Including greeting cards & gift retailer icandy entering administration.
The Source rounds up some of the key retail stories of the week.
John Lewis saw its sales in the week to May 6 rise 2.3% to £82.85 million. Fashion saw the strongest growth, up 3.9% year on year, while it was also a good week for beauty, wellbeing and leisure, up 14.6%. Home sales slipped by 0.1%.
Greeting cards and gifting retailer Icandy has entered administration, already closing four of its 14 stores as it looks for a buyer. FRP Advisory has been appointed to help the business find a buyer while the remaining ten stores continue to trade.
The late Easter helped drive retail sales in April, according to the latest BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor. Like for like sales apparently grew 5.6% during the month compared to April 2016. Total sales topped at 6.3%, making it the best April for retail since 2011 (although a late Easter also helped during that year, too). Online purchases grew 10.3% in the month.
Profits at The Hut – which owns sites including Zavvi – rose 67% to £50 million in the year to December 31, 2016. Sales also grew 50% to £510 million. Over the course of the year, The Hut made acquisitions totalling over £60 million at home and abroad. It now sells in 190 countries, with international sales rising 89% to £316 million – 63% of the group total.
Amazon has launched Prime Live Events, which allows its users exclusive access to live concerts. Users will be able to buy tickets to gigs at intimate venues, while the concerts will also be streamed across the Prime Video service. Blondie will be the stars of the first concert, taking place at the Round Chapel in London’s Hackney later this month. Gigs are also planned for Texas and Katie Melua in the future.
The founder of Sports Direct, Mike Ashley, has once again increased his interest in Debenhams, now holding 17% of the department store group.
Mothercare’s chief financial officer, Richard Smothers, is to leave the retailer next year. He will remain in his role until a successor is found, while it is not known if he has a new role already lined up.
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