What’s happening in retail & with brands – trends for week ending 13th July 2012
Company Results
- Asos have reported a 31% increase in total retail sales to £136.9m for the three months to 30 June 2012. UK retail sales increased by 8% to £48.1 for the same period.
- The Body Shop have reported a 4% increase in sales to £420.5m for the year to 31 December 2011. (Source: Verdict)
- BrightHouse have reported a 15.4% increase in sales to £227.7m for the year to 31 March 2011. Like-for-like sales increased by 9.2%, while pre-tax profit increased by 25.4% to £24.9m for the same period.
- Burberry have reported an 11% increase in total sales to £408m for the first quarter to June 30, 2012. Retail sales increased by 14% to £280m while like-for-like sales increased by 6% for the same period.
- John Lewis have reported a 15.3% increase in sales (including VAT) for the week to 07 July 2012. Fashion, Electricals & Home Technology and Home sales increased by 9.4%, 34.1% and 8.9% respectively. Sales at johnlewis.com increased by 45.0%.
- JJB Sports have reported an 8% decrease in Group like-for-like sales for the 22 weeks to 01 July 2012.
- Matalan have reported a 3.9% increase in sales to £278.6m for the 13 weeks to 26 May 2012. (Source: Retail Bulletin)
- Primark have reported a 16% increase in sales for the 40 weeks to 23 June 2012.
- Thorntons have reported a 7.8% increase in sales to £24.7m for the nine weeks to 30 June 2012. Like-for-like sales increased by 0.7% for the same period.
- M&S have reported a 0.7% decrease in Group sales for the 13 weeks to 30 June 2012. Total sales and like-for-like sales in the UK declined by 0.9% and 2.8% respectively for the same period.
- SuperGroup have reported a 31.9% increase in Group sales to £313.8m for the 52 weeks to 29 April 2012. Underlying pre-tax profit decreased by 14.7% to £42.8m for the same period.
Waitrose have reported a 6.1% increase in sales (including petrol) for the week to 07 July 2012.
Non-fashion had a mixed week with luxury and gifting witnessing higher demand, while leisure saw takings decline. As a result, although overall takings remained positive, growth was lower than recent weeks. Homewares contracted further with sales falling in most categories. Although promotions helped some stores achieve better results, underlying demand remained weak. Non-store sales were slightly muted and below average with demand across fashion weak.
Clothing, Footwear & Accessories
- It is reported that Arcadia Group have entered into a partnership with Nordstorm, the US retailer, to launch their Topshop and Topman brands in 14 Nordstrom stores across US, from 10 September 2012. (Source: Retail Week)
- Bonnie Baby have announced plans to launch their first standalone store in Hong Kong on the 23 August 2012. (Source: Retail Bulletin)
- It is reported that Cath Kidston have appointed Geert Peeters as their new Supply Chain Director replacing Brian Gaunt, effective next month. (Source: Retail Week)
- Tom Ford have announced plans to launch their first flagship store on London’s Sloane Street in 2013. (Source: Retail Bulletin)
- Debenhams have announced plans to launch their first foreign language website in Germany and to extend their international delivery services to 41 countries. (Source: Retail Week)
- It is reported that Littlewoods have signed a deal with Myleene Klass to design a lingerie and swimwear collection for their Spring Summer 2013 range. (Source: Female First)
- It has been reported that Sacha Berendji has been promoted to the role of Retail Director at M&S, effective December 2012. (Source: Drapers)
- It is reported that Sports Direct have acquired a 51% stake in fashion retailer Flannels for an undisclosed amount. (Source: Retail Week)
Electrical & Entertainment
- It is reported that BrightHouse have appointed Andy Smith as their new Marketing Director and have plans to launch an online payment system along with 35 new stores over the next 12 months. (Source: Retail Week)
Food & Drink
- Asda have announced plans to launch a fast-track graduate management program for 15 graduates to become store managers within 12 months. The program is expected to start in September 2012. (Source: Retail Week)
- It is reported that The Co-operative Food have appointed Gwynneth Smedley as their new Regional Stores Director for the North West region and promoted Derek Furnival to be their new Regional Stores Director for Central & Eastern region. (Source: Retail Bulletin)
- It is reported that Holland & Barrett have opened their first store in Shanghai, China, and have plans to open 300 stores over the next five years. (Source: Retail Week)
- It is reported that Waitrose have started a “save as you shop” program in partnership with KidStart.co.uk offering upto 1.2% moneyback while shopping groceries at Waitrose.com. The money is saved to help parents with their childrens future expenses such as university fees or setting up home. (Source: Retail Bulletin)
- It is reported that Waitrose have opened their first standalone store in Abu Dhabi. (Source: The Telegraph)
According to a survey by CloudSense, one third of companies do not have social or mobile commerce solutions in place. 32% of companies admitted to being behind the curve on social and mobile commerce with 13% having no plans to implement social or mobile commerce in the future.
Household:
- It is reported that Jersey Choice Marketing have acquired the assets of Gardening Direct from Flying Brands for £2.9m. (Source: Internet Retailing)
- It is reported that Poundstretcher have appointed Roy Ellis as their new Finance Director and Neil Burns as their Chief Operating Officer. (Source: Retail Week)
- Gladys Emmanuel, a wholly owned company of Theo Paphitis, has acquired Robert Dyas. (Source: BBC News)
- It has been reported that Steve Clark has resigned from the role of Operations Director at Waterstones and will be replaced by James Daunt as Acting Operations Director. (Source: Retail week)
Courtesy of ‘The Thinker‘
