Table of Contents
Analyst Comment – The Insidious Damage Done by Discounting
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- In the long term, constant discounting is counterproductive
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- Figure 1: Attitudes to pricing, Christmas 2016 and 2017
- Buying online
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- Figure 2: Attitudes to discounts online, May 2017
- Training to expect discounts
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- Figure 3: Attitudes to Black Friday promotions, November 2017
- Electricals
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- Figure 4: Electrical goods buyers who had paid full price or a discounted price, Nov 2017
- Where next?
UK Retail Sales
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- Key points
- Retail sales
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- Figure 5: Retail sales trends, 2017/18
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- Figure 6: UK retail sales y/y growth, BRC vs ONS, 2016-18
- John Lewis
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- Figure 7: John Lewis department stores: year-on-year growth, Apr 2017-Jun 2018
- Inflation
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- Figure 8: Annual percentage change in the consumer price index for selected product groups, 2016-17
- Inflation and wages
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- Figure 9: Real wages growth: wages growth vs inflation, Jan 2015-Apr 2018
- Confidence
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- Figure 10: Mintel financial confidence tracker, January 2015-June 2018
- Looking forward
Sector Focus – Food Retailing
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- Food experiences sudden drop in value
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- Figure 11: Annual non-seasonally adjusted percentage change in the value sales of food retailers at current prices, Apr 2017-May 2018
- Food volume steadily drops
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- Figure 12: Annual non-seasonally adjusted percentage change in the chained volume of goods sold in food stores, Apr 2017-Apr 2018
- Food inflation slows down
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- Figure 13: Annual percentage change in the price of food and non-alcoholic beverages, Aug 2017-Apr 2018
- Online food growth slows
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- Figure 14: Internet food sales: value non-seasonally adjusted percentage change YoY, Apr 2017-Apr 2018
- Online food as a % of all retailing
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- Figure 15: Internet food sales: value non-seasonally adjusted internet sales as a proportion of all retailing Apr 2017-Apr 2018
- A busy quarter for the sector…
- Asda and Sainsbury’s propose merger
- Co-op takeover of Nisa approved
- Ocado signs deal with Kroger in the US
- Where next?
Launch Activity and Innovations
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- UK: Amazon buys right to show Premier League matches
- UK: Argos and Lego team up for augmented reality offering
- UK: Hotel Chocolat initiates chocolate ‘amnesty’ for Waitrose shoppers
- UK: Superdrug launches piercing service
Headlines for the Month
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- Food and Drink
- Clothing and Footwear
- Home and Household Goods
- Online
- Other retailing
- Economy
News Analysis – Food and Drink
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- UK: Asda…
- …full year profits fall
- …sales rise for fourth quarter in a row
- UK: Co-op…
- …to give away food to community groups to fight food waste
- …introduce reverse vending machines for plastic recycling
- UK: Morrisons sales up 3.6% in Q1
- UK: Hotel Chocolat repays ‘chocolate bonds’
- UK: Iceland aims to become a dementia-friendly retailer
- UK: Morrisons increases funding for ‘honesty’ fridges
- UK: Tesco…
- …seeks to create closed loop recycling system
- …to close Tesco Direct
- UK: Sainsbury’s introduces in-store ice cream parlours
- UK: Waitrose collaborates with Bupa to launch in-store health checks
News Analysis – Clothing and Footwear
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- UK: Arcadia owner Taveta reports a 42% drop in profit
- UK: Bags Etc enters administration
- UK: Burberry profit rises and revenue dips over full year
- UK: Christo Wiese steps down from New Look board
- UK: H&M to change UK clothing sizes
- UK: Joules full year revenue up 18%
- UK: Matalan reports annual rise in profit and sales
- UK: MSGM to open first UK store
- UK: Monsoon losses fall in 2017
- UK: Moss Bros sales continue to decline but CEO remains optimistic
- UK: Mothercare…
- …group profit falls 88%
- …secures creditor support for CVA
- …to accelerate store closures
- …to close 50 stores as part of CVA
- UK: Next…
- …demands rent parity with struggling rivals
- …first quarter sales rise 6%
- UK: QUIZ…
- …partners with TOWIE cast members
- …profits and sales soar
- UK: Shoe Zone sales and profits rise in H1
- UK: Topshop/Topman falls to full year loss for 2017
News Analysis – Home and Household Goods
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- Carpet retailing
- UK: Carpetright…
- …launches plans to raise £60 million in funding
- …secures extra funding
- DIY retailing
- UK: Former Comet owner targets Homebase
- UK: Graham & Brown launches decorating visualisation app
- UK: Kingfisher sales down in Q1 due to weather conditions
- UK: Topps Tiles profit falls in H1
- UK: Wesfarmers sells Homebase for nominal £1 fee
- UK: Wickes to axe a third of head office jobs
- Electrical retailing
- UK: Buy It Direct makes offer for Maplin’s brand and online store
- UK: Dixons Carphone warns on profits and announces store-closing program
- Furniture retailing
- UK: Dunelm issues profit warning as store like-for-likes decline
- UK: Fabb Sofas goes into administration
- Garden centres
- UK: Wyevale Garden Centres put up for sale
News Analysis – Online Retailing
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- UK: Amazon…
- …launches new campaign with PayPoint
- …to create over 2,500 jobs
- UK: BHS.com closed after less than two years of operating
- UK: Ocado signs deal with Kroger
- UK: Shop Direct…
- …falls into loss as PPI claims hit profits
- …to merge Very Exclusive with Very
- UK: The Hut Group turnover increases 47%
News Analysis – Other Retailing
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- Books and stationery retailing
- UK: Card Factory sales up in Q1
- UK: Smiggle sales up 91.7% in 2017
- Department stores
- UK: Debenhams…
- …and Estée Lauder unveil in-store #beautyhub
- …launches three new suiting brands
- UK: House of Fraser…
- …could be shutting half of its stores
- …insists it is ‘on track’ for CVA
- …lenders demand shareholders inject funds into retailer
- …losses climb to £44 million in 2017
- …to shut more than half of its stores
- UK: John Lewis acquires home improvement business Opun
- Health and beauty retailing
- UK: Feelunique partners with Veleza
- Luxury retailing
- UK: Desmond & Dempsey opens first pop-up shop
- Mixed goods retailing
- UK: B&M full year profits and revenues jump
- UK: Marks & Spencer…
- …profits drop 62.1% in 2017
- …to close more stores
- ..to rebrand to Markle & Sparkle for royal wedding
- UK: Poundworld
- …to appoint administrators
- …Alteri nears rescue deal with Poundworld
- …up for sale
- Pets retailing
- UK: Pets at Home services boost fails to stop profit falling in 2017
- Sports and leisure goods
- UK: Halfords sales rise but profits dip as it hires new chairman
- UK: JD Sports relaunches Supply & Demand brand
- UK: Mountain Warehouse sales rise by 22%
- Toys retailing
- UK: Jollyes bought by Kester Capital
News Analysis – Economy
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- UK: April retail sales edge up 0.8%
- UK: BRC figures show jump in retail sales of 4.1%
- UK: footfall declines 3.3% in April
- UK: government launches commission into high street
- UK: landlords fight back against CVAs
- UK: landlords to fight use of CVAs to cut rent
- UK: Network Rail to ban retailers from supplying plastics
- UK: shop prices drop in May
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