What: Central launches a new business format to address B2C.

Why it is important: In parallel to its digital ventures, aiming at the same goals, Central does not lose sight on the fundamentals of business: being physically present where it is needed.

Thailand's Central Retail Corporation (CRC) is launching a membership-based wholesale venture, 'Go Wholesale', investing US$570 million over five years to develop 43 locations. The initiative, targeting sustainable growth for small businesses, will debut a 7,000sqm branch on Srinakarin Road, featuring over 20,000 products, mainly fresh foods from local and global sources. CRC emphasizes sustainability by supporting local farmers and providing jobs for marginalized groups. Last year, CRC had revenues of $6.7 billion, with a recent 5.6% quarterly revenue increase to $1.6 billion.

Central Retail Corp unveils expansion plan for Go Wholesale

What: Stockmann's Temepere department store has updated its lighting, replacing obsolete halogen lamps with 3D-printed LED spotlights manufactured from recycled material.

Why it is important: The adoption of 3D-printed LED spotlights made from recycled materials is important to boost a circular economy and minimise carbon footprint.

Stockmann's Tampere department store has recently replaced its old halogen lamps with 3D-printed LED spotlights made from recycled materials. This lighting renewal is expected to result in major savings in electricity consumption, reducing energy consumption by 668,000 kWh per year. The 3D-printed LED lights have a 75% lower carbon footprint compared to traditional metal lights and are made from 100% recycled materials such as old fishing nets and CDs. The department store aims to promote the circular economy by extending the life cycle of products and offering services like personalized fashion and repair for new and used clothes.

Stockmann’s Tampere sees major savings in electricity 

What: The British department store is launching its own beauty brand, LBTY, which will debut a line of 5 high-end fragrances. Each perfume is inspired by a different print from the fabric prints the company is so well-known for. The 100ml scents will debut in October in Liberty’s London flagship and website, priced at GBP 225, or just over USD 285.

Why it is important: Fragrance is only the beginning of the company’s beauty ambitions as there are plans to build out a full beauty offering spanning skincare and makeup. They consider the brand as global and able to live outside of the department store model.

Building out a beauty offering is part of a broader strategy at Liberty as it finds new avenues of growth. The company has had success branching out into new categories like bags and swimwear, leveraging its signature prints. Beauty is more challenging venture but it is Liberty’s most significant category, accounting for just under 40% of total retail sales annually.

Liberty bets on building its own beauty brand

What: Falabella has announced the resignation of its general manager, Gaston, Bottazzini, effective January 1, 2024.

Why it is important: The company is experiencing significant changes in its organisational structure after the appointment of the president, Enrique Ostalé who is the first president that is not part of one of the founding families of the business.

Bottazzini joined Falabella in 2008 as the general manager of Falabella Financiero and held the position for 10 years before taking over the general management of Falabella.

Regarding Falabella's financial performance, the company has incurred losses in the first semester of the current fiscal year. Its gross profit has decreased by 16.9%, resulting in a net loss of CLP 5,153 million.

Falabella loses its general manager, Gaston Bottazzini

What: Frasers Group aims to redefine the traditional department store format and attract high-profile brands, as the sector faces challenges and store closures.

Why it is important: The new Frasers department store concept is important as it aims to redefine and elevate the department store experience, attracting younger shoppers and showcasing high-profile brands, amidst a changing landscape in the sector.

Frasers Group has launched its premium department store concept, Frasers, in Norwich, as part of its strategy to redefine and revitalize the department store format. The flagship store spans 100,000 sq ft across three floors, with two floors dedicated to Sports Direct, USC, Evans Cycles, Game, and Belong. The ground floor houses the Frasers concept, featuring a beauty hall, menswear, womenswear, accessories, and Frasers Home. Each department has its own unique identity defined by color palettes, flooring, and branding. The aim is to attract younger, trendier shoppers by offering an elevated shopping experience and featuring high-profile brands.

The store incorporates marketing activations, with the ability to change stands regularly based on marketing initiatives and seasonal observations.

The company has been actively reimagining the department store format as the sector undergoes significant changes, including the collapse of Debenhams and store closures from other players. The new Frasers concept combines the group's premium portfolio under one roof and aims to rewrite the rulebook for department stores.

Frasers: Can the ‘next generation’ format fix the ‘broken’ department store model?

What: The Handbag Clinic has opened a space in Harrods in London to offer repair and restoration for both bags and shoes, as well as buying and selling handbags.

Why it is important: The collaboration aligns with Harrods' sustainability plan, aiming to promote conscious buying and aftercare to extend the lifespan of luxury items.

The concession is located on the 5th floor within the Shoe Heaven space and repair prices start at around GBP 20.

Handbag Clinic opens in Harrods for resale and repair 

What: House of Fraser’s owner contemplates closing additional stores due to the supposed failure of the traditional department store model.

Why it is important: Under Mike Ashley's ownership since 2018, House of Fraser, acknowledging changing retail dynamics, has significantly reshaped its strategy. Over the past year until April 30, it closed eight branches, halving its store count to 31 in the UK. Closures include the Solihull and Guildford stores by August and September respectively.

Strategic changes yielded robust financial outcomes. Adjusted pre-tax profit doubled to GBP 478.1 million from the previous year's GBP 339.8 million. Foreseeing growth, Mike Ashley predicts a 5% rise, targeting GBP 500 million to GBP 550 million this fiscal year.

Reflecting industry trends, department stores faced decline, prompting House of Fraser's adaptation. Eight closures occurred, and a comprehensive review of the portfolio is underway. Transitioning from 59 to 31 stores since Frasers Group's August 2018 acquisition indicates the magnitude of change.

CEO Michael Murray envisions a nimbler retail footprint, favoring stores around 50,000 square feet, a departure from the classic 150,000 square feet format. Despite changes, House of Fraser remains positive. Aiming for GBP 550 million underlying profit next year, strategic acquisitions drive their growth strategy.

Retail insight Network

Retail Gazette

What: Westfield UK shopping centres have seen a continued growth in store upsizes according to Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW).

Why it is important: The rising trend of upsizing stores has created a strong half-year in retail leasing for the company.

Westfield London and Westfield Stratford City saw increased demand from retailers that wanted to increase their stores’ sizes such as Whistles; Rituals, Bucherer, Zara, and EE Studio.

URW also reported sportswear signings and store openings surged by brands including New Balance, Origin Kicks, and Lids.

Westfield boosted by raft of retailers upsizing stores 

What: Steve Madden is opening a new location on Oxford Street in London.

Why it is important: The brand is opening a second location in London.

The new location will feature a curated selection of women's and men’s footwear alongside Steve Madden handbags, including a full range of Steve Madden best-selling footwear.

The store is set to open in late August with a grand opening event on September 7th and will expedite the growth of the Steve Madden brand worldwide.

Steve Madden to open second flagship store in London

What: The Women’s World Cup offers marketing opportunities for Nike and Adidas thanks to record-breaking interest.

Why it is important: The 2023 Women’s World Cup is the most high-profile rendition of the event to date.

The Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand is seeing unprecedented investment and viewership which is creating opportunities for brands to reach a wider audience. A record 1.5 million tickets have been sold for the tournament so far, up from 1 million sold in 2019.

Nike and Adidas are the main competitors in the marketing and sponsorship of the event. Nike has collaborated with Wales Bonner to design the match kits and casualwear for the Reggae Girlz, the Jamaican national team. Although Adidas is behind Nike in terms of individual team sponsorship- 10 teams sponsored to Nike’s 13, they are a key sponsor of FIFA and provide the match balls and referee outfits.

Both companies stand to gain significant marketing and sales boost if one of their partner teams wins the tournament in the final match on August 20th.

Seizing fashion’s World Cup opportunity 

What: Kohl’s reported its Q2 earnings and is implementing more of Sephora's merchandise in its stores.

Why it is important: Sephora has given Kohl’s the ability to grow and attract more customers.

Kohl’s reported a decrease of 4.8% in sales to USD 3.7 billion and a drop in net income to USD 58 million from USD 143 million compared to 2022. Due to Sephora’s success in attracting new young customers and yielding a 20% increase in beauty and fragrance sales, Kohl’s tested with 5 stores to carry Sephora merchandise. Forty-five additional stores will also follow this format in smaller 750-square-foot Kohl’s locations.

The company projects a sales increase of 2 to 4% and a rise in earnings per diluted shares from USD 2.10 to USD 2.70.

Kohl’s reports; Sephora is a big driver 

What: Retailers are rethinking the structure of private brands- from halting operations to revamping the current lines.

Why it is important: Private-label brands are built around customer needs, yet with declining brand loyalty and increased openness to private-label products in the US, huge retailers are finding it difficult to turn profit.

Amazon has closed most of its private brands, and Macy’s, which revamped their private label portfolio with the launching of four new brands, has seen a decline of 20% in sales to 16%. Footlocker, however, has seen success in their private brand with an increase to 11% in apparel sales.

Revolve currently operates 31 private brands which were once not differentiated enough and undercutting each other, but the company has optimised the assortment and the share of private label sales has grown.

The company was able to grow its brand portfolio steadily through its early acquisitions and treat each line as its “own unique, living and breathing thing” since they have elevated prices and aren’t only competing on costs.

Oliver Chen, a senior analyst at Cowen, dictates that the best strategy for retailers is for the brands to be of reasonable price and better quality than third-party suppliers along with a clear reason for existing, as brand awareness and a sense of legitimacy is a big challenge in private label.

Do shoppers still want retailers’ private brands?

What: For years, Hudson's Bay has been in and out of talks to buy the Neiman Marcus Group, and it's been happening again this summer. Neiman Marcus and Saks could be much stronger if they were together: the question is whether now is the right time for a merger.

Why it is important: Putting the 2 companies together could allow more efficiency, data sharing, a common customer base and more power over brands.

Business at both Saks and Neiman Marcus has been depressed this year as consumers are becoming more selective in their purchasing, shifting discretionary dollars to travel, dining and experiences. Both retailers have been cutting costs, undergone a series of layoffs in the past year, dug deeper into customer data to enhance personalization and battled each other over grabbing exclusives from designers.

Hudson’s Bay said eyeing Neiman Marcus yet again

What: John Lewis receives backlash from local residents in their plan to develop 10,000 homes.

Why it is important: A campaign group, Stop The Towers, expressed their opposition to the John Lewis’ proposed plans to build 20-storey buildings in an area that permits a maximum of 13 storeys.

John Lewis plans to develop and rent 10,000 homes in the next 10 years but was heavily criticised by locals due to the alleged misleading of their intentions.

The Stop The Towers group disapproved of the company’s plan to demolish a local Waitrose supermarket that is less than 18 years old, the submitting of the planning application during the summer holiday period and dedicating 20% of the new builds to affordable housing rather than the ambitious 35% if Greater London Authority Grants are not available.

John Lewis cited that the average proportion of affordable housing in new home developments was 11.4% in England in 2022.

John Lewis faces local opposition over rental homes plan

What: Ikea announced it is delaying the opening of its new flagship on Oxford Circus due to refurbishments.

Why it is important: The company says that Oxford Street needs to support its retailers in any way possible to remain an iconic destination.

The Ikea opening has been delayed from this autumn to next year.

The UK housing secretary, Michael Gove’s former decision to block the development of Marks & Spencer’s Marble Arch flagship on Oxford Street unnerved other retailers as the store was meant to help revive the area. Ikea was one of the supporters of the project.

Ikea’s debut in ex-Topshop flagship delayed 

What: The “buy Japan” moment is tarnished with a very rare strike movement, highly unusual in Japan

Why it is important: Even in the most traditional companies in the most traditional countries, employees are not afraid anymore to break rules and conventions to save their jobs or express angst.

Department store staff at Tokyo's Seibu are going on strike for the first time in over 60 years, protesting against the planned sale of the company to US investment group Fortress. The strike will involve around 900 workers and will shut down the Seibu Sogo flagship store for a day. Strikes have become increasingly rare in Japan over the years, with only 33 recorded in 2022. The decline in strikes despite challenging working conditions and stagnant wages indicates a reluctance among Japanese workers to take collective action. The Seibu strike highlights the growing concern about the direction Japan's labour market is taking and the impact of foreign investment on traditional Japanese industries.

France knows very well as its image was tarnished too before the summer, without consequences on tourism however.

Is the highly unusual strike at Seibu going to tarnish Japan’s image of retail excellence?

What: Luxury has grown exponentially these last years, and the trajectory should not change in vast proportions, even though some structural changes are on the way.

Why it is important: According to Bernstein, Luxury might not remain a loss leader for masses in department stores if it starts addressing only the super rich now that middle-class might lose the means to episodically buy such products.

After a surge in luxury goods consumption post-COVID-19, consumers are predicted to moderate their spending, returning the luxury sector to its cyclical pattern, according to a report by Bernstein. Despite this, the luxury industry's prospects remain positive, driven by both elite and entry-level customers.

The report highlights that the top 5% of clients contribute over 40% of sales for most luxury brands, while mega brands have expanded into lower-price categories, granting access to a wider customer base.

Luxury's major players are expected to continue penetrating the middle class through category segregation and retail amenities that maintain perceived exclusivity. The normalization of the luxury sector is suggested to follow the American market's example, with post-pandemic euphoria waning after a resurgence and Chinese consumers picking up growth.

Is the luxury party over? 

What: Seibu flagship staff in Tokyo goes on strike in protest against the sale to US investment fund.

Why it is important: This move is unusual in Japan and shows at the same time how the social climate has evolved and to what extent retail in Japan is changing

Staff at Tokyo's Seibu department store are set to go on strike for the first time since the 1950s. The strike, involving around 900 workers, is in protest against the planned sale of the Sogo & Seibu chain, which owns the department store, to US investment fund Fortress for an estimated $1.5 billion. The workers fear the sale could result in job losses as the Ikebukuro store is set to be combined with electronics retailer Yodobashi Camera. Department store workers in Japan rarely go on strike, but the labour shortage and changing dynamics in the country's labour market may lead to increased labour actions in the future.

Seibu workers to go on strike for the first time since 1950s

What: Macy’s Inc reports slow consumer demand and poor financial results in Q2 but is hopeful for higher sales during the holiday season and next year.

Why it is important: Macy’s is giving insight into their outlook for the year post unideal Q2 results and how they plan to adapt to changing consumer demands as well as the economic environment.

The company reports a Q2 8% sales drop to USD 5.13 billion from USD 5.6 billion in Q2 2022, as well as a net loss of USD 22 million, compared to USD 275 million profit last year. After the release of quarterly results, Macy’s stock price fell 14%; the projected net sales for the year are still below the pre-pandemic sales figures.

Jeff Gennette, CEO and Chairman of Macy’s Inc., anticipates that the drivers of sales for the holidays will be gift offerings in beauty, merchandising revolving around the 100th anniversary of Disney, Toys “R” US in-store shops, and the Macy’s private brand, On 34th.

As customers have decreased their discretionary spending, Macy’s remains cautious especially due to the clearance of excess spring inventory.

Macy’s also announced the opening of four new small-format stores which signals an optimistic light on the company’s strategy to improve the customer experience and stay relevant as a modern department store. The small format stores ranging from 30,000 to 50,000 square feet, will be opening in Highland Grove centre in Highland, Indiana, South Bay in Boston, Arroyo Market Square in Las Vegas, and Santee Trolly Square in San Diego.

Macy’s Inc. posts Q2 declines, stays cautious on consumers 

What: John Lewis opened its online Christmas shop as online searches for Christmas offers has exponentially increased.

Why it is improtant: The company states that 30% of customers have finished their holiday shopping by the end of October and 72% researched their peak purchases online before buying.

The theme of the shop this year is nostaligia and the enchantment of Christmas which the design team has implemented in the products such as vintage prints. Last year, the company opened its Christmas shop 10 days earlier than planned due to high holiday-related searches which was over four times of those in the previous year.

John Lewis unveils online Christmas shop

What: Drapers delves into the challenges that luxury department stores face and how the businesses can evolve following the departure of the Harvey Nichols CEO, Manju Malhorta.

Why it is important: Top department stores are tackling how to stay relevant despite growing profits and operating losses.

Harvey Nichols has yet to return to profit since the pandemic hit with its latest results reporting an operating loss of GBP 3.7 million in the 2021-22 fiscal year, an improvement from the GBP 17.7 million in the previous year. Harrods has more than doubled its operating profits in the year to January 28 2023, up from GBP 71.4 million- it still has not surpassed its pre-pandemic figure of GBP 237.1 million.

A director of a brand stocked at Harvey Nichols believes that store activations are important for department stores to garner traffic and customers. Examples of this would be Harrods introducing the Prada café or the Dior Christmas takeover.

Another director says that young customers and newer brands are essential for department stores to stay relevant. “Department stores need to understand who their core consumers are and focus 80% on that but it’s also important to play around the edges with the other 20% on attracting the younger innovative customers [with newer brands].”

Loyalty programmes are also useful for gaining sales, as it creates a more personal experience for shoppers. Harrods has launched a scheme like this with its invitation-only members’ club in Shanghai, and Selfridges has done the sale with its Selfridges Unlocked feature that gives exclusive offers to members.

How to reinvent the luxury department store 

What: Rolex SA is buying Bucherer AG in a deal that will give Rolex a presence in consumer sales.

Why it is important: The purchase of Bucherer will allow Rolex to start selling its watches in its own stores as the only store owned and operated by Rolex is in Geneva.

Bucherer will continue to operate independently, keep its name, and sell other watches. The deal between companies was done in part based on its long-term relationship. This acquisition is the second major shift in retail strategy for Rolex after it launched its authentication certificate program in December for used watches at authorized dealers.

Rolex to buy Bucherer in major retail move for Swiss giant

What: John Lewis is not finished with its necessary upgrade which will allow to reconnect with profits. Apart from side projects (housing) it is also taking significant, down-to-earth steps, such as introducing BNPL as a payment option.

Why it is important: One may wonder if such an introduction does not come too late as the big wave is behind us and both customers and governments are already starting to question the consequences brought by the BNPL options.

The John Lewis Partnership is considering implementing a buy-now-pay-later system, inspired by Klarna, to cater to younger consumers' expectations. This move aligns with the rising popularity of such payment methods, particularly among young women.

The retailer's ongoing recovery plan, aimed at cost reduction, improved customer service, and diversification into sectors like private rented housing, was discussed by CEO Nish Kankiwala.

The plan, focused on customer-centricity, cost efficiency, and enhanced technology, seeks to achieve £200 million in profit within two years and £400 million by 2025. A previous loss of £234 million, driven by inflation, was reported in March.

John Lewis introduces Buy Now Pay Later schemes

What: K11 newest stores enjoy high traffic and sales.

Why it is important: They aim at resetting retail by offering a different experience including community and culture. No information is given on profit however.

K11 Musea and K11 Art Mall are experiencing their highest footfalls and sales since their launch, with a 120% increase in sales at K11 Musea from pre-pandemic levels. The "cultural commerce" model has attracted high-end consumers, leading to a 260% increase in sales among luxury brands compared to before the pandemic. Around 30% of tenants have achieved record-breaking sales results. The model's success is driving demand for shop space among premium businesses, maintaining K11 Musea's occupancy rate at 98%. The malls are expanding their tenant mix and adding international brands like Maison Kitsune and Maison Margiela Fragrances to their lineup. K11 Art Mall is introducing retro fashion boutiques to attract new customers.

K11 Art Mall and K11 Musea report their highest footfall and revenue