Week in Review

October 30, 2022

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Week in Review | Oct. 30, 2022

Shoppers are heading to stores for holiday shopping, attracted, at least in part, by a festive atmosphere, according to JLL

FINANCIAL

Amazon (USA) reported Q3 revenue rose 7% year-on-year to $53.5 billion.

Net income fell 9% to $2.9 billion, while operating income dropped 48% to $2.5 billion.
Amazon warned that Q4 operating income could fall to between $0 and $4 billion.

The Very Group (UK) is said to be planning an IPO in the middle of next year that could value it at £4 billion (US$4.9 billion).

In the year to July overall sales were up 4.8% from pre-pandemic levels at £1.8 billion. Profits rose 2.2% from a year earlier to £63.9 million.

Frasers Group (UK) said it will take a stake in Asos (UK) of greater than 5%. The group raised its stake in Hugo Boss (Germany) to 32.8%, from previously 30%.

Shein (China) is believed to hit revenue of $24 billion this year, however the privately held company does not disclose audit financial statements.

The company, which sells direct to consumer, claims to have a 98% sell through rate.

Shopify (Canada) rebounded in Q3 with total revenue up 22% year over year to 1.4 billion. Adjusted net loss was lower than expected at $30.0 million.

FASHION RETAIL

Luxury Hedges Its Bets

For the past two decades when luxury brands looked to the future their sites were trained on China.

Then the pandemic hit, followed by ongoing lockdowns in China and economic growth dropped from 5-6% annually to a forecast mere 2% increase for 2022, with 2023 not looking much more optimistic.

China might have been the biggest, however Russian consumers were also solid buyers of luxury brands, either at home or on shopping trips to Europe.

Cross border e-commerce has been one lifeline for brands who want to reach consumers who are not able to make their regular shopping trips to London, Paris or Milan.

In addition, luxury brands looked for alternative markets and it seems that some of the investment that was slated for China has found new opportunities in the U.S. and in emerging markets. READ MORE

RETAIL

Shoppers Stop (India) plans to open 12 to 15 department stores every year for the next three years. The retailer is the nation’s oldest department store chain.

Gymshark (UK) opened its first permanent bricks-and-mortar store, an 18,000 sq ft mega store on London’s Regent Street.

Philipp Plein (Germany) plans to open 300 stores for his Plein Sports brand in 2023. The first 10 stores will open in Europe in January and February.

PODCAST

A Framework to Take Projects from Vision to Reality

There’s an old saying ‘Same bed, Different dreams’. That is often the case with teams. You have a group of enthusiastic players but each has their own vision of what the outcome should look like.

The result can be a lack of efficiency, a failure to meet deadlines or realise any outcome at all – or even conflict.

In this podcast Curtis Jenkins, business coach and author of Vision to Reality: Stop Working and Start Living, talks about how to get everyone involved in a project to visualize the same outcome.

You’ll Learn:

Why many companies fail to bring their goals to fruition.
The importance of mental preparation before implementation.
The ‘Vision to Reality’ framework – and how any business can apply this.

And a lot more…

🎧 Listen to the podcast

MARKETS

Europe’s inflation soared more than expected in Germany, France and Italy, sparking warnings that the European Central Bank (ECB) will raise interest rates faster than expected.

Inflation in Italy hit 12.8% this month – the highest since current records began in 1996. Germany hit 11.6% and France 7.1%.
This week the ECB doubled interest rates – raising them from 0.75 per cent to 1.5 per cent.
ECB official Peter Kazimir warned the rate hikes were ‘like a runaway train’ yesterday, and said that ‘Rates will go even higher in December and the first months of next year.’

The US economy returned to growth in Q3, expanding by 2.6%.