Retail Day
Queen Mary says high street is about more than shops
She may be dubbed the queen of shops, but one of the most striking things as Mary Portas’s unveiled her high street review today was that shops was only part of it.
Dialling in to m-commerce
Last weekend, like thousands of other people, bought a new smartphone.
Less is more for the consumer this Christmas
As retailers bite their nails as the Christmas trading season gets into full swing, last week brought an insight into how consumers are likely to behave.
It's goodbye from me
It’s been a fascinating time to cover this brilliant industry
Schuhbusiness
One of retail’s unsung success stories celebrated its 30th birthday last night.
Happy birthday Sir Terence
Sir Terence Conran, who celebrated his 80th birthday with a dinner in London last night, was a true retail visionary
Tesco comes out fighting
Tesco’s like-for-like sales fall in the UK is big news, but Phil Clarke didn’t seemed fazed by the challenge ahead today
Westfield revisited
Returning to Westfield Stratford two weeks after opening showed that trade had settled down after the first day frenzy, but that the shoppers now are the ones retailers will want
Zero-sum game
After a week of intense speculation, Tesco had no option to bring forward the announcement of its Big Price Drop which launches on Monday. No doubt it would much rather have kicked it off with a tactically placed story in the Sunday papers accompanied by a blitz of advertising, but it shows how social media has changed the game, with our good friend and twitter ...
Westfield goes east
Westfield Stratford City will be the last big shopping centre opening for some time, and it was a good one - with some reservations
A bit of local difficulty
At a time when people are shopping locally more because of the higher cost of fuel, the Co-op should be doing better than it is
Retail and rioting
If retailers don’t get more protection from marauding gangs, who could blame them for quitting our inner cities?
Trouble in store
With global economic turmoil back on the agenda, retailers are going to be taking a closer look at their store bases
Wake up and smell the coffee
The appointment of Starbucks’ UK boss to run Clinton Cards is a remarkable appointment, but he has his work cut out
On the Road
Retail Week’s Summer road trip is setting out to uncover retail’s hidden success stories around the UK
The not-so-mighty Quinn
Superquinn’s failure is the latest example of what can happen when property investment and retailing mix
Try Someone New Today
Jamie Oliver has worked well for Sainsbury’s over an 11 year period, but the time is right for a change
Hacked off (updated Thursday 1030)
The shocking allegations against the News of the World have left retailers with a dilemma
Middle of somewhere
The middle ground used to be where no retailer wanted to be - now it’s looking like a safe haven
Chocs Away
Thorntons boss Jonathan Hart’s biggest task is restoring the prestige of the brand
Waiting on Waitrose
This morning I appeared on Radio 4’s Today programme to talk about Ocado, which announced its first pre-tax profit this morning. It was only £200,000 for the first half, but even so, for a business which many doubted could ever make a profit, it was a significant landmark.
Why would Home Retail want to buy Habitat?
We’ve been following for the past week or so rumours that Home Retail wanted to buy Habitat’s UK business, but hadn’t written them as we’d been steered away from writing it. It now appears to be true and the deal is imminent, but my perplexion about the deal is nothing to do with being annoyed about us not getting the story, more that it just makes no sense.
Power packed
The 2011 Power List has changed a lot from previous years, and is already provoking debate - which is exactly the idea
An attack on retail
The BBC Trust’s verdict against Panorama’s attack on Primark demonstrates there was, and probably still is, an agenda against retailers in the liberal media
Taking a New Look
What makes retail so interesting is just how quickly it changes. One minute you’re the pin-up of the sector, the next your business is on its knees.
A Princely Endeavour
Retail has several very worthy charities of its own but one very good cause which I hadn’t previously realised was so well supported by the industry was the Prince’s Trust. But last night the charity managed a great turnout of some of the sector’s biggest names at an event designed to raise awareness of the work it does in retail.
One town, two great stores
One town in the Lake District plays host to two of the best stores I’ve been to for a long time
A Daunting Task?
HMV has this morning confirmed it has reached agreement to sell Waterstones to Russian tycoon Alexander Mamut for £53m. It’s a better price than the £35m some have been mooting and buys HMV breathing space as it renegotiates with its banks.
Mum's not the word
Mothercare is one of the retail businesses which doesn’t make the wider headlines that often. Possibly that’s because its story has remained largely the same since Ben Gordon came in from Disney and undertook what has been a very successful turnaround.
The Mary Question
Mary Portas’s appointment to advise the government on the high street is a strange move, but the main thing now is that she does the right thing by all retailers
Taxing issues
Boots had a good year, but the headlines tomorrow will be dominated by its tax affairs
Not so Super
The pressure is on Superdry to prove it’s not the next French Connection.
Socialising with retailers
For a four day week it’s been incredibly busy, with Retail Week breaking stories about the collapse of Focus (and subsequent sale of 31 stores to B&Q today), Hugh ...
Out of Focus
It makes it no easier for the staff and suppliers affected, but the news that Focus has called in administrators - broken exclusively by retail-week.com today - has been on the cards for years. Ever since the debt-ridden business was sold to Ceberus for £1 in 2007, chairman Bill Grimsey has been valiantly coming up with various - some might say increasingly desperate - ways ...
Harvey out, Reynolds in
People stories always prove the most popular on the Retail Week website, and there were two big ones yesterday.
When is the All Saints deal going to happen?
Last Thursday the FT wrote that All Saints was “in the final stages of agreeing a £102m financial rescue package”, quoting chief executive Stephen Craig on its “two new and influential partners”. The same day Sky’s Mark Kleinman wrote “I have learned that Lion will own about 75 per stake of All Saints as part of a deal that could be completed by the beginning of next week.” The Daily Mail’s headline was even “It’s all but sold”, while there were various stories to the same effect over ...
Frozen Value
Two quite striking pieces of news today show that in the world of food retailing, the value end is really back in business. Today’s Kantar data shows little movement among the big boys of grocery, but record market shares for both Aldi and Lidl, while results from ...
Weller shockwaves
Sara Weller’s unfortunate departure from Argos might be a catalyst for some changes at the chain
Glasnost in Cheshunt
There was a remarkable honesty about Tesco’s full-year results announcement and presentation today
Park Life
It wasn’t hard to spot who’s winning and who’s losing on a retail park visit last week
Tabloid TV, and how to cook ready meals
Watchdog has had so many different formats and presenters down the years. I first remember it when it was John Stapleton and his Scottish wife, whose name I can’t remember but used to describe everything as a “potential death-trap”. More recently, I appeared on it a couple of times in the Nicky Campbell and Julia Bradbury era, when they did quite a lot of stuff about people’s favourite and least favourite retailers, when it was hard hitting but at least it was constructive.
Big can be beautiful
Sainsbury’s wheeled out its operating board to show off its flagship store at Crayford in Kent to a few of us journos today. Crayford is one of those funny places which is neither really London nor the home counties, not the most preposessing of places on a gloomy Thursday morning, but the store really stands out and is a step forward for the business.
A virtual success
We’re used to stellar trading updates from Asos but today’s deserves special comment because the company reached the milestone of achieving more than 50% of its sales outside the UK. That’s not to say that the UK isn’t still growing - it is, with sales up 24% in Q4 - but that international sales are growing quicker, up 161% in the period.
Are you being served?
Beales is undergoing a quiet transformation under Tony Brown, but bringing the Anglia Co-op’s stores up to date won’t be simple
Rising in the East
A Retail Week tour of Westfield Stratford revealed some interesting names earmarked for the centre.
Administering bad news
Oddbins went into administration today, following Officers Club, Sofas UK and Alworths in the past week. Put these collapses together with a series of poor trading updates, notably the Dixons profit warning, and the very weak supermarket growth figures, you could be forgiven for fearing the worst.
M&S in Paris
A store on one of the most expensive streets in the world is a brave way for Marc Bolland to announce M&S’s return to Europe
Say Boux
Theo Paphitis’ new lingerie retailer should fill a gap in the market
Retail's departure lounge
Catching up on the two big exits last week.
Time for a crackdown
There’s a joke doing the rounds at the moment, which the chatterers on Andrew Marr’s sofa on BBC1 yesterday morning seemed to find particularly funny. It goes: ‘Why did the anarchists occupy Fortnum & Mason? Because proper tea is theft’
A special night
The Oracle Retail Week Awards are always a special occasion, but this year the event went to a new level.
Tweetail Week Conference
Everyone’s gone Twitter-mad at this year’s Retail Week Conference. In fact, the hashtag rwc20 was trending in the UK on Twitter last night, which is phenomenal.
Under Fressure
Morrisons boss Dalton Philips has gone into overdrive in recent weeks. But will all his bold initiatives come off?
Partnership Party
The John Lewis Partnership bonus announcement is an event which highlights just what’s different about the business
Goodbye Terry, hello Twitter
There are already signs that Phil Clarke’s approach to running Tesco will be different to Terry Leahy’s
End of an era
Terry Leahy will be remembered as the greatest retailer of his generation
Super(market) Tuesday
The top three grocers were all in action yesterday, and it promises to be a fascinating few months for the food sector
Nigel Whittaker
Sad news this morning that former Kingfisher director and longstanding Retail Week columnist Nigel Whittaker has died after a long battle against cancer.
Birmingham, retail laboratory
Birmingham seems to be the place to go for bold retailing experiments at the moment. But will they prove successful?
Bestphone Warehouse
It may be a joint venture in name, but Carphone Warehouse is asserting control over Best Buy Europe
A helping hand
Our much-maligned industry showed its generosity at last night’s Retail Trust ball
Mary, quite contrary
Mary Portas’ previous television programmes have been good for retail, but her new Channel 4 series does the industry a disservice
Back from the dead
Hilco wants the retail world to know it as more than an undertaker to failed retail businesses
Green fingers
Our good friend and top retail hack James Hall of the Telegraph wrote this on Twitter yesterday: ‘The only time that I will ever write these words in this order: I am having dinner tonight at The Ivy with Alan Titchmarsh.’
Postcard from Down Under
There’s not too much to get excited about when it comes to multiple retailing in Australia, and Aussie shoppers seem to agree
Rose Goes
He might have been one of the highest profile retailers of his generation, but Sir Stuart Rose’s departure from M&S is going to be low key
What's going on?
Some sales lost due to the snow might be recouped, but its fanciful to think they all will be
Not so super
Supergroup’s stratospheric share price had to go into reverse eventually, but it faces bigger issues than the cotton price
The wheels come off
The snow in Scotland has highlighted the vulnerability of online retail
A consumer crime-fighting Christmas carol
The spirit of Christmas was certainly on display on Friday at new London shopping centre One New Change, when four robbers targeting a jewellery store faced the ire of the City’s late-night shoppers.
Outfoxed
However you look at it, the prospects for HMV aren’t good
Multichannel Now
With multichannel having such a transformational impact on retail, we’ve produced the definitive report on the subject.
The wrong target
Protesters against tax avoidance are choosing the wrong target in Topshop
The price is wrong
The OFT has gone for the wrong target in its review of promotions
Not just for Christmas?
I had a surreal moment on Saturday morning, standing in the middle of Oxford Street with no traffic and hardly any people around either. That was because Saturday was the annual traffic-free day in the West End, when not just Oxford Street but other key shopping roads like Regent Street were closed to traffic and given back to pedestrians.
The money men
The private equity world has changed, but while the second half of this year has been quiet in the UK, there’s plenty of activity in the pipeline
The Green team
Arcadia’s results breakfast showed a side of Philip Green and his business which outsiders rarely see.
Making his Marc
Marc Bolland outlined his plans for M&S with a marathon session at the interims today, but how much of it was really new?
Sitting comfortably
DFS did remarkably well through the downturn, but how much will Richard Baker tinker with the formula?
Back in business
It may have been the usual suspects who were most prominent, but this year’s BCSC was a much more positive affair
Two new changes
An afternoon of property yesterday: Westfield Stratford followed by One New Change
All-American heroes
Two US giants stole the show at this year’s World Retail Congress
May the force be with you
Dixons using R2-D2 and C-3PO in its ads - brilliant
Newsagent state of mind
Possibly the best account of working on the front line of retail I’ve read
Mind the Gap
Gap’s u-turn on its logo is the funniest thing that’s happened in retail in ages
Cheap, not cheerful
The continental hard discounters’ march on the UK was never going to make a major impact.
GIVing up
It’s hard to work out what George Davies’s GIVe venture stands for, and no surprise that the Regent Street store has closed
Hof House
House of Fraser’s management were celebrating not just the launch of Biba but also a strong first half in their usual haunt last night
Send him a Carr
From a deadly serious minister to a very crude Jimmy Carr routine - it could only be the BRC annual dinner
Super Thursday
However well their businesses have been doing, there’s one common thread that unites all the retailers reporting results today.
Shooting stars
Retail’s talented rising stars certainly know how to party, as does Theo Paphitis
Lab's life
Dalton Philips talked about experimental labs so much this morning, he should have been wearing a white coat and goggles
Funny time to have a Sale
Debenhams start of season Sale this week has got people talking.
Liverpool Two
If Liverpool on Friday is anything to go by, retail’s not in bad shape
Booze Britain
The Scottish government’s plans for a minimum price on alcohol are a useful contribution to the debate on alcohol
School for Retailers
There were a few new brooms at this year’s Oxford Summer School, but the event’s traditions remained undimmed
Dereliction of duty?
The controversy which follows it everywhere means Tesco needs to be whiter than white with its property affairs
How to make electricals retailing interesting
Not the the prudish this, but this is one way to catch shoppers’ attention, male ones at least
The wheels come off
Why do big investments in the supply chain go wrong so often?
Gliding into M&S
Robert Swannell may know Stuart Rose, but his chairmanship is likely to be very different
Mostly Futile Intentions
£250,000 doesn’t sound like a lot of money for the MFI brand, but is it worth even that?
Number crunching
Does anyone understand how the retail sales measures manage to come up with completely different outcomes?
Scotch Mist
Across the UK, the overall retail picture isn’t that bad. But the further north you go, the worse it gets
There goes the bride
Upsetting customers is one thing, but when they’re brides to be, it’s quite another. The Hut ought to be wary.
Government goes Green
Philip Green’s appointment as the government’s efficiency guru should strike fear into the corridors of power.
The Tech Guys
IT budgets are holding firm, but retail CIOs are being asked to do more with them, particularly around multichannel
Of mice and Morrisons
Blocking the development of a supermarket because of dormice shows that the planning system really isn’t working.
Ethics men
Anyone know the reason for the extraordinary flurry of stories about factory standards? Or is it just that we’re in the quiet middle of August?
A lethal combination
Arnotts’ problems are a reminder that non-food retailers and property development don’t mix
How the West End was won
Retailers don’t generally like anything which is going to cost them money, but the New West End Company seems to have won them over.
Back in business
Aurora has now well and truly left the ghost of Baugur behind it.
Heart of the high street
Marks & Spencer pulling out of four market towns might not be big news, but try telling that to the people who live in them
Price and the Prince
Retailers and manufacturers need to do more to help farmers in the UK, and the Prince of Wales’s new Countryside Fund is a step in the right direction
A humbling experience?
Ocado may have got its float away - just - but the whole process has been an embarassment to its founders.
Stars of the future
The judging day for Retail Week’s Rising Star Awards showed that the future of retail is in safe hands
M&S AGM highlights
Today’s M&S AGM was the usual entertaining - and quintessentially English - affair.
More decisions....
Dalton Philips makes his first big appearance as Morrisons’ CEO tonight, and is clearly making his mark in Bradford.
Florence and the machine
Florence & Fred’s planned West End store will test whether the brand can stand on its own feet without the Tesco machine.
£119.95 lamb anyone?
Amazon’s trial food range would only suit the weirdest palates, but the fact it’s doing it is still bad news for Ocado.
End of term
It was graduation day at the Fashion Retail Academy today, and Sir Philip Green’s initiative seems to be equipping its graduates well for the workplace.
Going their own way
Debenhams shift from brands to own-bought is proving good for margins but not so great for comp sales.
OK for today
HMV produced a very respectable set of full year results today, but chief executive Simon Fox will know that challenges lie ahead.
Nick Samuel
The untimely death of former Hobbs chief executive Nick Samuel was very sad news.
Dixons is back...sort of
DSG International is renaming itself Dixons Retail, which is an eminently sensible move
No drama over VAT rise
Despite the VAT rise, retailers are pretty relaxed about the Budget.
B&Q Lite
Kingfisher’s idea to open smaller stores in city centres makes a lot of sense.
Give my regards to Bond Street
Bond Street is in the news today, with retailers angry because plans for a Crossrail station there are in jeopardy, but the new-look Fenwick there is well worth a look.
Powering ahead
This morning we celebrated the launch of Retail Week’s 2010 Power List with a breakfast addressed by BBC Business Editor Robert Peston.
High-tech hangovers
It was Retail Week’s annual technology awards last night, and there will be more than a few techies with sore heads today.
Growing in glamour
N Brown is known as a highly successful but not very glamorous retailer - will its purchase of lingerie retailer Figleaves change that?
Hot for hoodies?
The Middle East isn’t an obvious place to try to sell hoodies, but its move there shows Supergroup is on a roll.
Home sweet home?
Does the weak trading update from Argos this morning say more about the business or the market?
End of an era
Sir Terry Leahy’s retirement plans are a shock - put simply, he has been the greatest retailer of his generation
Yorkshire bitter
Sir Ken Morrison’s attack on Marc Bolland was unbecoming of a retail legend
The scale of the problem
A Retail Week breakfast on what the coalition Government means for retailers didn’t make happy listening.
A right shoeing
It’s not fair to judge WH Smith on the views of 171 shoppers, but Which would probably have got the same result if it had surveyed 10 times as many people.
Nett gains
Asda’s takeover of Netto shows it has the firepower to back up its ambitions.
End of term
Stuart Rose seemed demob happy at today’s M&S results presentation.
Where there's a Wills...
The founders of Jack Wills have big ambitions for their brands
The Knowledge
We’re very excited about Retail Week Knowledge Bank, the latest addition to our subscription package.
Strictly come Debsing
Debenhams has a spring in its step
Appy days
iPhone apps are the big thing at the moment, but is focussing on one device the right way of capturing the potential of mobile commerce?
VAT's life
It’s a question of when, rather than if, VAT will go up.
Endearing Eccentricity
Harrods is in many respects a weird place, but nonetheless is a very good retailer.
The Harrods Sale
Mohamed Al Fayed’s sale of Harrods concludes one of the more colourful chapters in UK retailing.
A clear winner?
There’s no clear winner in the election, but there is in the grocery market..
In for a pound
Everything’s a pound, except Poundland itself
Not just any new boss
There won’t have been many people around at Marks & Spencer’s Paddington head office yesterday, but new chief executive Marc Bolland was.
Marks and Marks (and Marcs)
I’ve heard the names Peter Marks and Sir Ken Morrison used in the same breath a few times lately.
Choking on his cornflakes
Scott Wheway remembered my prediction that Best Buy wouldn’t have it all it’s own way in the UK, and is determined to prove it wrong.
Retail blues
Plenty of big retail names were out for David Cameron’s appearance at the Fashion Retail Academy, but as ever Philip Green stole the show.
Cheesewrong
Walmart Canada boss David Cheesewright and Asda finance director Judith McKenna have both been strongly linked with the Asda CEO’s job, but as it stands neither is in the running.
In the cold seat
The North Pole was an unlikely place to seal a deal to sell DFS.
Game Over
Lisa Morgan will now have more time to spend with her beloved horses.
Dry as the Sahara
Terry Leahy was on particularly dry form at the Tesco results today, but the poker face couldn’t mask his pride that Tesco is back on top of its game.
Catashtrophe?
The travel chaos created by the volcano in Iceland is a pain, but we won’t be going hungry.
Chinos in Leeds
If you’re out in Leeds tonight, keep an eye out for a group of men in chinos and polo shirts.
A Bond is broken
Andy Bond leaves Asda in better shape than when he took over.
Tweetail Week
We’re all big fans of using Twitter here in the Retail Week office, even the technophobes like me and George
Stuart Rose’s final flourish at M&S
Stuart Rose’s last trading update before Marc Bolland takes over the reins was a strong one, but no-one wanted to talk about it this morning.
Down Wembley Way
First visit of two this week to Wembley - the second being for Chelsea’s FA Cup semi-final on Saturday - was for Tesco’s launch of its sponsorship of the England World Cup team today.
George Osborne finds some friends
Shadow chancellor George Osborne needs all the help he can get, but he’s scored a real coup today with many of retail’s top leaders coming out to support his plans to reverse the government’s planned rise in National Insurance.
Cook! Sort of....
Frozen ready meals retailer Cook has opened round the corner from me. Which given my reliance on food which comes from plastic containers, could turn out to be a Godsend.
Clever books for clever people
Promoting Ant & Dec in Hampstead and the England football team in Glasgow was a recipe for disaster for Waterstones
Automation’s what you need?
I’m no expert on the world of supply chain but one thing I do know is that there’s no bigger name in that vital yet unglamorous part of the retail world than Lawrence Christensen.
Inconvenience stores
After my comments on Inside John Lewis yesterday and about how it made John Lewis look a bit like Grace Brothers, I’ve been challenged to get Mrs Slocombe’s Pussy into today’s post. Have to admit I’m at a loss as to how.
I'm Free!
Having been on holiday for the first one and then missed the second one, I was feeling a bit left out of all the banter about the TV documentary Inside John Lewis.
This is not just consigned to the dustbin
A big day for M&S today as the legendary “this is not just…” food advertising slogan has been consigned to history.
The UK’s poshest Council House
Everyone always says how ugly Birmingham is but its easy to forget that it has some of the UK’s finest civic architecture, and we were privileged today to hold our future of the high street conference in the splendid Victorian setting of the city’s Council House.
A lesson in Anthropologie
Writing from Virgin Trains’ woeful standard class on my way to Retail Week’s conference on the future of the high street in Birmingham.
Off your Marks
Back from the slopes now, fortunately in one piece, and it seems like there’s been a lot going on. Terry Green’s departure from Tesco was always inevitable, but he held on there for longer than I and many others expected. He’s rubbed plenty of people up the wrong way down the years, but I rather like him - retail needs its larger than life characters and he’s certainly one of them.
The slightly less private Ryan
Was the Oracle Retail Week Awards last night and I reckon it was the best yet.
Welcome to the new Retail Day
For earlier blog posts, see the old Retail Day site.
Ocado, or Ocadon’t?
Had a very interesting day in Nottingham at Boots on Friday, but will save that for my next post and instead concentrate on the weekend’s big story, the news that Ocado has appointed advisers ahead of a possible float.
Sofa so good
Our good friend and columnist Lord Kirkham is trying to sell DFS and yesterday’s Sunday Times reported that John Lovering had joined forces with Permira for a £500m bid for the company. I haven’t quite got to the bottom of why buying it for £500m would trigger a big windfall for Kirkham, as that’s pretty much exactly what he paid for it when he took it private in 2004, but there must be an explanation - we’ll try to find out this week.
View results 10 per page | 20 per page | 50 per page |
