- UK: Soletrader revenues broadly flat on the year
- Multi-sector retailing
- UK: Halfords' CEO Jill McDonald to head up M&S clothing
- UK: M&S aligns clothing and food in 'Spend it Well' campaign
- UK: Marks & Spencer to open 36 stores in six months
- UK: Marks & Spencer to trial online food offering
- UK: Pep&Co suffers loss in first trading period
- UK: Woolworths may make a return to UK high street
- Department stores
- UK: Debenhams
- …to reveal store overhaul plans
- …unveils new strategy amid declining profits
- UK: Fenwick to close Windsor department store
- UK: House of Fraser
- …former chief executive joins The Range
- …like-for-like sales grow 0.9%
- Carpet retailing
- UK: Carpetright like-for-likes rise 1.4%
- DIY retailing
- UK: Bunnings reports rise in UK sales
- UK: Travis Perkins like-for-likes up 2.7%
- Furniture retailing
- UK: Bathstore experiments with alternative reality in-store
- UK: Dunelm struggles to grow sales
- Home shopping
- UK: Amazon
- …launches own fashion label Find
- …lures subscribers with exclusive live music events
- …unveils weather-personalised shopping feature
- UK: Boden to open John Lewis concessions
- UK: Boohoo reports surge in sales and profits
- UK: Gear4Music delivers profitable growth
- UK: Eve Sleep readies first London Stock Exchange float
- UK: JoJo Maman Bébé hires Jaeger trading director
- UK: Lavitta closes all stores after a year in operation
- UK: Missguided
- …considering sale or flotation
- …sales surge yet profits undisclosed
- UK: N Brown profits fall amid investment
- UK: The Hut sales soar 50%
- UK: Watchshop.com launches sunglasses boutique
- Health & beauty retailing
- UK: Superdrug extends vegan cosmetics range
- Book and stationery retailing
- UK: WH Smith revenues rise 2%
- Sports and leisure goods retailing
- UK: JD Sports grows 31% as fashion division outperforms
- Garden centres
- UK: Dobbies teams up with Ocado online
- Luxury goods retailing
- International: Kering unveils outstanding revenue growth in Q1
- International: LVMH
- …records 15% turnover rise in Q1
- …to buy Christian Dior Couture
- International: Coach agrees to buy Kate Spade
- Opticians
- UK: Tesco sells opticians business to Vision Express
- Shopping locations
- UK: Hammerson and Appear Here partner on pop-up initiative
- UK: Oxford Street transformation project due to begin in 2018
- Economy
- UK: Deflation in non-food prices begins to ease
- UK: Easter sees healthy rise in footfall
- UK: Grocery market grows 3.7% over Easter
- UK: March retail sales decline 1.0%
- UK: Retail sales grow 3.3% in March
- UK: Retail sales grow 5.6% in April
- UK: Retailers see growth in online searches
- UK: Springboard forecasts 5.4% Easter footfall boost
- UK: Vacancy rate on retail parks falls to new low
- UK: Visa reports slowing consumer spending
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