Including the benefit of the Night Tube to London’s retailers and M&S profits.
The Source rounds up some of the key retail stories of the week.
The New West End Company has said that the introduction of the Night Tube from August will have ‘huge benefits’ for London retailers. The Victoria and Central lines will start overnight operations from August 19, while tubes will run through the night on the Piccadilly, Jubilee and Northern lines from the autumn. Steven Medway from New West End Company said: “This service will have huge benefits for businesses as well as visitors. It further bolsters the West End’s reputation as a world class destination, beyond retail, across the food, beverage and entertainment sectors.”
Debenhams has appointed Sergio Bucher, currently Amazon’s European fashion boss, as its new chief executive. He will join the department store chain in October and will have a remit of continuing Debenhams’ turnaround. Sergio has spent three years at Amazon, and has also held roles with Puma and Nike. Current chief executive, Michael Sharp, steps down next month.
Marks & Spencer has reported a drop in pre-tax full-year profits of 18.5% to £488.8 million. New boss Steve Rowe said that the retailer’s performance in clothing and home was “unsatisfactory”, although its food business saw strong growth. He said that the aim is to make M&S’ fashion and home proposition more competitive on price and that customer experience needs to be enhanced by making stores easier to shop and streamlining ranges.
John Lewis enjoyed another strong week of sales for the week ending May 21. The business reported growth of 6.1% to £75.5 million. Once again, electricals and home technology was strong, up 9.2%, while the home department claimed 5%. Fashion was up 4.7% and fashion accessories grew 13.8%.
Staying with John Lewis, and the retailer has partnered with Jim Chapman, the YouTube vlogger and fashion journalist, to curate looks from its menswear collection.
Value retailer B&M has seen pre-tax profits jump 19.5% to £161.4 million. Total sales also leapt 23.6% to £2.04 billion, as the retailer opened a record number of stores in the last financial year. B&M now has over 500 UK stores and has plans for 50 new stores in its current financial year.
