Table of Contents
UK Retail Sales
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- Key points
- Retail sales
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- Figure 5: Retail sales trends, December 2018 – December 2019
- BRC vs ONS
- “Small retailers” versus “large retailers”
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- Figure 6: UK retail sales y/y growth, BRC vs ONS, July 2017 - December 2019
- John Lewis
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- Figure 7: John Lewis Department Stores: Year-on-Year Growth, March 2018 – October 2019
- Inflation
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- Figure 8: Annual percentage change in the consumer price index for selected product groups, December 2018 - December 2019
- Inflation and wages
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- Figure 9: Real wages growth: Wages growth vs inflation, Jan 2016 – Nov 2019
- Consumer confidence
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- Figure 10: Mintel Financial confidence tracker, January 2017 – December 2019
- Looking forward
Sector Focus – Clothing and Footwear Retailing
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- What we have seen
- Store based retailers
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- Figure 11: Growth in sales, all retailers, clothing and footwear retailers, 2018-19
- Sales volume for clothing and footwear hit by discounting
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- Figure 12: Growth in sales volumes, all retailers, clothing and footwear retailers, 2018-19
- High levels of deflation during the golden quarter
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- Figure 13: Inflation: Clothing and footwear and CPIH, January 2018 – December 2019
- Consumer spending on clothing and footwear reflect a tough year
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- Figure 14: Consumer spending on clothing and footwear, by quarters in 2018-2019
- Winners and losers of the golden quarter
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- Figure 15: Retail sales covering the Christmas period in 2019
- Outperformers
- Underperformers
- Where to next
Launch Activity and Innovation
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- UK: Bestway Retail rolls out convenient delivery trial with Uber Eats
- UK: London welcomes its first genderfluid fashion store
- UK: Marks and Spencer moves into sportswear with new ‘athleisure range ‘Goodmove’
- UK: Harrods ventures into China with its first store outside of the UK
Headlines for the Month
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- Grocers
- Off-licences
- Clothing retailing
- Mixed goods retailing
- Multi-sector retailing
- Department stores
- Electrical retailing
- Furniture retailing
- Home furnishings
News Analysis – Food and Drink
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- Co-ops
- UK: Co-op
- …to open 30 more stores ahead of Christmas
- …rolls out online expansion and announces vegan products push
- Grocers
- UK: Aldi posts merry Christmas figures and passes £1bn mark
- UK: Tesco
- …celebrates its fifth consecutive Christmas of growth
- …teams up with WWF to track the environmental impact of food
- …reveals latest price cuts in celebration of its centenary
- UK: ‘An ‘unusually challenging’ Christmas for Morrisons
- UK: New stores fuel growth over the festive period for Lidl
- UK: Sainsbury’s sales dip over the Christmas quarter
- UK: ProCook sees record Christmas sales figures
- Off-licences
- UK: Majestic Wine
- …toasts strong performance over the festive period
- …sale completed for £95 million
News Analysis – Clothing and Footwear
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- UK: A joyless New Year for Joy as it falls into administration
- UK: Aspinal of London achieves double-digit growth over the festive period
- UK: Revenues rise at British lifestyle brand Hush
- UK: Hobbs returning profits buoyed by expansion of UK and International concessions
- UK: Paul Smith sees profits rocket after investment in new shops and promotional activities
- UK: Profits surge at Fred Perry by 10.5%
- UK: Topshop
- …at Westfield Stratford is to close after lease expires
- …to remain open on Oxford Street after £310 million refinancing
- UK: Christmas online sales down for Joules after stock error
- UK: Next ups its full-year guidance following strong Christmas trading
- UK: Superdry lowers its full-year profit estimate after weak Christmas trading
- UK: adidas and Beyoncé team up to launch gender-neutral collection
- UK: Superdry profits wiped out as sales drop in year of reset
- UK: Ted Baker issues profit warning along with the departure of its CEO and executive chairman
- UK: Whistles sings thanks to expansion programme as turnover tops £73m
- Footwear retailing
- UK: Shoe Zone calls out high business rates as profits fall
- UK: Klarna Pay in 3 goes live in Schuh stores ahead of Christmas
News Analysis – Mixed Goods
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- UK: B&M Christmas sales up despite a difficult retail backdrop
- UK: Flannels opens biggest store yet in Belfast
- UK: Mothercare
- …losses widen
- …strikes exclusive deal with Boots for the next 5 years
- UK: The Hut Group secures £1 billion funding to fuel its growth aspirations
- UK: The White Company sees growth from all channels despite turbulent environment
- Multi-sector retailing
- UK: M&S menswear and gifting hold back from delivering stronger Christmas results
- Department stores
- UK: 19 store closures are revealed by Debenhams
- UK: Beales explores sale amidst strategic review
- UK: Sales slip for John Lewis Partnership over the festive period
- UK: Selfridges pays thanks to exclusive product mix in Christmas results
News Analysis – Household Goods
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- DIY retailing
- UK: Wickes to be demerged from Travis Perkins in the New Year
- UK: Topps Tiles sales fall in first quarter
- Electrical retailing
- UK: Dixons Carphone profits short-circuit as transformation costs bite
- Carpet retailing
- UK: Carpetright sold to investor Meditor with 80% voter support
- Furniture retailing
- UK: IKEA buys Kings Mall shopping centre in London’s Hammersmith
- UK: Furniture Village reports sixth consecutive year of growth
- UK: Victorian Plumbing hail staff and employees in a record breaking year
- Home furnishings
- UK: Dunelm hails successful launch of new digital platform in its Christmas results
News Analysis – Online
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- UK: Asos
- …to trial reusable mail bags in new plastic pledge
- …and Klarna expand partnership with ‘Pay in 3’ option
- UK: Missguided slow in returning to profit as it misses on sales
- UK: MyTheresa adds menswear to its luxury ecommerce platform
- UK: Moonpig over the moon as it hits an 82% surge in sales
- UK: Ocado reports rising sales as it prepares for M&S grocery offer
- UK: Studios sells education business to plug debt after revenues inch up
News Analysis – Other Retail
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- Health & beauty retailing
- UK: Customise your make-up bag with Fenty Beauty new eyeshadow palettes
- Book and stationery retailing
- UK: A ‘nerve-wracking’ festive period for Waterstones
- UK: Card Factory lowers full-year outlook after ‘softer than anticipated’ Christmas period
- UK: The Book People closes its books a week before Christmas
- UK: WHSmith International travel arm to double with acquisition of Marshall Retail Group
- Sports and leisure goods retailing
- UK: Christmas up for JD Sports despite ‘widely reported challenges’
- UK: Mountain Warehouse proves doom-mongers wrong with record Christmas trading
- Jewellers
- UK: Watches of Switzerland profits from robust luxury watch market
- Garden centres
- UK: Revenues blossom at Squires Garden Centres
- Shopping centres
- UK: Luxury retail and entertainment make for a profitable six weeks of trading at the Icon Outlet
News Analysis – Economy
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- UK: A tough year for retailers in 2019 but not all is doom and gloom for BRC December retail sales
- UK: Retail sales for November show a dip
- UK: Locations to benefit from high street task force are revealed
- UK: End of a decade
- A (re)balancing act
- Driving the winds of change
- Shifting consumer habits
- Until next year
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