09. September

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Amazon hit the headlines when Retail Week revealed that it too was to have a physical presence in the UK with the launch of order collection lockers.

How the west was won

Westfield Stratford City

Westfield Stratford finally opened its doors, attracting more than 160,000 shoppers on its first day. Queues were forming hours before the 300 stores opened in the £1.45bn scheme. Waitrose managing director Mark Price told Retail Week his store was ‘mobbed’ on the first day, and M&S chief executive Marc Bolland described it as a “very strong retail development for London”.

Amazon hit the headlines – and continued to keep its competitors on their toes – when Retail Week revealed that it too was to have a physical presence in the UK with the launch of order collection lockers. It followed an agreement with Land Securities to install them in various locations throughout London.

“Cash is king in a recession. More an emperor than a king in this one”
Allan Leighton, former Asda boss

Next boss Lord Wolfson flagged up the difficulties higher student fees would bring for the young fashion market, saying he expected profits at Next’s young fashion business Lipsy to fall this year as young people shoulder the financial burden.

As the countdown to Christmas and the festive trading season began, retailers were facing what was expected to be another nail-biting countdown. While there was optimism that consumers would spend – despite 2011 not exactly providing the best run-up to Christmas – it’s been a difficult year and retailers have needed to pull out all the stops to entice shoppers.

Multichannel was again given a high profile in September, when New Look launched its click-and-collect service in 600 stores and Wickes attracted attention with its new, smaller multichannel format. The DIY retailer planned to ditch 1.4 million sq ft of space because its online business reduces the need for physical store space, with the aim to expand with a smaller format that relies heavily on click-and-collect. Carpetright was another retailer trying new things, as chairman and chief executive Lord Harris launched a play for the beds market under the banner ‘Sleepright by Carpetright’. The move was the latest attempt by a home furnishings specialist to go beyond its core specialism to try and deal with the difficult market.