European Retail Briefing - December 2018

ANALYST COMMENT – RATIONALISING THE BEAUTY SECTOR
Acquisitions in Southern Europe
The results are better than they look
Next stage
Seizing the opportunity
EUROPEAN RETAIL SALES
Key points
Figure 1: Major European economies: Year-on-year retail sales value growth, 2017-18
Figure 2: Major European economies: Year-on-year retail sales volume growth, 2017-18
Inflation
Figure 3: Major European economies: All items CPI, 2017-18
Figure 4: Major European economies: Food price inflation, 2017-18
LAUNCH ACTIVITY AND INNOVATIONS
France: Casino launches production of aromatic herbs under a greenhouse in-store
Netherlands: HEMA launches ‘Too Good To Go’ to tackle food waste
Germany: MediaMarktSaturn latest retailer to introduce cashierless shopping
HEADLINES FOR THE MONTH
Grocers
Clothing retailing
Mixed goods retailing
Department stores
Furniture retailing
Home shopping
Sports and leisure goods retailing
NEWS ANALYSIS – FOOD AND DRINK
 CONVENIENCE STORES
UK: Sainsbury’s trials edible insects at c-stores
 GROCERS
Belgium: Carrefour and Provera Belux form purchase alliance
France: Casino acquires stake in Lyf Pay
France: Lidl France expanding online offer in 2020
Netherlands: Ahold Delhaize presents Leading Together growth strategy
Poland: Stokrotka acquires Polish retail chain Sano
Russia: O’Key opens new DA! Stores
UK: Aldi opens eight new stores in a single day
UK: Asda
…introduces ‘inclusive hour’ trial
…sales rise for 6th straight quarter
UK: Morrisons and Tesco share concerns over Sainsbury’s-Asda merger
UK: Sainsbury’s
…introduces food bank labelling scheme for customers
…introducing wellness hubs in selected stores
…opens new-look supermarket
UK: Tesco
…and WWF to collaborate on long-running sustainable food effort
…partners up with Volkswagen to roll out electric charging bays
UK: Waitrose to roll out its supper club concept to a further 42 shops
 OFF-LICENCES
UK: Majestic Wine reports £200,000 loss in interim results
 OTHER FOOD SPECIALISTS
UK: Holland and Barrett hires former Homebase and Argos boss as new chairman
UK: Hotel Chocolat enters Japan
NEWS ANALYSIS - CLOTHING AND FOOTWEAR
Denmark: Bestseller launches new sustainability strategy
Europe: Weekday opening first stores in Iceland and Luxembourg
France: Chanel bans use of exotic skins
France: Vivarte enters negotiations for the sale of its subsidiary Chevignon
Italy: Fila to launch new fashion line
Italy: Uniqlo adding Italy to its retail portfolio
UK: AllSaints profits affected by increased store operating costs
UK: Anine Bing opening first UK store in London
UK: Arcadia
…introduces Klarna’s ‘Slice it in 3’ across all brands
…Beyoncé buys out Ivy Park to cut ties with Sir Philip Green
UK: Black Friday hits the UK
UK: Bonmarché sales affected by weaker footfall
UK: Burberry teaming up with Vivienne Westwood on first collaboration
UK: Challenging trading at Primark in November
UK: Gap launches limited edition collection with GQ
UK: Givenchy opens first standalone UK store
UK: H&M
…introduces a concept café to its Westfield White city store
…opening new concept store in Hammersmith
…ARKET opens at Birmingham’s Bullring
…scraps Cheap Monday brand
UK: Matalan opens a user experience lab at its head office
UK: Mulberry creates travelling interactive retailer experience for the festive season
UK: Next signs concession deal with Mamas & Papas
UK: Paul Smith teams up with Manchester United for accessories collection
UK: Quiz clothing reports increase in first half group revenue
UK: Reserved launches new collection in partnership with British Vogue
UK: Stance opens first store outside the US
UK: Ted Baker
…Q3 sales flat
…boss takes leave of absence
UK: TK Maxx opening first-ever Oxford Street store
UK: Joules sees strong revenue growth in first half results
UK: US Polo Assn to launch in Outfit and House of Fraser for UK debut
UK: Urban Outfitters returns to profit
UK: Vivienne Westwood and Stella McCartney withstand tough trading
NEWS ANALYSIS – MIXED GOODS 
Netherlands: Ramphastos completes acquisition of homewares retailer HEMA
UK: B&M sales boosted 16%
 MULTI-SECTOR RETAILING
UK: Mothercare group revenue falls 13.1%
 DEPARTMENT STORES
Germany: Merger between Karstadt and Kaufhof officially approved
UK: Beales acquires Palmers
UK: Fortnum & Mason
…opens new City store at the Royal Exchange
…reports 6th consecutive year of double-digit growth
UK: House of Fraser
…landmark Manchester store saved from closure
…Swindon store saved
UK: John Lewis launching click-and-collect service in Booths
NEWS ANALYSIS – HOUSEHOLD GOODS
 DIY RETAILING
UK: B&Q to sell stores for £125 million to fund transformation strategy
UK: Kingfisher to exit Russian, Spanish and Portuguese markets
UK: Topps Tiles profits dip
UK: Travis Perkins reviewing options for Wickes DIY chain
UK: Homebase enters concession deal with Tapi Carpets
 CARPET RETAILING
Europe: Emma Mattress reports record sales over Black Friday weekend
 FURNITURE RETAILING
Germany: Steinhoff appoints new CEO
Sweden: IKEA
…announces new carbon emissions target
…defends 40% fall in profits as part of its business transformation
…to cut 7,500 cuts
UK: Habitat opens Brighton flagship store
UK: ScS achieves growth in core business
NEWS ANALYSIS – ONLINE
France: Kering bringing its e-commerce in-house
Germany: Zalando
…Media Solutions renames itself to Zalando Marketing Services
…signs up 17 new premium brands
Italy: Amazon opens first pop-up store in Italy
Spain: Food delivery start-up, Glovo, ramps up global expansion
UK: AO World
…narrows losses
…takeover of Mobile Phones Direct given green light
UK: Boohoo found to have misled customers
UK: Marie Claire branches out to ecommerce
UK: Ocado considering expansion across Europe, Asia & Australia
UK: Sosandar profits rise over 400% in interim results
NEWS ANALYSIS – OTHER RETAIL
 HEALTH & BEAUTY RETAILING
UK: The Fragrance Shop launches three new pop-up shops called Sniff Bars
UK: Crabtree & Evelyn opens first concept store in London
 OPTICIANS
Netherlands: Pearle opens transparent test shop
 BOOK AND STATIONERY RETAILING
UK: Card Factory posts resilient results
UK: WH Smith enters South American market
 SPORTS AND LEISURE GOODS RETAILING
Finland: Amer Sports close to being taken over by China’s Anta
 GARDEN CENTRES
UK: Dobbies reports slump in profits and sales
UK: Wyevale offloads a further five stores
 SHOPPING CENTRES
UK: Intu buyout deal falls through
 MISCELLANEOUS SPECIALIST RETAILING
UK: Half of Evans Cycles stores to be closed despite profitability
UK: Pets at Home profits drop due to costs from vet restructuring
NEWS ANALYSIS - ECONOMY
UK: October retail sales up by 3.2%
UK: Retail sales fell by 0.5% in November