Department Store Retailing - Europe - March 2011

The European mixed goods market has faced significant challenges throughout the recession in the major Western European markets:

Low consumer confidence as well as increasing competition from specialist operators has impacted on performance.

Only the Netherlands avoided declines in mixed goods retail sales, although this was unlikely to have been driven by the department stores.

Going forwards we expect:

Growth to return across the majority of the markets covered in this report. However, the mixed goods sector will typically underperform against the wider retailer sector as other spend areas recover faster.

Continued economic uncertainty will impact on Ireland with a return to mixed goods sector growth unlikely to be seen in the short term.

Mintel European Retail Intelligence provides independent, expert coverage of the major retail sectors throughout Europe. Each title in this series analyses retailing trends in up to 19 European markets, including the Scandinavian nations and Eastern European countries such as the Czech Republic and Poland as well as the major Western European markets.

The coverage provided by each report is as accurate, relevant and up-to-date as possible, combining in-house sector expertise with retailer performance data, taken directly from industry and trade sources.

With titles ranging from 'DIY Retailing in Europe' through to 'Food Retailing in Europe', each market examination includes studies of:

background economic and demographic data

market sizes

regional retailing trends and issues

market drivers

consumer expenditure

consumer trends

leading pan-European retailers

domestic retailers

market forecasts

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