Description
This year’s Valentine’s Day will be one to remember – as couples find alternatives to the traditional dining at restaurants to celebrate the occasion during lockdown. There’s likely to be an increased focus on in-home celebrations, which will have the potential to boost seasonal food and drink, and alcoholic drink sales. Takeaways are also expected to see a boost for the day as households try to recreate the special occasion at home. But retailers will also have the opportunity to cater to singles who are looking to treat themselves this year, as trends in the wider market have focused on self-care.
Key issues covered in the report:
- Analyst comment – How UK retailers are helping Valentine celebrations at home
- An overview of the latest UK retail sales – Impact of COVID-19
- Highlights of the latest UK retail trend observations
- Sector Focus – Clothing Retailing
- Monthly UK retail news headlines and analysis
Table of Contents
-
Analyst Comment – How UK Retailers are helping Valentine’s Day celebrations at home
- Ava May Aroma’s Valentine’s Day gift box
- Figure 1: Ava May Aroma’s I Love You gift box, 2021
- Interflora’s ‘self-partnered’ range of flowers
- Figure 2: Interflora’s ‘self-partnered’ flower bouquet, 2021
- Lush launches subscription box
- Figure 3: Lush subscription box, 2021
- Morrisons Valentine’s Day movie night set
- Figure 4: Morrisons Valentine’s day movie night set, 2021
- What we think
- Ava May Aroma’s Valentine’s Day gift box
-
UK Retail Sales
- Key points
- Retail Sales
- Figure 5: Retail sales trends, January 2019 – January 2021
- BRC vs ONS
- Figure 6: UK retail sales y/y growth, BRC vs ONS, January 2018 – January 2021
- Inflation
- Figure 7: Annual % change in the consumer price index for selected product groups, January 2019 – January 2021
- Inflation and wages
- Figure 8: Real wages growth: Wages growth vs inflation, January 2016 – November 2020
- Looking forward
-
Sector Focus – Clothing Retailing
- What we have seen
- Clothing sales slump in January
- Figure 12: Growth in store based clothing sales, year on year, January 2019- January 2021
- Consumers are spending less on clothing
- Figure 9: Percentage of consumes who said they are spending more, about the same or less in next month on clothing and accessories, 4th February 2021 – 12th February 2021
- Retailers need to make store COVID friendly
- Figure 10: Clothes shopping behaviour in-store once clothes stores have reopened following COVID-19 lockdown, August 2020
- COVID-19 changes shopping habits
- Figure 11: Changes in clothes shopping behaviour since COVID-19, August 2020
-
Launch Activity and Innovations
- UK: Iceland expands Uber Eats deal to offer 20-minute delivery
- UK: Joules extends into gardening with new acquisition
- UK: John Lewis adds 50 new brands to its fashion and beauty offering
-
Headlines for the Month
- Co-ops
- Grocers
- Other food and drink specialists
- Clothing retailing
- Multi-sector retailing
- Department stores
- DIY retailing
- Electrical retailing
- Online
-
News Analysis – Food and Drink
- Co-ops
- UK: Central England Co-op sees Christmas sales grow 9.2%
- Grocers
- UK: Aldi to offer first click-and-collect service to Irish customers
- UK: Asda
- …to offer 5,000 nurseries priority access to delivery slots
- …EG Group to acquire Asda forecourt business for £750m
- UK: Booths Christmas sales up 11% on a like for like basis
- UK: Lidl festive sales up 18% during the festive period
- UK: Sainsbury’s
- …to launch own-brand compostable tea bags
- …unveils Fresh Food Market after successful trial
- UK: Tesco
- …delivers ‘record Christmas’ as sales grow 6.8%
- …says Brexit is a ‘challenge but not a crisis’
- Other food and drink specialists
- UK: Hotel Chocolat sales up 19% as shoppers move online
-
News Analysis – Clothing and Footwear
- Clothing retailing
- UK: Apricot to switch majority of UK stores to turnover based rents as CVA is approved
- UK: Asos
- …joins as contender in the race for Topshop
- …buys Topshop for £295m in ‘a hugely exciting moment’
- …Topshop and Miss Selfridges websites officially shut under new owner Asos
- UK: Boohoo
- …in exclusive talks to buy Burton and Dorothy Perkins
- …acquires remaining Arcadia brands for £25.2 million
- UK: Burberry festive sales down 9%
- UK: Charles Tyrwhitt warns of further store closures
- UK: French Connection considers sale after receiving takeover approaches
- UK: Hawes & Curtis move into loungewear
- UK: Jigsaw sales fall by £31m as it completes CVA and restructuring process
- UK: Joules revenue falls 15.2% due to store closures amid the pandemic
- UK: Knomo acquired by marketing agency as part of new retail division
- UK: M&S finalises deal with Jaeger
- UK: Mango to launch into homewares in the spring
- UK: Matalan Christmas sales drop 11.2%
- UK: Primark warns of £1bn loss in sales due to lockdown but refuses to move online
- UK: Quiz revenues down 73% as pandemic ‘significantly’ impacts demand
- UK: Seasalt Christmas online orders ‘more than compensated’ for lost store sales
- UK: Superdry interim sales down 23% ‘reflecting COVID-19 effects’
- UK: Sweaty Betty revenues grow 60% buoyed by demand for activewear during lockdown
- UK: Vans owner sees revenues drop 6%
- Footwear retailing
- UK: Hotter Shoes online sales grow 27% over festive period
- UK: Kurt Geiger sales up 3.7% pre-COVID pandemic
- UK: Dr Martens
- …announces ‘next exciting stage of development’ and considers IPO
- …confirms IPO marking ‘an important milestone’
- …reveals IPO details
-
News Analysis – Mixed Goods
- Multi-sector retailing
- UK: Halfords sales up 7.7% after ‘best ever’ Christmas week
- UK: M&S launches online learning resources amid school closures
- UK: Poundland sees festive like for like sales jump 2.4%
- Department stores
- UK: Debenhams
- …to close Oxford flagship and cut 320 jobs
- …Boohoo buys Debenhams for £55 million
- UK: Jenners to close leading to 200 redundancies
- UK: Selfridges
- …profits drop 10% amid ‘a challenging retail backdrop’
- …reveals permanent bike shop at Oxford Street flagship
-
News Analysis – Household Goods
- DIY retailing
- UK: Kingfisher reports strong Q4 and expects profits at top end of estimates
- UK: Screwfix reaches £2 billion milestone in sales
- Electrical retailing
- UK: Dixons Carphone sees online sales surge 121% driven by TVs, computing and gaming
- Furniture retailing
- UK: Jysk remains committed to expansion plans despite current climate
- Homewares retailing
- UK: Dunelm
- …interim profits grow 23% as it benefited from pent-up demand in first quarter
- …surge of online demand in boosting Christmas sales
- UK: Simba sales at £100m despite ‘exhausting’ year
-
News Analysis – Online
- UK: Amazon revenues surge 38% year-on-year amid ecommerce boom
- UK: Asos sales up 23% to £1.3 billion
- UK: Boohoo increases revenue outlook as sales grow 40% in the UK
- UK: Eve Sleep sales up 6% in the year after record festive sales
- UK: Feelunique festive sales grow 39%
- UK: DIY etailer ManoMano sees record sales driven by UK demand
- UK: In The Style sales up 169% thanks to ‘very strong’ Black Friday and Christmas
- UK: Moonpig
- …to press ahead with IPO plans
- …valued at £1.2bn as float begins
- UK: N Brown sales fall 8.9% despite hailing ‘continued improvement’
- UK: Notonthehighstreet acquired by US Great Hill Partners
- UK: Ocado revenue up 35% as it invests into its capacity and technology during pandemic
- UK: OnBuy hails record start to 2021 and looks to international expansion
- UK: Studio Retail Group sales up by 17.2%
- UK: The Hut Group
- …completes takeover of Dermstore
- …Christmas sales up 51%
- UK: Very sales up 25% as Christmas shopping started early
-
News Analysis – Other Retail
- Book and stationery retailing
- UK: Card Factory sales dip due to store closures
- UK: Paperchase
- …rescued out of administration
- …to close 27 stores as part of rescue deal
- UK: WHSmith Christmas period ‘better than anticipated’
- UK: The Works hails ‘robust’ interim performance as online sales double
- Sports and leisure goods retailing
- UK: JD Sports
- …and Fat Face latest to stop click-and-collect services
- …enhances presence in the US with $495m acquisition
- …increases full-year outlook to £400m
- …raises £464m to help drive expansion plans
- Jewellers
- UK: Watches of Switzerland sees sales 6.6% in ‘another strong performance’
- Pets and pet products retailing
- UK: Pets at Home sees ‘robust’ Christmas trading
- Shopping centres
- UK: Westfield Stratford to open COVID-19 vaccination centre
-
News Analysis – Economy
- UK: BRC
- …January retail sales fall -1.3% on a total basis
- …retail sales up 1.8% in December
- UK: All retail sales dipped 0.3% in December
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