What: The city’s landlords have begun discussing rent increases with tenants in advance of upcoming lease renewals as its retail sector emerge from two years of social unrest and the pandemic.

Why is it important: New or renewed agreements could be frozen for a year before increasing 5 to 10% in second and third years as the economy is further boosted by the return of tourists.

Hong Kong’s economy grew by 7.9% in the first quarter of 2021 — the biggest quarterly growth in 11 years and the end of six quarters of recession. Retail sales are also gaining pace; sales in the first four months of 2021 have grown an estimated 8.5% year-on-year.

Earlier this year, rents in Hong Kong fell to their lowest levels since 2003 and brands from Prada to Rolex shuttered key boutiques over the pandemic. Major retail streets including Causeway Bay’s Russell Street faced an all-time high vacancy rate as a result of the exodus.

Hong Kong Retail Landlords Mull Rent Increases 

What: eBay Korea has finally been bought by Shinsegae for a USD 3.9 billion price, with financial backing from Naver.

Why is it important: The sale will imply major changes in Korean e-commerce industry, transforming one of the top bricks-and-mortar retailers to a leading online player.

Shinsegae apparently offered a price below eBay's expectations, set to USD 4.4 billion.

Lotte Shopping and E-Mart submitted separate letters of intent to acquire eBay Korea earlier. The country's top telecom company, SK Telecom, and private equity firm (PEF) MBK Partners dropped out of the race.

Shinsegae to acquire eBay Korea for $3.9 bil. 

What:  Marks & Spencer proposes more products to be bought in bulk, in more stores

Why it is important:  By proposing products more complex than “staples” (rice, pasta…) such as croissants and pains au chocolat, Marks & Spencer makes the offer more exciting and sexy, while also surfing on the sustainability stance.

Marks & Spencer extends its “Fill your own” packaging-free refillable grocery concept to 8 stores, for a total of 11 stores with this option now.

With this proposal, customers have the possibility to chose between 60 lines of refillable groceries (including rice, cereal, pasta, but also bake-at-home products such as croissants). It expects to complete the proposal with new products this autumn.

Marks & Spencer extends refillables concept to more stores 

What: Marks & Spencer unveils its new Café concept in Birmingham

Why it is important: This is part of a bigger ambition to make Marks & Spencer seen as a destination for families again.

Marks & Spencer has launched a “test and learn renewal concept” in its new store near Birmingham, in Solihull Sears retail park. The atmosphere has been redesigned to create a warm and inviting space for shoppers, with a seamless ordering process.

The new café concept, the first of its kind, is implemented in the 16th iteration of the new  Marks & Spencer store concept. It aims at making Marks & Spencer a destination for families again.

Marks & Spencer unveils new look M&S Café Retail Bulletin

What:  China is increasing retail space fast in Hainan.

Why it is important: Given that borders are still closed due to Covid-19, it is all about getting a critical mass as fast as possible and create new patterns for Chinese tourists, in order to retain a significant portion of their purchases including when international travels will be authorised again.

Tax-free consumption in Hainan is bolstered by the opening of 3 new stores on the island, one at the international airport and the two other ones in the city of Sanya (where the larger measures 95,000 square meters where 350 brands are present). This leads the province to have a total of 7 duty-free malls, with 4 of them operated by China Duty Free Group. The reason why two new companies are joining the market is reportedly to increase competition and differentiation in the offer.

3 more stores are planned in the coming years, with a total surface combined between the 3 stores just opened and the 3 ones planned of 220,000 square meters.

China's Hainan opens 3 offshore duty free shops 

What:  A mall launches a marketplace designed for its tenants, as a way to provide support and develop hyperlocal retail.

Why it is important:  IADS members are looking for solutions to prevent their concessions tenants to use click & collect as a way to reduce the variable rent to be paid. Bal Harbour does the contrary and provides the infrastructure to increase overall sales, online and offline, while making sure it controls, or has an eye on, e-commerce operations from brands.

Bal Harbour, the high end mall in Miami, Florida, is launching its own marketplace, Bal Harbour Shops Marketplace, designed to be a store-level solution and not an e-commerce platform. The marketplace will be fully integrated into the mall’s website and newsletter (shoppable) and will be providing solutions to brands with a store in Bal Harbour.

Since the launch, 6 brands joined the initiative, including Ferragamo. Interestingly, in terms of operations, most of the brands fulfil sales on this marketplace (which is very much Bal Harbour-centric, thus hyper local, and not competing with e-commerce giants), with products from their stores, and not their warehouse.

In parallel, Bal Harbour is conducting a renovation project, including a new extension (where it proposed brands to relocate in exchange for continuous rent support during the pandemic) and new services area, such as a relocated car park. The new extension, expected to open by 2024 and currently leased at 65%, will increase the mall total surface, from 45,000 sqm today to 70,000.

Bal Harbour Shops Launches a Marketplace 

What: The department store appoints Lisa Aiken, as part of its organizational transformation.

Why is it important: As a digital native, she will act as a fashion-forward expert to identify emerging brands, discover new trends and services across the fashion and lifestyle space.

This role is part of the merchandising and planning team transformation, reporting to Lana Todorovich, President and Chief Merchandising Officer of Neiman Marcus Group.

Aiken was recently Fashion and Buying Director at Moda Operandi. Earlier in her career at Net-a-Porter and MyTheresa, she built a reputation for bringing a modernized approach for luxury brands and fashion e-tailers.

Neiman Marcus Appoints Lisa Aiken in Newly Created Role as Fashion and Lifestyle Director

A new space dedicated to immersive media art opened on the 9th floor at luxury department store Lotte Avenuel in Myeong-dong, Seoul.

The venue, Groundseesaw Myeongdong, is an 800-square-meter exhibition hall with 6-meter, ceiling-to-floor screens covering the walls. The hall features more than 70 high performance projectors and multiplex cinema sound systems.

“Blue Room,” the opening exhibition, designed under the theme of “Trip to Awakening,” will showcase immersive media art that reinterprets images of blooming flowers, clouds, forests, and the night sky.

Tickets cost between 12,000 won to 15,000 won (USD 10 to USD 13).

New media art venue opens at Lotte Avenuel 

What: Target, Walmart, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Macy’s and Kohl’s are among the top American retails offering big discounts and promotions to compete with Amazon Prime day held 21 and 22 June.

Why is it important: Prime Day is expected to top USD 11 billion in total online spend for US retailers, surpassing sales generated on Black Friday and Cyber Monday last year.

Amazon Prime day, which generated USD 10.4 billion in gross merchandise sales last year, is taking place earlier than its traditional July run date, as the e-commerce giant looks to boost spending in what are historically slow sales days in the quarter. Twenty countries participate in the event this year.

Big US Retailers Line up Deals To Challenge Amazon Prime Day

What: The group is developing plans to convert all 22 fur salons into "customised for modern luxury experiences."

Why is it important: The change follows the company’s establishment of an Environmental Social Governance team.

The Neiman Marcus Group will discontinue selling products containing animal fur by early 2023. The new policy eliminates animal fur products from the Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman stores and websites and calls for shutting down the fur salons at both divisions. Neiman Marcus has 21 fur salons in stores; Bergdorf’s has one fur salon.

To replace a significant fur business, NMG will convert into spaces “customised for modern luxury experiences,” without specifying what those experiences would be. The company added that it plans to work with luxury brands creating “new and innovative ultra-luxury concepts that satisfy the discerning tastes of luxury customers.”

Neiman Marcus Group Goes Fur Free

What: Gap and Walmart team up to jointly launch a new equivalent of a private label

Why it is important: By blurring the differences between licensing and private labels, both brands make the most of their competitive advantages.

For Walmart, the move equates to launching a new private label with a strong brand image and customer appeal (all the more thanks to its exclusivity), while limiting its investment in product development and related human structure.

Walmart and Gap announced the introduction of Gap Home, a home essentials brand only available at Walmart. They are both scaling their competitive advantages (for Walmart, its distribution size, for Gap, its lifestyle brand image) into this launch of a 400-wide products collection.

Pricing is thought to be fitting Walmart’s customers’ expectations, and seasonal animations will be achieved through drops and special items.

Gap and Walmart Partner to Introduce Gap Home 

The department stores will host, in partnership with Pierre Bergé & Associés, its first auction of vintage furniture. The event comes as a part of the "OFF" programme (launched in January 2020), consisting in exclusive cultural events. The 120 objects and pieces of furniture will first be displayed as an exhibition in the homeware section of the store, and then auctioned in the Grande Epicerie de Paris restaurant (which is closed due to Covid restrictions).

Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche hosts its first auction of decorative arts furniture 

What: Target and Walmart have announced sales events that start a day before Amazon’s Prime Day.

Why it is important: The retailers hope to pull some sales away from Amazon, especially from those that do not have an Amazon Prime membership.

Target’s Target Deal Days  will span from 20 June through 22 June and Walmart’s Deals for Days event will last from 20 June to 23 June. Both do not require any kind of membership to take advantage of the deals which will be similar to Black Friday savings.

But the lack of membership requirement on some rival retailers' sales events may pull potential shoppers away from Amazon’s Prime day happening from 21-22 June.

Target, Walmart announce overlapping sales events to rival Amazon

What: The Business of Fashion wonders about the relevance of La Samaritaine’s opening in 2021

Why it is important: There is little doubt that La Samaritaine is a business model conceived to be thriving with tourism. But what if tourism, and tourists, change by nature and spend less during their travels? This is an option that is considered by Bain & Co.

La Samaritaine opened its door mid June after 15 years of works and EUR 750m invested, generating an intense coverage in press all around the globe. However, analysts are wondering about the timing and the long term rationale of such a move.

Even if La Samaritaine’s officials maintain that the store is also intended for local customers (which remains to be seen – read our exclusive here), the brand selection, product offer and DFS overall supervision tend to suggest that the bulk of the business will be done with tourists… when they come back. The article makes the usual speculations on the relevance of the department store format and predominance of e-commerce, but makes an interesting point regarding tourism: even though they will for sure come back, will they still be inclined to spend during their travels? Bain & Co projects that 30% of luxury purchases will take place in China by 2025 (tourism is expected to recover by 2024 only,  according to McKinsey).

La Samaritaine is however well positioned to be a landmark building to be an mandatory stopping point for tourists, such as Harrods, Le Bon Marché or Galeries Lafayette Haussman, the second most visited place in Paris after the Eiffel Tower and not mentioned in the article. However, there is no mention either of the Harrod’s initiatives in China, with its stores cum showrooms open in Shanghai and Beijing.

This kind of vision, opposite to La Samaritaine’s, raises questions re. its future profitability. The article speculate that this is only possible with companies such as DFS, able to spread profits and losses over the world, including la Samaritaine’s operations.

LVMH’s Billion Dollar Retail Bet

What: Lotte Maison Dong Busan is a 23,044 square metres mall gathering 50 domestic and foreign brands.

Why is it important: Home goods business being boosted by Covid, this is Lotte’s first brick-and-mortar shopping complex for furniture, home appliances and accessories.

The new mall is located in the Osiria Tourism Complex in Busan. Stores are set up like real living spaces. Top brands including Hanssem, Simmons, ACE, Tempur and Sealy, as well as a Samsung Digital Plaza and an LG Electronics store are set to open.

Additionally, “Pet Park” tailored to the trends of pet dogs, “Brick Campus” where you can experience Lego exhibitions, and a special skateboard specialty shop are also opening.

Lotte Maison Dong Busan opens in East Busan

What: John Lewis takes an unprecedented step in the UK retail landscape in terms of employee support when it comes to parental leave.

Why it is important: To make the retail career attractive again, some perks are required. This will involve additional spending and investments from Department Stores HR.

John Lewis is offering its 80,000 workers a new package, effective this autumn, regarding parental leave for birth: all parents-to-be with a minimum of one year in the company will be granted a paid leave of six months, or 26 weeks (full pay for the first 14 weeks and then 50%). This package will be proposed to both men and women, and is thought to contribute to the fight against the gender pay gap, according to Dame Sharon White, the chairwoman of the group.

In the UK, mothers-to-be are legally entitled to 90% of their pay for the first 6 weeks, and then the lower between GBP151,97 per week or 90% of their pay, for the next 33 weeks. Fathers-to-be are entitled to the same money, but with one or two consecutive weeks’ leave maximum.

John Lewis to offer equal parental leave to all staff 

What: John Lewis leverages the success of its rental initiative to expand it, geographically and product wise.

Why it is important: Rental stands among the new options at hand for retailers to generate additional recurring revenue. IADS member Beco, among others, is already quite advanced in this kind of programme.

John Lewis, which launched a partnership with Fat Llama last year to rent furniture (including desks and office chairs, which were among the top pieces to be rented), extends the move by increasing the number of references available for rent. We reported this partnership in our Exclusive on Subscription Retail.

Leveraging on Fat Llama’s ‘flex rental’ scheme, John Lewis extends in addition the service to the rest of England, as it was previously limited to London. As before, rented products will be available for purchase at the end of the rental period, at a price netted of the payments made so far.

John Lewis expands furniture rental service following successful trial

What: The store will open in New York This Summer.

Why is it important: Google takes a leaf out of Apple’s play-book of operating physical stores and providing in-person services to boost sales.

Alphabet Inc’s Google said on Thursday it would open its first physical store in New York City this summer, mirroring a retail approach that has helped Apple Inc rake in billions of dollars in the last two decades.

The Google store will be located in the city’s Chelsea neighbourhood near the its New York City campus, which houses over 11,000 employees.

Google, which has set up pop-up stores in the past to promote its products, said it would sell Pixel smartphones, Pixelbooks and Fitbit fitness trackers along with Nest smart home devices at the retail outlet. Visitors will also be able to avail customer service for their devices and pick up their online orders at the store.

Google To Open First Physical Store in New York This Summer 

What: 2021’s Q1 performance exceeded expectations on both the top and bottom lines.

Why is it important: Macy’s beats Wall Street estimates.

It expects sales between USD 21.73 billion and USD 22.23 billion, much higher than the USD 19.75 billion to USD 20.75 billion range it forecast earlier. Comparable sales are up 63.9% vs. 2020 and digital sales grow of 34% vs. 2020.

The department store chain is benefiting from easing restrictions, relief checks and a return to normalcy as people attend events and get back to offices after a year of staying at home.

People are shopping for fine jewellery and watches, fragrance and luxury items, and “special occasion categories” have seen an improvement as customers return to a pre-pandemic lifestyles.

Macy’s is placing its bets on big investments in new stores and technology to draw customers at a time when more people are shopping online.

Macy’s Raises Annual Forecast as People Return to Stores 

Macy's Inc Reports First Quarter 2021

What: Poshmark has partnered with Snap to create a social shopping experience called Poshmark Mini.

Why it is important : Poshmark is extending their reach to Gen Z consumers by allowing them to shop on social platforms.

With Poshmark Mini, users can browse curated products, attend virtual shopping events (Posh Parties) and shop top-selling brands without leaving Snapchat.

Snapchat has had its sights set on shopping through the app since 2016. Snapchat is popular among Gen Z consumers (aged 10 to 24), which Poshmark would like to leverage.

Poshmark and Snapchat previously partnered to create Snap Kit in 2018, which let Poshmark users share and sell their listings on Snapchat.

Poshmark, Snap team up on social shopping experience

What: Walmart plans to offer nationwide virtual healthcare services to be a market leader and gain a greater share of the healthcare business.

Why it is important: As other large players are taking stake in virtual healthcare, it will be important for Walmart to capture enrollment among member companies and to compete with other telehealth providers.

Walmart has acquired MeMD, a telehealth provider, so it can offer nationwide virtual healthcare. The retailer already has 20 clinic and 4,700 domestic stores that offer pharmacies.

Telehealth services are becoming a very competitive new feature in the industry with other large players like Amazon, CVS, and Walgreens.

Due to the pandemic, this new form of medical treatment is seeing accelerated adoption. As large players battle to become the leader across the space, consumers should benefit in the commoditisation of the services.

Walmart’s Expansion Into Telehealth Pits It Head-To-Head With Amazon Again

What:  Walmart is focusing on low prices as customers become more interesting by increasing value for money, than convenience

Why it is important:  Walmart is reporting a similar behaviour already noticed by IADS members when they are able to reopen: traffic instore is slightly lower, but average basket rises to the point of compensating the lost traffic, while e-commerce soars.

Walmart posted a total revenue of USD 128,31 billion on Q1 2021, +2,7% compared to the same period last year. In the US, digital sales increased +37%, store sales increased +5% (traffic decreased -3,2% but average basket increased +9,5%). Every segment is performing well, with the exception of international sales (-8,3%) due to divesting moves.

The company anticipates that 2021 will be less about convenience, and more about value and price. This is the reason why Walmart is planning to double down on low prices this year.

Walmart Releases Q1 FY22 Earnings

Walmart Full Report earnings

What: The Dutch department store is expanding in Europe again.

Why it is important: After launching an e-commerce website in France last year, it is now opening an online store in Austria, marking the fourth foreign market for the omnichannel retailer.

De Bijenkorf’s online store launch in Austria was planned for the second half of 2020, but it took a while. Online stores were also opened in Belgium, Germany, and France. The launch of the online stores allows the retailer to be considered a true European player.

De Bijenkorf launches in Austria

What: Central announced for Q1 2021 a turnover -10% vs. LY, and a profit -48.4%

Why it is important: Situation in Thailand is not back to normal yet, and Central expects more consolidation and optimisation, after having united its department stores Central and Robinsons end of 2020 (link: https://www.iads.org/web/iads/2193-central-retail-to-unite-central-and-robinson-stores.php)

Thai group Central announced it reached 90% of its pre-covid level for Q1 2021, to USD 1.56 billion, which is seen as an encouraging move. However, profit is down -48.4% (USD 14.65 million). 2021 is for now considered more difficult than 2020 due to second and third lockdowns with store closures.

Central has maximized synergies with Robinson department store, now unified. They have also invested in Vietnam and new businesses. Further optimisation and restructuration should be expected this year.

Central Retail sales rebound to 90 per cent of pre-Covid levels