What used to be one of the busiest physical shopping days of the year has fallen flat in 2021 as fears over the latest coronavirus variant and other issues kept shoppers at home.
Japan's retail sales rose faster than expected in November, thanks to decreasing Covid-19 cases in the month, which have encouraged shoppers to ramp up spending on goods and services.
US retail sales rose 8.5% during this year’s holiday shopping season from November 1 to December 24, powered by soaring e-commerce sales, a report by Mastercard Inc said on Sunday.
The UK’s Marks & Spencer has announced its first £850 million revolving credit facility, directly linked to the delivery of net zero targets.
Three years of democracy protests followed by a pandemic have devastated Hong Kong retailers who had grown used to relying on cash from mainland Chinese tourists.
UK consumers were defying Omicron and going out to shop on Christmas Eve, perhaps justifying the strategy of those retailers that had held their nerve and resisted heavy discounting pre-Christmas.
It’s official — Thailand’s Central and Austria’s Signa are buying Selfridges Group from the Weston family. The transaction “will create one of the world’s leading omnichannel luxury department store groups”.
NewRiver has been busy selling off some of its shopping centre interests. The London-based real estate investment trust has sold Poole Retail Park in Dorset and Templars Square Shopping Centre in Cowley, Oxfordshire.
Fashion editor and prominent blogger Janina Nectara has won a significant battle with the world of finance as a campaign succeeded in putting the first named woman ever on a Romanian banknote.
Figures on Wednesday revealed that despite general trends showing UK consumers shunning busy shopping destinations, London West End footfall was higher on Tuesday than it had been exactly a week earlier.
Speculation has resurfaced that THG (formerly The Hut Group) could be taken private again by its founder with the firm’s battered share price rising as investors buy in hopes of a privately-backed buyout.
M&S has sent out a further signal about its focus on digital with the news that it has added a key new role in its Digital & Data team. Krista Nordlund is its new chief digital product officer and joins in the New Year.
Landsec has acquired an extra 25% stake in the giant Bluewater mall in Kent, buying out Lendlease Retail Partnership for £172 million.
With consumer concerns over the spread of Omicron, it’s no surprise retailers and couriers are experiencing a late “avalanche” of last-minute gift deliveries as visits to physical stores collapse by 25%.
It’s been a disappointing end to the retail year as Omicron devastated any hopes that November’s positive expectations would accelerate. That’s the unsurprisingly bleak reading from the latest CBI monthly survey.
