Including Sainsbury’s Q2 sales dip and Aldi investing £300m in UK & Ireland store estate.
The Source rounds up some of the key retail stories of the week.
Sainsbury’s has seen its second quarter sales fall as it continues to battle in a ‘competitive market’. Like for like sales dipped 1.1% in the 16 weeks to September 24, while total sales were down 0.4%. The acquisition of Home Retail Group was completed during the period. The group’s sales rose 3% in the second quarter to August 27 and like for likes grew 2.3%. Meanwhile, Sainsbury’s online sales increased 8%, with general merchandise enjoying sales growth of 4%.
Aldi is to spend some £300 million on a store refresh initiative on its estate in the UK and Ireland. A new store format will include freshly designed fixtures for alcohol, fresh produce and baby and toddler, as the retailer looks to ‘enhance shopper experience and showcase quality’. Aldi believes it will have over 100 stores refurbished in 2017. The news comes as the discounter revealed a 12% lift in sales to £7.7 billion in the year to December 31 – this means it has doubled its UK revenues in the space of three years.
Network Rail has reported that retail sales at its stations have risen for the 17th successive quarter. Figures show that overall like for like sales were up 4.14% – almost one in three station users visited National Rail station retailers during the period. Food and beverage outlets increased 6.1%, while traditional retail sales were up 2.5%. Notably for the licensing industry perhaps, year on year gifting purchases rose 43.6%.
Cath Kidston will be opening its 14th shopping centre store next month in intu Derby. There are more than 70 Cath Kidston stores in the UK, however just 13 are in shopping centres. A further two are due to launch throughout September and October, following the opening of another store at intu Watford this summer.
Amazon has launched a new store which features thousands of handcrafted products sold by 1,000 makers from the UK and Europe. Handmade by Amazon offers more than 30,000 unique products across the jewellery, home décor, artwork, kitchen and dining and furniture categories. A third of the items will also be available for personalisation.
John Lewis continues to see its sales take a hit from the unseasonably warm weather – the department store reported sales were down 4.7% for the week to September 24, standing at £81.9 million. Fashion suffered the most, down 9.1% year on year, while electricals and technology was also down by 5.5%. Home was the strongest performing sector, increasing 2.1% year on year.
Australian stationery retailer Smiggle says that it is on track to open 200 stores in the UK by 2019. The children’s stationery chain said it had opened 40 stores in the UK in its full year to July 30, taking its total in the country to 74.
Want to read more news like this? Simply sign up to our daily digest by clicking here. You can also follow @LicensingSource on Twitter.
