www.snap-shop.co.uk TheSummaryFour administrations namely, ForestGold t/a TravelZone, Krisp Clothing, Descamps and Half Price Jewellers were reported since our December issue. Three retailers are new to UK including Vagabond, Sainsbury‟s Fresh Kitchen and Stately Interiors and some are muttering about coming to UK– see our new retailers section. In the news…A tough month overall for HMV Group, Signet UK, Ernest Jones, Theo Fennell and N ew Look. At the same time i mpressive results from SuperGroup and Mulberry. A fantastic year continued for John Lewis when it achieved a record sales week of £121 million. Last month was hugely statistics dominated with Christmas trading updates, the VAT increase and efforts to evaluate the effect of snowfall. However, there were also some internal re-organisations and key staff changes. However, retail news included the launch of augmented reality feature to Ebay‟s fashion mobile app allowing shoppers to virtually try on sunglasses before they buy. Following a strong Christmas, jewellery giant Aurum is all set to launch a new fascia under its Goldsmiths brand as it seeks to attract a younger, more fashion-conscious customer. To cap things off, Amazon has acquired Lovefilm, rumoured to have been worth around £200m. Keeping the trend alive FSP’s retailer of the month awardgoes to “Sainsbury‟s” as it ruled the news with improved Christmas sales, increase in market share, launch of Fresh Kitchen, new investment strategies and much more…0 5 10 Nov- 09 Dec- 09 Jan- 10 Feb- 10 Mar- 10 Apr- 10 May- 10 Jun- 10 Jul- 10 Aug- 10 Sep- 10 Oct- 10 Nov- 10 Dec- 10 Birth and Death of Retailer s In Adm i nis t rati on New Re t ai l er s
Four administrations namely, ForestGold t/a TravelZone, Krisp Clothing, Descamps and Half PriceJewellers were reported since our December issue.
Three retailers are new to UK including Vagabond, Sainsbury‟s Fresh Kitchen and Stately Interiorsand some are muttering about coming to UK – see our new retailers section.
In the news…
A tough month overall for HMV Group, Signet UK, Ernest Jones, Theo Fennell and New Look. Atthe same time impressive results from SuperGroup and Mulberry. A fantastic year continued forJohn Lewis when it achieved a record sales week of £121 million.
Last month was hugely statistics dominated with Christmas trading updates, the VAT increase andefforts to evaluate the effect of snowfall. However, there were also some internal re-organisationsand key staff changes.
However, retail news included the launch of augmented reality feature to Ebay‟s fashion mobileapp allowing shoppers to virtually try on sunglasses before they buy. Following a strong Christmas,
jewellery giant Aurum is all set to launch a new fascia under its Goldsmiths brand as it seeks toattract a younger, more fashion-conscious customer.
To cap things off, Amazon has acquired Lovefilm, rumoured to have been worth around £200m.
Keeping the trend alive FSP’s retailer of the month award goes to “Sainsbury‟s” as it ruled thenews with improved Christmas sales, increase in market share, launch of Fresh Kitchen, newinvestment strategies and much more…
Wild newspaper claims that Christmas trading was the worst since records began in 1988 werebased on a misreading of the ONS Press Release. Nevertheless, the error reflects the increasingstraws in the wind that signify already difficult retail trading conditions are set to get worse. Therate of monthly sales increases has been falling since August 2010; snow disrupted trading in twoseparate weeks in December, reducing sales by an estimated 2% to 4%; the number of retailbusinesses in financial difficulties in Q4 2010 showed the first increase since the dark days of2009; tax increases, Government austerity measures and uncertainty about the implementation ofradical changes, increasing unemployment, already above 20% in the key 16 to 25 year old group,rising commodity and utility prices compounded by a 25% devaluation of sterling since 2007; a
sufficient list to indicate that the going is certainly getting tough.
How then do the tough get going? I am reminded of the two explorers who came face to face withan angry tiger. One of them immediately started to run away. “You can‟t out -run a tiger!” said theother. “No, but I can run faster than you.” In no likely economic scenario will consumers stopshopping altogether. The challenge is to ensure that they shop in your shopping centre or parkrather than with your competitors.
It is now received wisdom that physical stores can compete effectively with digital stores byoffering a satisfying and enjoyable experience to their shoppers. This requires a thoroughunderstanding of your particular shoppers and their needs and aspirations. Delivering a good
shopping experience depends on the centre providing a conducive environment and the retailerproviding the merchandise and customer service. A degree of mutual inter-dependence isrequired. This is where the tough are heading – towards using their resources to maximise theirown performance by maximising the sales of their retailers.
H&M has signed to take a 17,000 sq ft anchor store in the Kingsgate Shopping Centre inHuddersfield, West Yorkshire and has teamed up with footwear & accessories brandSwedish Hasbeens to create three styles of clogs.
House of Fraser has launched a mobile commerce site, m.houseoffraser.co.uk and has invested £10m inFrasers, its flagship Glasgow store, to create a luxury accessories & footwear emporium
Jamie's Italian mid-market restaurant chain, is to open ten new sites in 2011 in a move that is set to boostturnover to an estimated total of £70m
Jimmy Choo has launched an interactive section on its website (My Choo Stories) which allows users toshare their personal Jimmy Choo experiences
John LewisPartnership
is to invest £500m in 2011 and indicated that it will be ready to expand overseas by end of2011
LK Bennett has signed an extended 10-year lease to relocate to a new unit (2,200 sq ft) at theMetquarter in Liverpool
Lush has suspended online sales after hackers broke into its site, jeopardising customers‟financial data
Marks & Spencer and Amazon websites were taken offline on night during the key Christmas trading periodamid ongoing cyber threats by pro-Wikileaks saboteurs
Mimco is expanding its UK portfolio, it has signed up to take five stores of between 500sq ft and900sq ft in Glasgow, Chester, Leeds, Bath and Sheffield
Mitchells & Butlers is to open its first ever Premium Country Dining (PCD) gastropub in a city centre - at a site
once operated as a discount Goose venueMorrisons has entered into a conditional agreement with Asda to acquire 120,000 sq.ft. of additional
selling space through the purchase of 16 former Netto UK stores at a cost of £28.1m
New Look is looking to widen its offer by selling third-party young fashion brands on its website. Theretailer is understood to want to target brands such as womenswear labels Motel, Lipsy andVila, and men‟s brands G -Star, Gio- Goi and Levi‟s.
Not Your Daughter'sJeans (NYDJ)
has almost doubled its number of outlets in Europe over 2010.There are now 2,000 storesin Europe including House of Fraser, John Lewis, Fenwick and Selfridges
Oak Furniture Land is upping the pace of its expansion to brick-and-mortar stores with the opening of its secondshowroom in six months
Poundland will open two more stores in Scotland, one in Glasgow and one in Arbroath, as part of itscontinued expansion in the region
Shop Direct Group is to launch an online department store (Isme.com) targeting style-conscious 50 pluswomen & faced by actress Lynda Bellingham
Sony Centre has unveiled a new-look store (5,000 sq. ft) to offer consumers more opportunity to try outproducts at retail destination Tottenham Court Road
TK Maxx is close to signing a 15-year lease at Liberty Wharf for 10,000sq ft near the anchor tenant,Marks & Spencer Home
Waterstone's and HMV have created a new concept double-fascia store at Fort Kinnaird shopping park in
EdinburghWhite Stuff has opened a second store devoted to providing enhanced levels of customer service &
Abel & Cole organic food home delivery specialist is being put up for sale and Morrisons and the Co-opare expected to be at the forefront of acquisition interest
Adidas chief executive Herbert Hainer has claimed that the German sportswear giant will growfaster than US rival Nike in 2015
Amazon has acquired British film & games subscription firm Lovefilm which is rumoured to havebeen worth in the region of £200m
ASOS has announced it will launch a Facebook shop later this month, allowing its 390,000 fans tobuy its clothes without leaving the Facebook site
Blacks Leisure Group sale is drawing to a close with two parties thought to be outdoor clothing rival Go Outdoorsand LDC (Lloyds TSB Development Capital)
British Bookshops &Stationers
has collapsed into administration, becoming the first retail casualty of 2011.Simon Appell,Fraser Gray and Stuart Mackellar of Zolfo Cooper have been appointed administrators
Change Capital the private equity firm run by former Marks & Spencer boss Roger Holmes, is among thosebidding for Bathstore
Cruise has been rescued by Sir Tom Hunters by entering into a joint venture agreement with VanMildert
Daniel Footwear has acquired footwear retailer Rojo Shoes, using £700,000 in funding from BarclaysCorporate
HMV Group has drawn plans to shut 60 of its 285 stores in the next 12 months as sales have continuedto fall over the Christmas trading period and the profit warnings, but has been promisedsupport from seven of the country's top music executives despite ongoing sales slump andstore closures
J Crew has extended the period in which it can accept rival bids for the business until February 15as it settles a shareholder lawsuit over its proposed takeover
J Sainsbury PLC is to invest in its own brands after bumper Christmas
JJB Sports is expected to ask investors for a further £50m following the £31.5m promised beforeChristmas
Krisp Clothing went into administration on 14 January 2011Ladbrokes is in talks to buy online rival 888, with reports suggesting that it has offered £240 million for
the company
LandsbankiCommercial Finance
is considering selling its 35 per cent stake in the House of Fraser department store group
Marks & Spencer is considering opening banks in 55 stores, branches would be opened in partnership withHSBC
One Stop Tesco‟s convenience fascia has acquired 77 stores from Mills Group as part of its long termexpansion plans
Phase Eight could be bought by private equity firm Towerbrook Capital for almost £80mSainsbury'sSupermarkets
has more than tripled its share of the £9.9bn UK value clothing market in the last five years
SuperGroup has re-engineered prices of its Superdry young fashion brand for autumn 11, after warningthat rising cotton costs could impact gross margins next year
Tesco PLC is to trial two beauty parlours in its larger stores. Two larger Beauty Salons will open at theend of January.
Topshop is to enter into Brazil as part of an ambitious overseas expansion programme as revealedby Sir Philip Green
Urban Outfitters and US retail giant Sears are said to be considering a possible bid for American casualwearbusiness J Crew
VF Corporation has signed a deal to buy premium denim brand Rock & Republic for $57m (£36.8m), deal to
be finalised by April 2011
Internal Restructuring
Adidas has joined forces with Italian denim giant Diesel to create a limited edition trainer series
Alexander McQueen has unveiled its striking new spring 11 brand images featuring American model LindseyWixson
Arcadia Group and Topman will not pass the January VAT rise on to customers, confirms Sir Philip Green
Argos is to more closely integrate its famous big book with social media such as Facebook &Twitter as its multichannel business grows
Carpetright is downsizing 10% of its portfolio (stores sized between 12,000 sq ft and 14,000 sq ft) to getbetter returns from its selling space
Chanel signed Blake Lively (American actress) as its new face - Blake will appear in a campaign forthe Mademoiselle handbag line.
Co-op Retail has launched an advertising campaign for its food stores focusing on the importance ofcelebrating quality family time
Ebay has added an augmented reality feature to its fashion mobile app allowing shoppers tovirtually try on sunglasses before they buy
Ego Restaurants is to close its businesses in Leeds & Manchester due to worsening trading conditions ineach city
Enterprise Inns has sold 29 central London pubs to Max Property Group for £42.56m
George at Asda has stepped in at the final hour to headline sponsor Graduate Fashion Week(GFW) and save the event from extinction
Harvey Nichols sent out a viral Christmas video sending up fashionistas who use their dogs as the ultimatefashion accessory
John Lewis announced plans to launch a new in-store beauty spa concept. The first spa will open in itsReading and Cheadle department stores this summer
Marks & Spencer has unveiled a Plan A-inspired fashion capsule collection for its Indigo range and has joinedhands with O2‟s location -based marketing service, enabling it to target consumers withspecial offers
Morrisons is pledging to cancel out the effects of rise in VAT by slashing prices, with January savingstotalling £210m
Nisa is to embark on its first TV advertising campaign as it guns to build its brand profile withconsumers & sign up new retailer members
O2 is to close 40 of its 493 stores this year and instead invest in its best performing shops. 100stores will be refitted to the latest format including live handset displays, gaming loungesand the O2 Guru Bar
Peacocks has partnered with Daisy Lowe to launch a range of retro-inspired swimwear designed bythe model
Sarah Coggles has received a multi-million pound investment from Manchester Square Enterprises, asubsidiary of Pentland Group
Starbucks unveiled a new logo which no longer has the words "Starbucks" and "coffee", leaving justthe firm's white on green image of a twin-tailed siren
Superdrug is to absorb the January 4 VAT increase on all its own brand beauty, toiletries andhousehold products (nearly 2,000 products)
Tesco Direct has launched a Brand Boutique on its clothing website to house the independent labels anddesigners it stocks. Also it recently teamed up with blackcircles.com to move into car tyretrade.
Tesco plc fired back at ASDA's price back guarantee by saying that its is "confusing and misleading"because it excludes around half of Tesco's range, and relies on a complicated process forcustomers to get their money back
Triumph has launched a premium collection called Triumph Essence, fronted by supermodel HelenaChristensen
Zara has created a kidswear collection for its Zara Home Kid range in collaboration with Libertyprint fabrics - collection is available at zarahome.com
General
ALDO will make its first move into the French market this year
Alexandalexa has received an investment of £1.5m to drive international expansion
All Saints boss Kevin Stanford has been forced by a court in Iceland to repay a £1.3m personalguarantee he gave to secure finance for his investment portfolio
Arcadia Group owner Sir Philip Green, scooped the International Retailer of the Year Award in New Yorkthis week at the National Retail Federation conference
Asics opens a flagship store in Amsterdam as it warms up for an aggressive European expansionnext year alongside its sister clothing brand, Onitsuka Tiger
BCSC Awards Land Securities' and Capital Shopping Centres' St David's in Cardiff won the supreme goldaward at this year's BCSC awards
Boxfresh has increased prices and repositioned to be more premium for autumn 11
City Analyst has forecast that the on-trade market (pubs, restaurants and cafes) lost in the region of£500 to £750m in sales as a result of severe weather in December
Counterfeit Items are becoming more difficult to spot and London is awash with expensive fakes. Fake goodscost on average 31% of the price of the genuine article in the capital
Dixons Retail Shoppers have flocked to Black, in its first week of trading, its parent has claimed
Emu Australia has launched a counterclaim against Deckers, a month after the owner of popular footwearbrand Ugg kicked off legal proceedings to prevent Emu from using its trademarks
FGH (Otto UK) Group- home shopping retailer has merged its online fashion retailer Oli into its Freemansbusiness
Gap has become the latest retailer to sign a lease at the extended St David's shopping centre inCardiff, taking 9,200sq ft
Gordon RamsayRestaurants
and Jamie Oliver - who are fronting up Channel 4's season of programmes campaigningagainst overfishing - have been caught serving endangered eels in their restaurants
Hermes won against LVMH, after LVMH increased its share in Hermes to more than 20%
High street shopping in the UK has entered a steep decline, with national average vacancy rates set to surpass15 per cent as retailers and their customers are lured away by the attractions of out-of-townretail parks and online shopping
Hobbs has secured £14m of new investment from its private equity backer 3i, and brought inturnaround specialist Iain MacRitchie to replace Tony Campbell as chairman
Joules grew its UK store portfolio by a third last year & is in talks with Deloitte to find ways to raisemoney to expand its 40 stores, seven UK franchises & six overseas franchises
Mango has outlined fresh expansion plans in China, Eastern Europe and Russia as it continues toconsolidate its global presence
Maplin asked potential buyers to submit informal offers
Marks & Spencer took a step forward with international expansion, when its first store in Egypt and third inChina were scheduled to open
Retailers are to be banned from selling alcohol below a minimum price for the first time, asGovernment aim is to prevent binge drinking
Retailers including Tesco and Sainsbury‟s have signed up to a service designed to help them holdmore accurate product information and take better advantage of multichannel and mobilecommerce
Royal Bank ofScotland is to take control of the 306,000sq ft Friars Square shopping centre in Aylesbury,Buckinghamshire
Sixty UK Italian parent company has been ordered to pay almost £600,000 in unpaid rent to theowner of the Met Quarter in Liverpool
Ted Baker and Lush founders were recognised in the New Year Honours List. Ray Kelvin wasawarded a CBE and Mark and Margaret Constantine received OBEs
Waitrose has been awarded a second Royal Warrant for supplying Prince Charles with food anddrink. Waitrose already has a Warrant as a supplier to the Queen
Weldrick's Pharmacy won the „Best Large Multiple Pharmacy‟ award at the 2010 Alliance Healthcare PharmacyAwards
AXA REIM Foss Islands retail park (159,000sq ft ) in York is being put up for sale by Axa Real EstateInvestment Managers with a price tag of around £26m
Capital ShoppingCentres
A US property giant (Simon Property Group) dropped its £3 billion pursuit of Britain'sbiggest shopping centre owner after failing to gain access to its books
Henderson GlobalInvestors
has confirmed its acquisition of two Thornfield entities comprising the 600,000 sq ft SilverHill scheme in Win chester, from the developer‟s administrator Deloitte
Hermes PropertyAsset Management
has unexpectedly cancelled the sale of its sale of a 7.5% stake in the Bluewater shoppingcentre in Kent
INVESCO Real Estate has completed its first purchase for its third UK fund. It has bought a 104,026 sq ft retailproperty in Bromley, south-east London for £17.05m
Land Securities Primark & New Look are in talks to take units at Land Securities' Trinity Leeds shoppingcentre development. Marks & Spencer, H&M, Next, Bhs and River Island are among thetenants to have signed up
Legal & GeneralProperty
has confirmed its acquisition of Fremlin Walk shopping centre in Maidstone, Kent, for £92m
Meyer Bergman has appointed Wilson McHardy as the retail leasing agent for the Burlington Arcade, inLondon's Mayfair
Sainsbury'sSupermarkets
has acquired 134-138 North Street, Brighton from UK Commercial Property Holdings, thefund managed by Ignis Real Estate
St Enoch, Glasgow shopping centre recorded a 20% year-on-year rise in footfall during Christmas week asshoppers avoided the cold weather and chose to do their shopping under cover
WestfieldShoppingtownsLimited
has been refused planning permission for the expansion of the Friary shopping centre inGuildford. Westfield proposed to extend the retail space by around 6,400sq ft
Woolworths Group 30% of Woolworths stores are vacant, compared with 40% in July and 60% the year beforethat
The value of retail sales in December at current prices not seasonally adjusted increased 3.0% YoY withthe 3 month moving average also at 3%. Value of sales through food stores in December increase by 2.2%YoY, while the value of sales through non-food stores was up 2.2% YoY. Once again, non-store retailingmade the biggest gains with a 17.4 % increase in value of sales. Household Goods have again fared worst,down 10.1 % YOY in December.
*Please note that ONS made several changes to its Retail Sales reporting in January 2010. For more information, seehttp://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/rs0210.pdfPlease see the Retail & Economic Statistics page on SnapShop for more historical detail
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%UK Retail Sales Growth - All Retail (Not Seasonally
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Volu me Valu e I nf la tio n 3 mo nt h mo ving a ver age
Based on ONS experimental Internet sales series, the non-seasonally adjusted average weekly value ofInternet retail sales in December 2010 was £770 million, which was approximately 10.6 per cent of total retailsales (excluding automotive fuel). BRC has recorded a 18.0% change YoY
*ONS are trialling an experimental measure of Internet retail sales. For more details seehttp://www.statistics.gov.uk/articles/nojournal/Internet_information_paper_February_2010.pdf.
BRC Retail Sales
UK retail sales values were down 0.3% on a like-for-like basis from December 2009, when sales had risen4.2%. On a total basis, sales were up 1.5% against a 6.0% increase in December 2009
Please see the Retail & Economic Statistics page on SnapShop for more historical detail
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Synovate‟s Retail Traffic Index for December was down 7.0% YOY and up 24.9% against November.Experian FootFall reported a MoM increase of 19% but a YoY decrease of 3.1%.According to Synovate, lastweek of the year was busiest week of 2010 - 9% above Christmas (second busiest of the year). For 2010 asa whole, UK non-food store market recorded decline of 3.6%.
Interest Rates
The Bank of Engla nd‟s Monetary Policy Committee voted to maintain the official Bank Rate paid oncommercial bank reserves at 0.5%. This rate has been maintained since March 2009.
Please see the Retail & Economic Statistics page on SnapShop for more historical detail
Inflation In the year to December, the all items RPI rose by 4.8 per cent, up from 4.7 per cent inNovember. CPI annual inflation stands at 3.7 per cent, up from 3.3 per cent in November withair transport and rising petrol, diesel, gas and food prices being the most significant drivers
House Prices
According to the Nationwide index, the price of a typical house increased by 0.4% MoM inDecember which is similar to YoY change. The average price of a typical UK property inNovember was £162,763.
NB: YoY figures refer to left hand scale, MoM statistics refer to right hand scale. September YoY was flat.
Please see the Retail & Economic Statistics page on SnapShop for more historical detail
At the time of publishing, the most recently available data were for November. The volume of retailsales (i.e. excluding price effects) increased by 0.9% in November 2010 when compared withNovember 2009 and there was a monthly increase of 0.2%.The value of retail sales decreased by2.1% in November 2010 when compared with November 2009 and there was a month-on-monthchange of -0.1%.
Please see the Retail & Economic Statistics page on SnapShop for more historical detail
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%Irish Retail Sales Growth - All Retail (Not Seasonally Adjusted)
John Lewis staff teach police politenessFollowing a survey which revealed that some police officers answer mobiles while talking to people or hadinapt ringtones, officers are being sent to a John Lewis department store - to learn how to be polite to thepublic.
Superintendent Nadeem Butt from Greater Manchester Police came up with the idea to ask the store for helpbecause their staff are so polite. He said: "The main thing is that John Lewis treats customer service as a skill.You could be the best salesperson in the country but you still have to have regular training."
Officers from Supt Butt's force will receive their politeness training from the John Lewis store in Cheadle,Greater Manchester. They will be trained to be more professional and considerate when dealing with victims ofcrime and witnesses. They are being taught to spend more time listening to people, to keep victims updatedon the progress of inquiries.
www.fspretail.co.uk25/01/11
FSP has gone to its best efforts to ensure this data is correct but the author reserves the right not to be responsible for the accuracy of information provided.
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