Description
As consumers cut back on their spending on fashion, watches and jewellery during 2020 because of the pandemic, they are now looking to splash out on unique items. Close to a quarter had a bespoke piece of jewellery/watch made, +9 percentage points since the last Report in 2020. There has also been a 7 percentage point rise in consumers personalising items. As the pandemic and lockdowns have meant many people have spent more time online and on social media browsing products, consumers have shifted to be more informed about how items are made and what they want and looking for more unique pieces.
This month’s UK Retail Briefing includes:
- Analyst Comment – What are the main opportunities for growth in the Jewellery & watches retailing?
- An overview of the latest UK Retail sales
- Sector focus – Clothing retailing
- Highlights of the latest UK Retail trend observations.
- Monthly headlines and retail news across the UK
Table of Contents
-
Analyst Comment – What are the main opportunities for growth in Jewellery & Watches Retailing?
- Consumers look for bespoke pieces
- Growing awareness of sustainability
- Growing men’s jewellery market
- The rise of lab-grown diamonds
- Diversifying product ranges and services
-
UK Retail Sales
- Key points
- Retail sales
- Figure 1: Retail sales trends January 2019-September 2021
- BRC vs ONS
- Figure 2: UK retail sales y/y growth, BRC vs ONS, January 2018- August 2021
- Inflation
- Figure 3: Annual % change in the consumer price index for selected product groups, January 2019- July 2021
- Inflation and wages
- Figure 4: Real wages growth: Wages growth vs inflation, January 2016 –August 2021
- Looking forward
-
Sector Focus – Clothing Retailing
- Clothing sales slow ahead of festive period
- Figure 5: All clothing and footwear sales and online clothing and footwear sales
- Over a third are shopping less clothes
- Figure 6: How COVId-19 has impacted purchasing of clothes
- Busier shops have not gone unnoticed
- Figure 7: What consumers have noticed over the past two months
- Clothing sales slow ahead of festive period
-
Launch Activity and Innovations
- UK: Aldi trial a checkout-free store
- UK: Browns teams up Thrift+ to help customers prolong the life of old clothes
- UK: Amazon opens non-food store in Kent
-
Headlines for the Month
- Co-ops
- Grocers
- Clothing retailing
- Footwear retailing
- Department stores
- DIY retailing
- Furniture retailing
- Homewares retailing
- Online
- Book and stationery retailing
- Sports and leisure goods retailing
-
New Analysis – Food and Drink
- Bakers
- UK: Greggs lfl sales up 3.5% thanks to 68 new store openings
- Co-ops
- UK: Co-op
- …joins forces with Amazon for speedy grocery deliveries
- …unveils first micro-store
- Grocers
- UK: Aldi
- …reports 10.2% growth in sales and outlines expansion plans
- …rolls out gift cards across its store estate
- UK: Asda
- …and MusicMagpie team up in new sustainability partnership
- …offers COVID-19 booster jabs in 75 stores
- …to hire 150 specialist greengrocers
- …opens first refill store in Scotland
- …owner mulling the sale of EG Group for £10.8bn
- …reveals largest refill store in York
- UK: Lidl to launch own-merchandise in store
- UK: Morrisons
- …sold to US private equity firm CD&R
- …bans plastic from all bananas
- …to expand its wholesale business
- …opens new Market Kitchen concept near Bradford head office
- …and Deliveroo team up to launch new rapid delivery service
- …to scrap home deliveries from 50 supermarkets
- UK: Sainsbury’s
- …brings back same-day delivery
- …to recruit 22,000 staff for Christmas
- …relaunches Habitat in effort to revitalise brand
- …trials new lunch stand concept in over 300 stores
- UK: Tesco
- …higher sales and lower COVID-19 costs boost profits
- …ramps up climate change efforts and targets net-zero emissions by 2050
- …reveals Loop refillable aisle
- UK: Waitrose cracks down on plastic usage
- Other food specialists
- UK: Cake Box revenues up 91% driven by new store openings
- UK: Holland & Barrett reveal plans to reduce plastic packaging across vitamin ranges
- UK: Hotel Chocolat revenues up 21% thanks to online strategy
-
News Analysis – Clothing and Footwear
- Clothing retailing
- UK: French Connection
- …take-over offer from a consortium of shareholders
- …sold to consortium MIP
- UK: Mango to launch sustainable brand Alter Made
- UK: Next
- …ups outlook as sales grow 8.8%
- …will operate Gap business in the UK
- UK: Quiz sees losses widen as sales drop due to store closures
- UK: Reiss aims to recover from difficult 2020
- UK: River Island sees turnover fall 31.7%
- UK: Superdry
- …revenues drop
- …joins forces with Oxfam
- UK: Ted Baker to host digital Street Party sessions
- Footwear retailing
- UK: Hotter Shoes set to join forces with John Lewis to sell shoes online
-
News Analysis – Mixed Goods
- Department Stores
- UK: Fenwick reports widening losses in a difficult year
- UK: Harvey Nichols announces childrenswear resale concept
- UK: John Lewis
- …5% growth in revenues in the first half of 2021
- …charter ships to meet Christmas demand
-
News Analysis – Household Goods
- DIY retailing
- UK: Kingfisher sales surge in first half of year
- UK: Wickes raises profit outlook following strong performance in first half of the year
- Electrical retailing
- UK: Curry’s launches first loyalty app amidst major rebranding
- Furniture retailing
- UK: DFS saw sales grow amid a surge in home spending
- UK: Dreams profits rise to £319 million under new owners Tempur Sealy
- UK: IKEA eyes former Topshop store on Oxford Street
- UK: Oak Furnitureland reports solid performance despite challenges
- UK: ScS sees sales grow 21% and hails a ‘strong year of recovery’
- Homewares retailing
- UK: Dunelm pilots take-back scheme for unwanted textile items
-
News Analysis – Online
- UK: Amazon to offer Deliveroo deliveries
- UK: AO lfl up 5% but warns of profit decline due to supply chain disruptions
- UK: Asos
- …offers paid leave for health-related issues
- …opens tech hub in Northern Ireland to support further growth
- …publishes ethnicity pay gap for the first time
- UK: Boden
- …sales rebound 9% in the first six months of 2021
- …sales down to £256m
- UK: Boohoo
- …sales up 20% but profits fall
- …Debenhams new marketplace
- UK: Made.com
- …posts positive first half performance
- …launch homewares marketplace
- UK: N Brown sees profits rise in difficult circumstances
- UK: Ocado
- …plans a move into Scotland
- …pilot driverless delivery vans
- UK: Post Office set to offer Amazon pick-up and drop-off services
- UK: Shopify opens new international selling platform
- UK: Sosandar sales up 184% as it introduces its autumn/winter collection early
- UK: Uber Eats and Shell sign deal
-
News Analysis – Other Retail
- Health and beauty retailing
- UK: Avon aiming to become fully omnichannel as a result of the pandemic
- UK: Boots
- …reveals its own marketing agency
- …rolls out recycling scheme
- UK: The Body Shop to launch open hiring scheme
- Book and stationery retailing
- UK: Card Factory sales up 16.3% as footfall on the High Street recovers
- Sports and leisure goods retailing
- UK: JD Sports
- …enters into beauty with stake in Hairburst
- …to launch new Cheltenham store
- …reports record performance
- UK: Lululemon announces 60% growth in its latest quarter
- Economy
- UK: August was a slow but still positive month for the retail sector
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