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European Retail Briefing - February 2021

ANALYST COMMENT – COVID-19 BRINGS NEW OPPORTUNITIES TO BEAUTY AND PERSONAL CARE RETAILERS
Opportunities and threats
Virtual consultations
Figure 1: Bobbi Brown Virtual Services Homepage, August 2020
Product recommendations using AI
Figure 2: The Inkey List #askINKEY Campaign, 2020
Figure 3: Boots No7 Personalised Skin Analysis, 2020
Adding the human touch with live-streaming
Making beauty shopping more fun
Making shopping safe will pay off
Cash-strapped consumers may restrict BPC spend
EUROPEAN RETAIL SALES
Key points
Retail sales
Figure 4: Major European economies: Year-on-year retail sales value growth, 2019-21
Figure 5: Major European economies: Year-on-year retail sales volume growth, 2019-21
Inflation
Figure 6: Major European economies: All items CPI, 2019-21
Figure 7: Major European economies: Food price inflation, 2019-21
LAUNCH ACTIVITY AND INNOVATIONS
France: Intermarché to sell Gémo products in stores
Germany: Tegut launches new format QUARTIER
Germany: H&M experiments with digital fitting rooms in latest innovative drive
HEADLINES FOR THE MONTH
Grocers
Clothing retailing
Footwear retailing
Multi-sector retailing
Electrical retailing
Furniture retailing
Online
Health and beauty retailing
Toys and games retailing
NEWS ANALYSIS – FOOD AND DRINK
 CO-OPS
UK: Central England Co-op sees Christmas sales grow 9.2%
 GROCERS
Austria: Spar to give out free face masks to shoppers in stores
France: Auchan to replace plastic trays from its meat and fish ranges
France: Carrefour
...and Couche-Tard discuss operational partnerships as talks of acquisition end
...Circle K owner approaches Carrefour for sale
...Carmila to close 35 shopping centres
France: Picard tests click-and-collect
Germany: Aldi Nord and Süd launch new joint brand Aldi Gaming
Germany: Kaufland
...acquires 92 Real hypermarkets
...to convert 26 Real stores by May
Italy: In's Mercato plans to open 30 new stores in 2021
Italy: Selex expects turnover for 2020 to reach €16.2 billion
Netherlands: Delhaize launches first podcast on Spotify
Spain: DIA Q4 sales up 6.9% as it focused on merchandising fresh produce in stores
Spain: Lidl invests €60 million to open 10 stores in Q4
Sweden: ICA convenience stores strongest performer in December
Switzerland: Migros sales grow 7.2% underpinned by changing shopper habits
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: Iceland expands Uber Eats deal to offer 20-minute delivery
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
Belgium: Fashion chain e5 finds new buyers
Netherlands: Arket teams up with rental company Circos
Spain: Desigual to launch website in 108 additional countries
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: 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
...extends into gardening with new acquisition
...revenue falls 15.2% due to store closures amid the pandemic
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
France: Omoda opens French website
Germany: Birkenstock in takeover talks for €4 billion
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
Belgium: Mega World finds no buyer in time
France: Cash Express turnover down 15% due to store closures for three months
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: John Lewis adds 50 new brands to its fashion and beauty offering
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
France: Dyson rolls out more hair salons in stores
France: Fnac Darty sees online sales grow 55%
Netherlands: MediaMarkt launches ‘Outlet’ to sell returned products at discounted prices
UK: Dixons Carphone sees online sales surge 121% driven by TVs, computing and gaming
 FURNITURE RETAILING
Germany: Jysk to rename all Dänisches Bettenlager stores
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
France: Online furniture specialist Vente-Unique sees turnover of €119 million
Germany: HelloFresh sets its sight on Japan
Germany: Wildberries launches in Germany
Italy: Amazon launches Fresh in Italy
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
 HEALTH AND BEAUTY RETAILING
Belgium: L'Oréal cuts 125 at Brussels HQ as it relocates to Amsterdam
Germany: Douglas to close 500 European stores as sales fall 6.4%
Netherlands: Yves Rocher closes all stores
Portugal: DIA closes Clarel chain
 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
 TOYS AND GAMES RETAILING
France: PicWicToys closes 18 stores permanently
 SHOPPING CENTRES
UK: Westfield Stratford to open COVID-19 vaccination centre
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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