In the news this week… Retail Round-up

Including Moonpig teaming with Zappar and Sports Direct financials.

The Source rounds up some of the key retail stories of the week.

John Lewis has reported an increase in sales of 3.5% year on year to £165.6 million, as online revenue jumped 13.6% for the week ending December 5. Fashion led the way with sales up 5.7%, while home technology and electricals continued to benefit from Black Friday price matching, up 2.8% year on year.

Moonpig has partnered with augmented reality company Zappar on a range of personalised greetings cards and an app. Two ranges of cards will be available in several designs and will include a balloon popping game – featuring Peppa Pig – and a photo feature that allows users tot take selfies with a selection of animals.

Ikea has reported an increase of 11.2% in its full year total sales to €31.9 billion. Including rental income from its shopping centre business, total revenue amounted to €32.7 billion for the year to the end of August, a rise of 11.5%.

Sports Direct has reported a 3.6% pre-tax profit rise to £166.4 million for the first half of its financial year. In the period ending October 25, group revenue rose 0.1% year on year to £1.4 billion. Sports Retail revenue was up 0.2%, while revenue in the brands division increased by 10.2% thanks to growth in Europe and the US. Premium lifestyle revenue was down 12.2%.

UK retail sales dropped by 0.4% on a like for like basis in November, according to figures released by the British Retail Consortium and KPMG. Total growth was below the three-month average of 2% and the 12 month average of 1.7%. Half of the monthly shop price monitor categories showed year on year growth on a total basis, but when online sales were taken out only the furniture and home accessories sectors showed in-store growth.

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