Retail Week
February 3 2012
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Isetan Mitsukoshi set to revamp store network
Department store group Isetan Mitsukoshi is to revamp its store network as part of a three-year plan starting this year.The retailer plans to invest in renovating flagship stores in greater Tokyo, and from 2015 switch focus to other areas.According to Hiroshi Onishi, the chief executive due to take up the post this month, the retailer will not be opening new stores in Japan but has not scheduled any closures of regional or suburban locations. -
Retailers must keep up with the pace of change
Just as thousands of retailers descended on New York for the NRF’s ‘big show’ last month, the business pages were overtaken with news first of Tesco’s problems and then Carrefour’s. -
‘Parasitic’ own-brands face scrutiny
Retailers could face tough financial sanctions on own-brand products under proposals from the European Commission’s Internal Market and Services Directorate General (DG Markt). -
‘Service will set us apart’, says new Dixons boss
Sebastian James is taking the helm at Dixons as John Browett leaves for Apple. -
10 ways to compete with Amazon
Amazon’s sales growth this week showed that the etailer continues to power on. It commands respect from retailers, but its relentless expansion also generates fear. We assess how retailers can best compete with the digital Goliath. Gemma Goldfingle and Alex Lawson report. -
Amazon full year profits plummet as it continues to invest
Online retail giant Amazon revealed a sharp drop in full year profits despite soaring sales. -
Amazon widens its sporting range in time for Olympics
Amazon has thrown down the gauntlet to sports specialists as it expands its range in the category in expectation of a spending surge during the Olympics. -
Argos appoints John Walden as managing director
Argos has appointed John Walden as its new managing director. -
Asda property chief leaves following shake-up
Asda’s property boss Steve Masters is leaving the grocer following an overhaul of its property and retail development. -
Asda tops perception of value, ICM poll reveals
Asda’s reputation for value dwarves that of its rivals, despite Tesco’s Big Price Drop marketing push. -
Boots faces legal action in Mini Mode fashion row
Health and beauty giant Boots is being sued for £5m in a legal case centred on changes to its childrenswear offer. -
Carpetright Ireland business in recovery despite group profit warning
Carpetright issued a profit warning on Tuesday despite an improving sales trend that included a double digit like-for-like increase in the tough Irish market. -
Carpetright issues profit warning
Floorings retailer Carpetright has issued a profit warning despite an improving trend in sales. -
Carrefour franchise partner to open new stores
Carrefour’s franchise partner Majid Al Futtaim plans to open 15 Carrefour hypermarkets and 30 supermarkets this year. Majid Al Futtaim chief executive Iyad Malas said: “We will complete the construction of two malls (Fujairah City Centre and Beirut City Centre) and expect to start construction in Cairo at our Mall of Egypt Project.”In 2011, the franchisee’s sales rose 2.2% to Dh15.2bn (£2.64bn). -
Carrefour ponders future as Olofsson is replaced
This week brought the end of an era at Carrefour as chief executive Lars Olofsson was replaced by Georges Plassat, the head of French fashion retail group Vivarte. -
Clintons 'sings it with love' for Valentine's Day
Clintons is organising choirs to sing songs to competition winners’ loved ones as part of its personalised Valentine’s Day campaign. -
Consumer confidence rises in January
Consumer confidence climbed four points to -29 in January’s Gfk NOP’s Consumer Confidence Index. -
Contactless payment: What do consumers think?
I’m thinking about introducing contactless payment terminals in my stores. What do consumers really think of it? -
Dion Taylor
Managing Director, Snow+Rock -
Discount grocer Ugo sold a year after launch
Discount grocery retailer Ugo has been acquired by an unnamed retailer. -
Dixons boss Browett leaves to join Apple
Dixons chief executive John Browett is to leave the electricals group to become technology giant Apple’s senior vice-president of retail. -
Electricals fuel John Lewis sales rise
A strong performance in electricals fuelled a good week for John Lewis with sales up 8.9%. -
Etailer Boohoo grows full year profits
Pinstripe Clothing, the parent company of young fashion website Boohoo.com, experienced a profits jump last year as sales topped £24.5m in 2011. -
Expect sparks to fly in electricals market
The new year has barely begun but already it seems as if every week brings 12 months’ worth of transformation in electricals. -
Former M and M Direct boss joins B&Q board
B&Q has appointed former M and M Direct boss Steve Robinson to its board as it strengthens its multichannel offer. -
French Connection issues profit warning
French Connection has issued a profit warning, downgrading its pretax profit from £5m for the year January 31 to £4.7m, which includes a one-off exchange gain of £700,000. -
GA appointed to manage Bonmarché store closures
Retail restructuring specialist GA Europe is working with Bonmarché’s new owner Sun European to manage the 165 stores marked for closure. -
Game confirms review of overseas business
Game has said it has put its overseas operations under review, confirming Retail-Week.com’s story yesterday. -
Game granted breathing space by banks
Game has been granted breathing space by its banks after they agreed to revise the terms of the game specialist’s banking facilities. -
Game sets Friday deadline for overseas business first round bids
Game has set a Friday deadline for first round bids for its overseas business. -
Game to offload overseas operations
Entertainment group Game aims to offload overseas businesses as it seeks to stem widening losses in the face of a punishing games market. -
General retail flat as food groups suffer
General retailers trod water over the week in a flat market, but food groups underperformed as investors continued to fret about supermarket prospects and Kantar data showed the grocery market growing below the rate of food price inflation. -
Government launches Portas pilot to revive high street
The Government has today launched a £1m competition to help turn-around failing high streets on the back of the Portas Review. -
H&M reports fouth quarter sales increase
H&M has reported its results for the fourth quarter and 2011. For the full year, H&M’s sales including VAT increased 8% in local currencies. However, sales in krona were hit by currency translation effects. Net sales reached SEK110bn (£10.4bn) while gross profit amounted to SEK66.15m (£6.2m), corresponding to a gross margin of 60.1%.The retailer plans to open 275 stor -
Hamleys makes child’s play of trading as it posts record sales
Toy retailer Hamleys is set to post record annual sales after it notched up strong Christmas trading. -
Heathrow Terminal 2 retail tender takes off
Bosses of retailers including Harrods, Hamleys and Hugo Boss attended the launch of the tender process for the revamped retail offer at Heathrow Terminal 2 last week. -
High street crisis ‘irreversible’, Wrigley warns
The former boss of New Look, Phil Wrigley, has sounded the death knell of the traditional high street, and described Mary Portas’s review as the “right diagnosis, wrong prescription”. -
House of Fraser to extend collaboration with Mary Portas
Self styled retail guru Mary Portas will launch four more Mary & House of Fraser shop-in-shops, continuing her collaboration with the UK department store group. -
Hudson’s Bay completes Lord & Taylor acquisition
Department store operator Hudson’s Bay has completed the acquisition of its affiliate Lord & Taylor Holdings. Following the deal, Hudson’s Bay will run The Bay and Lord & Taylor banners. Richard Baker will remain governor and chief executive of the new partnership while Donald Watros continues as chief operating officer.Bonnie Brooks, at present president and chief executive of The Bay, will become president of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Baker said Brendan Hoffman, president and -
In focus: Republic
The fashion retailer has grown strongly but profits have recently fallen. -
In pictures: Retail Trust Ball raises more than £1m
More than £1m was raised at The Retail Trust Ball held at Grosvenor House Hotel in London last night. -
Inditex opens first Zara store in Peru
Inditex has opened its first Zara store in Peru in the capital, Lima. The shop is in the Jockey Plaza shopping centre, has a sales area of 19,375 sq ft and stocks collections produced for the southern hemisphere. -
Is SuperGroup more than a fad?
SuperGroup, the owner of the in-demand fashion brand Superdry, divides opinion. -
It’s a wrap: Christmas performance revealed
Christmas is over and many retailers’ hangovers were often less painful than anticipated, but was it really better than expected? Charlotte Hardie reports. -
Jason Gissing
He may be a former City boy but he shuns a pinstripe image. Alex Lawson reports on the Ocado co-founder and his new role. -
JC Penney unveils transformation strategy
JC Penney has unveiled a transformation strategy under which it will overhaul its pricing, merchandise and presentation.The department store group plans to update its entire store portfolio by 2015. Under the retailer’s new ‘Fair and Square’ pricing initiative tiered pricing consisting of ‘Everyday’ regular prices will be introduced, ‘Month-Long Values’ promotional pricing on items customers need straightaway and ‘Best Prices’, the retailer’s lowest prices, which will change on the fir -
Madhouse bought in pre-pack deal
Discount fashion chain Madhouse has been sold in a pre-pack deal. -
Maternity retail
As Kiddicare increases its bricks-and-mortar presence and Mothercare’s star seemingly wanes, it’s all change in maternity retailing. -
Metro Cash & Carry to invest in India
Metro Cash & Carry is to invest more than €100m (£84m) to strengthen its presence in India.At present, Metro operates nine stores at six locations in India –Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Jalandhar and Ludhiana – and aims to increase the store number to 50 shortly. The retailer has so far invested almost INR10bn (£120.1m) in its Indian operations, Metro Cash & Carry India managing director Rajeev Bakshi said in November last year. -
Morrisons acquires fresh meat facility
Morrisons has acquired fresh meat facility in North Wales as it continues on a spree of supply chain acquisitions. -
Morrisons acquires meat processing facility
Morrisons has acquired a meat processing facility in Winsford, Cheshire from Vion UK.The 105,000 sq ft site is a centralised fresh pork and lamb packing plant which has the capacity to expand into beef products and increase its overall production.The acquisition will give Morrisons greater capacity as it continues to grow and greater control over the quality of the meat -
MyDeco chief executive resigns
MyDeco chief executive Nicole Vanderbilt is to step down and will be replaced by the interiors etailer’s ecommerce director. -
Netflix bounces back from difficult year
Netflix bounced back from the difficulties it faced last summer to report strong revenue growth and an increase in subscriptions for its fourth quarter ended December 31, 2011.During the period, the entertainment provider posted a 47% surge in revenue to $876m (£558m), although net income declined 13% to $41m (£26m). For the full year, group revenue reached $3.2bn (£2bn), compared with $2.16bn (£1.28bn) in 2010. The company ended the year with 24.4 million unique US subscribers. Domest -
New chairman Clare wins support of suppliers ahead of Comet sale
John Clare, who is due to be appointed Comet chairman tomorrow when OpCapita officially acquires it, has won the support of its major suppliers ahead the sale. -
Ocado plots 'agressive' marketing push
Ocado is to embark on an “aggressive” marketing plan over the next two years to increase shopper numbers. -
Ocado pre-tax losses narrow
Ocado’s full-year pre-tax losses have slimmed to £2.4m from £12.1m in 2010 while sales grew. -
Office invests £1m in online revamp
Footwear retailer Office is to invest £1m in its online business as it prepares to revamp its website and launch overseas. -
Office posts strong like-for-likes
Young fashion footwear retailer Office has posted soaring like-for-likes of 26% across the five weeks to December 3. -
OpCapita completes acquisition of Comet
Private equity firm OpCapita has completed its acquisition of Comet from electricals group Kesa. -
Out of stock, out of pocket
How do you judge a successful retailer? -
Outdoor specialist Musto to refinance
Outdoor clothing specialist Musto is to refinance its debts to facilitate its European expansion. -
Oxford Street grinds to a halt as UK Uncut protests
The UK’s busiest high street came to a standstill on Saturday as protestors chained themselves to the railings in objection to the government’s Welfare Reform Bill. -
Peacocks receives six bids from potential buyers
Peacocks administrator KPMG has received six bids to buy the business, or parts of it, out of administration, Retail Week has learned. -
Pick n Pay reveals details of store rebranding scheme
Pick n Pay has revealed details of its store rebranding scheme in Zimbabwe, following the increase of its stake in TM Supermarkets.Seven out of approximately 40 TM stores will be rebranded as Pick n Pay with a total investment of approximately $13m (£8m) earmarked across the business for store operations.Head of group enterprises, Africa, Dallas Langman said: “The investment will see money being spent on local procurement processes and will give employment to Zimbabweans during -
Poundstretcher scraps transactional website
Poundstretcher has axed its transactional website less than two years after it launched. -
Private equity firms submit second round bids for Iceland
Iceland has attracted interest from two private equity firms interested in acquiring the frozen food chain. -
Q&A: Shop Direct chief executive Mark Newton-Jones
During his eight years at Shop Direct, chief executive Mark Newton-Jones has transformed a struggling catalogue retailer into an online giant. As the retail boss reveals his plans to leave Shop Direct, Gemma Goldfingle finds out why it’s time to depart and what the future holds in store. -
Reischmann, Kempten, Germany
Outdoor activity stores that seek to make you part of the action while within the confines of a shop are something of a cliche. -
Retailers "lead the way" in resource efficiency
Retailers are “leading the way in improving resource efficiency while reducing environmental impact”, according to a British Retail Consortium (BRC) report. -
Sears cuts 400 jobs
Sears, the department store group, has cut about 400 jobs. The majority of the positions were in the head office and stores and excluded customer-facing staff. The lay-offs follow the December redundancies of about 70 head office staff. The retailer insisted it has no plans to close stores. Vice-president of corporate affairs and communications Vincent Power said: “This helps position us properly for moving forward with our transformation plans. That involves some realignment of the way we ar -
Sites: Recordstore Vs HMV
Dean Browell, Executive vice-president at Feedback shares his view of good and bad websites. -
Specsavers successfully sues Asda for trademark infringement
Specsavers intends to claim damages following a legal win against Asda, after the grocer used the trademark ‘spec saver’ phrase in an optical advertising campaign. -
Style and value have global appeal
George is taking the core values that drove UK success to overseas markets, says Andrew Moore. -
Tesco expands international technology for F&F
Tesco has signed a technology deal to support the expansion of its F&F brand international. -
Tesco market share slips
Tesco’s grocery market share has dropped significantly in the face of fierce competition according to new figures from Kantar Worldpanel. -
Tesco moves UK operations head Robbins
Tesco chief operating officer Bob Robbins will move roles within the business just three weeks after it was revealed he sold stock ahead of a profit warning. -
Textiles tycoon in surprise Peacocks bid
Textiles tycoon Alshair Fiyaz has teamed up with Danish investment fund Solstra Capita to bid for collapsed retailer Peacocks. -
The good Dr
Dr Martens and others like it offer a prescription for success. -
The Tesco test
Tesco lost ground in the UK over Christmas, but are mid-sized superstores well placed to help it bounce back? John Ryan reports. -
The Works reveals new chief executive and strong Christmas performance
Discount bookseller The Works has revealed a strong Christmas trading update as its “great value and exciting products” attracted customers. -
Think local, think loyal
Local loyalty schemes can bring footfall and revenue to beleaguered high streets, but are they worth the cost and how can they realise their full potential? Rebecca Thomson finds out. -
Tiffany What Makes Love True
Retailers’ use of social networks can veer towards the uncreative, but every so often a brand will stand out from the crowd. -
Video: Halfords airs first Autocentres ads
Halfords has aired its first TV advert promoting its Autocentres. -
What are the considerations of delivery direct from store?
I have considered introducing the dispatch of stock from our stores to customers. What should I be thinking about? -
WHSmith boss Kate Swann sells £2.3m worth of shares
WHSmith chief executive Kate Swann sold more than £2.3m worth of her shares, triggering a 22p drop in the retailer’s share price to 537p yesterday.
