It may be nuclear winter on the UK high street but some chains are still frolicking in the sunlit uplands. Ted Baker said today that revenue rose 11.3% (yes, you read that right) in the 19 weeks to June 11 with retail sales up 12.7% (or 10.3% when currency exchange volatility is factored-out). Wow.
So you thought ankle boots would be on their way out by now? No chance. the ankle boots, like skinny jeans and biker jackets, is a key item that just keeps on giving. And given that many of us now have a wardrobe built around items that will work with ankle boots, that’s not such…
Now hang on just a minute. Only last week I published a report about UK retail that said May was a tough month but consumers were buying ‘big ticket’ items (you know, sofas, beds, washing machines etc). But they weren’t buying discretionary stuff like fashion. Then a report this morning seemed to confirm the tough…
We’ve heard some very downbeat assessments of May’s retail performance in the UK recently so what does the latest report bring? Well, the news is a bit better. According to specialist footfall tracker Springboard, overall footfall managed a 0.3% rise last month.
We hear a lot about Millennials on a daily basis, what they do, what they wear, what they eat, and how they do everything. So what’s the latest nugget? Well, it’s about the bras they buy. Yes, researcher NPD informed us this week that the bra of choice for Millennials is… wait for it ……
BDO’s monthly high street tracker is always an interesting read for anyone watching UK retail but this month it’s even more interesting because it’s bleak – very bleak. In a country with a strong economy, BDO has recorded yet another year-on-year drop in sales and is talking about a “financial winter” for stores.
Lacoste, then Hermès and now… Uniqlo. Maybe a few years ago that wouldn’t have been a great career path but Uniqlo has much-deserved ambitions to become the global number one and Christophe Lemaire is one of the best of a clutch designers who really know how to combine fashion with the ultra casual and commercial.
The Marc Jacobs resort/pre-summer collection hit town yesterday and was certainly an interesting one. While there was an element of the unappealing in there, it was also stuffed full of ultra-commercial pieces that should spark a few trends.
Amazon is gong to spend even more money on growing its business in India, the company’s CEO Jeff Bezos has announced. That’s no surprise given that India is its fastest growth market.
Online sales growth used to be huge with 20% or 30%-plus figures appearing regularly. But while it’s understandably slowed down as the sector has got bigger, that doesn’t stop some pretty spectacular headlines still appearing. And this one really made me sit up: Surveyed shoppers made 51% of their purchases on the web.
TRENDWALK.net 