Including Kanye West pop-up stores and Asda like for like sales dropping 7.5% for Q2.
The Source rounds up some of the key retail stories of the week.
Kanye West is teaming with Bravado to open a series of pop-up shops from August 19 which will sell The Life of Pablo merchandise. There will be 21 locations in the likes of London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Cape Town, Singapore, Sydney, Melbourne, Los Angeles, New York, Houston and Miami.
Asda has experienced a like for like sales fall of 7.5% in its second quarter. This marks the worst ever drop in quarterly like for like sales, according to Retail Week, and follows a 5.7% decline in first quarter sales. Footfall at the grocer’s stores dipped 6% in the three months to the end of June, with net sales down 3%.
John Lewis experienced a dip in sales for the week ending August 13, with hot weather keeping consumers away from stores. The group said sales dipped 2.3% to £71.4 million. Fashion sales were down 2.6%, although warm weather lines rose 6%, while sunglasses grew 21% and sandals increased 14%. The success of Team GB at the Rio 2016 Olympics helped drive sports sales by 9.4%.
Cath Kidston is to open standalone stores and concessions in Latin America. The initial focus will be on Mexico and Chile. This follows on from the first stores opening in India this autumn, as well as more outlets being opened in Japan and the Middle East.
Tesco will trial opening seven additional stores for 24 hours on Friday and Saturdays along the Victoria and Central tube lines in London. This coincides with the eagerly awaited start of the Night Tube on those lines. To mark the launch of the extended hours, Tesco will set up ‘Hydration Stations’ at the front of the stores running from 3am to 7am on August 19 and 20.
Supermarket sales have fallen below £100 billion for the first time since 2010, according to The Share Centre’s Profit Watch UK study. Sales among the major grocers dropped 3.1% to £99 billion during the second second. Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons have all been adjusting to an every day low price model as they look to fend off competition from Aldi and Lidl.
Retail sales saw an uplift in July, according to new ONS figures, with sales rising 5.9% year on year and 1.4% month on month. Total retail spend during the period was £29.6 billion, which is up 3.6% year on year. Non-food categories saw the largest growth, while online sales also grew 16.7% year on year.
Amazon is to open a new fulfilment centre in Essex next year, creating more than 1,500 new permanent jobs. The etailer is increasing the size of its UK fulfilment centre network to meet increasing customer demand, expand its product selection of more than 150 million items and support the needs of a growing number of independent small businesses selling on Amazon Marketplace using Fulfilment by Amazon warehousing and delivery.
Laura Ashley is to launch a website in China and will also start selling clothing in the first House of Fraser store in the country. The news follows an increase of 4.1% in like for like sales in the retailer’s full-year results. Online sales soared 51%, with full-year pre-tax profits standing at £25.8 million.
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