UK Retail Briefing - December 2018

ANALYST COMMENT – WHERE NEXT FOR DIY?
Specialists struggling
But not all are doing badly
Non-food discounters
But what about the high street?
And the economy is not helping
Where next?
UK RETAIL SALES
 KEY POINTS
Retail sales
Figure 1: Retail sales trends, 2017/18
Figure 2: UK retail sales y/y growth, BRC vs ONS, July 2016- November 2018
John Lewis
Figure 3: John Lewis Department Stores: Year-on-Year Growth, Aug 2017-Nov 2018
Inflation
Figure 4: Annual percentage change in the consumer price index for selected product groups, 2016-17
Inflation and wages
Figure 5: Real wages growth: Wages growth vs inflation, Jan 2015-Oct 2018
Confidence
Figure 6: Mintel Financial confidence tracker, January 2016-November 2018
 LOOKING FORWARD
SECTOR FOCUS – FOOD RETAILING 
Summer boosted sales
Figure 7: Annual non-seasonally adjusted percentage change in the value sales of food retailers at current prices, Nov 2017 – OCT 2018
Food inflation slows down
Figure 8: Annual percentage change in the price of food and non-alcoholic beverages, Nov 2017 – Oct 2018
Volume growth change
Figure 9: Annual non-seasonally adjusted percentage change in the chained volume of goods sold in food stores, Nov 2017 – Oct 2018
Online growth is slowing
Figure 10: Internet food sales: value non-seasonally adjusted percentage change YoY, Nov 2017 – Oct 2018
Online food as a % of all food retailing
Figure 11: Internet food sales: value non-seasonally adjusted internet sales as a proportion of all food retailing Nov 2017 – Oct 2018
The war on plastic
Figure 12: Attitudes towards plastics and packaging at grocery retailers, August 2018
Tesco opens discount chain Jack’s
Prospects for Christmas
LAUNCH ACTIVITY AND INNOVATIONS
UK: Sainsbury’s trials edible insects at c-stores
UK: Waitrose to roll out its supper club concept to a further 42 shops
UK: Burberry teaming up with Vivienne Westwood on first collaboration
UK: Homebase enters concession deal with Tapi Carpets
UK: The Fragrance Shop launches three new pop-up shops called Sniff Bars
HEADLINES FOR THE MONTH
Convenience stores
Grocers
Clothing retailing
Department stores
DIY retailing
Furniture retailing
Home shopping
Book and stationery retailing
NEWS ANALYSIS – FOOD AND DRINK
 CONVENIENCE STORES
UK: McColl like-for-like sales flat in its fourth quarter
 GROCERS
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: The Food Warehouse incorporates first Wine Warehouse department in-store
 OFF-LICENCES
UK: Majestic Wine reports £200,000 loss in interim results
 OTHER FOOD SPECIALISTS
UK: Holland and Barrett hire former Homebase and Argos boss as new chairman
UK: Hotel Chocolat enters Japan
NEWS ANALYSIS – CLOTHING AND FOOTWEAR
UK: All Saints 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: Blue Inc’s future uncertain as it searches for new buyers
UK: Bonmarché sales affected by weaker footfall
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: High street fashion retailers defend practices in parliament
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: North Face names new EMEA boss
UK: Paul Smith teams up with Manchester United for accessories collection
UK: Peacocks ditches plastic bags
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: Victoria’s Secret CEO Jan Singer steps down
UK: Vivienne Westwood and Stella McCartney withstand tough trading
 FOOTWEAR RETAILING
UK: Clarks’ heads of sales exit the retailer
NEWS ANALYSIS – MIXED GOODS 
UK: B&M sales boosted 16%
UK: Poundland names new trading & finance directors
 MULTI-SECTOR RETAILING
UK: Mothercare group revenue falls 13.1%
 DEPARTMENT STORES
UK: Beales acquires Palmers
UK: Debenhams appoints former Costa Coffee exec as new property director
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
…to close down all 4 Intu stores
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
 FURNITURE RETAILING
UK: Habitat opens Brighton flagship store
UK: ScS achieves growth in core business
NEWS ANALYSIS – ONLINE
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: Crabtree & Evelyn opens first concept store in London
 BOOK AND STATIONERY RETAILING
UK: Card Factory posts resilient results
UK: WH Smith enters South American market
 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
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