Including a drop in sales for GAME, but licensed merchandise among bright spots.
The Source rounds up some of the key retail stories of the week.
Video games retailer GAME saw its UK retail sales drop 18.3% for the 23 weeks to January 7. ‘Softening of demand’ in the console market was attributed for the drop, however the retailer pointed out it had strong consumer pre-orders building for the much-hyped Nintendo Switch console (due for launch on March 3). New retail categories – which includes some licensed merchandise – were also a high point.
Shop Direct saw its sales grow 9% in the seven weeks to December 23. Very.co.uk was a key driver, with sales up 19%. Fashion was the top category for the retailer – up 16% – although smart technology also saw a lift; wearable technology was up 268% and smart home products by a staggering 511%.
John Lewis saw its sales increase 3.7% to £89.1 million in the week to January 14 – which marked the final week of its clearance sale. The strongest category was electricals and home technology (up 6.9%), while sales in home were up 3.8%. However, fashion dipped slightly by 0.1%.
eBay has hired Tesco’s head of general merchandise, Rob Hattrell, to take over from Tanya Lawler as UK vice president. Rob will join next month after spending eight years at Tesco, reports Retail Week.
Halfords has reported an increase in like for like sales of 5.9% for the 15 weeks to January 12, with a 7% year on year increase in retail like for likes. Overall sales grew 11.4%.
Fashion retailer H&M enjoyed a lift in sales in December – up 6% in local currencies compared to December 2015 – however it fell below analysts’ expectations; they had been predicting a rise of around 8%. The retailer will report its full year results on January 31.
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