It seems like yesterday when employers were wringing their hands over the ‘great resignation’.
Now employers are hoping that some of their staff will quit, per the Wall Street Journal.
Economic uncertainty has companies reducing headcount, while at the same time employees are more reluctant to leave jobs.
Both hiring and attrition have dropped since the July 2022 peak and continued to slow down through October, per Revelio Labs’ data.
FINANCE
Primark (UK) reported full year sales rose 17% to £9 billion ($11 billion) for the year ending September 2023. Profits soared 30% to £717 million ($876 million). The retailer said the customers accepted ‘selective price increases’.
Tapestry (USA) reported Q1 2024 net sales rose 2% to $1.51 billion. Net income was flat at $195 million.
Marks & Spencer (UK) reported H1 pre-tax profits rose 56% to £360 million ($440 million) for the period ending Sept 30.
- Clothing rose 5.5%, with particularly strong performances in holiday wear and denim. Profit margins increased to more than 12% from 9.8% as fewer items had to be sold on discount.
HanesBrands (USA) reported Q3 net sales fell 9.5% to $1.51 billion. The company lost $39 million in the quarter, compared with a $80 million profit a year ago. HanesBrands performance was dragged down by a 17% decrease in activewear sales.
The White Stuff (UK) said sales rose 13% to £151.4 million ($185 million) for its most recent fiscal year. The retailer attributed this to shoppers heading back to High Street retailers. Profits more than doubled to £7 million ($8.5 million). Sales of dresses rose 42%, while menswear sales rose 28%.
Dillard’s (USA) reported Q3 fell 6% for $1.4 billion. Net income fell 17.3% to $155 million. The company said juniors and children’s apparel were the weakest categories.
Richemont (Switzerland) reported Q3 sales fell 2% to €4.9 billion ($5.2 billion). In the six months to Sept 30, sales rose 6% to €10.2 billion ($11 million), below analysts expectations. Net profits for H1 were €1.51 billion ($1.6 billion).
Allbirds (USA) reported Q3 revenue fell 22% to $57 million. Net loss rose 25% to $31.6 million. The company expects net revenue to drop between 15% and 22%.
PODCAST
Push Notifications are the Key to Driving Mobile Commerce Sales
In the competitive world of mobile commerce success is now being driven by push notifications powered by new mobile apps.
The idea is to grab consumers’ attention and get them to take immediate action. That means not only having e-commerce apps on people’s phones, but making them extremely user-friendly.
In this episode Campbell Paton, Co-Founder and CEO of StoreLab, which helps e-commerce companies maximize mobile commerce, talks about the power of push notifications.
You’ll Learn:
- Why push notifications are outperforming email – and SMS messages.
- How mobile commerce is changing the game for e-commerce.
- Guidelines and best practices for optimizing your mobile commerce apps.
RETAIL
Klarna (Sweden), the buy-now-pay-later company, has achieved its first quarterly profit in four years, in the run-up to a potential $15 billion stock market flotation.
The National Retail Federation (USA) has predicted holiday spending will increase 3-4% driven by high employment levels and rising wages.
Express (USA) will debut in Paraguay and Indonesia through licensing deals with local partners.
Adidas (Germany) said it will not sell any more Yeezy sneakers this year after making €750 million ($801 million) in the first nine months from selling the products of its defunct collaboration with Kanye West.
E-COMMERCE
Alibaba Hits New GMV High During 11:11
Taobao and Tmall say that putting the focus on the consumer helped drive sales during this year’s shopping festival, despite a tough economic environment.
Consumers were purchasing ‘value-for-money’ products. Merchants leaned heavily on livestreaming to add an entertainment component that has become an increasingly important part of winning sales during this highly competitive shopping event.
- China’s State Post Bureau said that express delivery volume hit a record high during the festival. Between Nov. 1 to Nov. 11, parcel volume swelled to 5.26 billion packages, 23.22% higher than a year earlier.
- Taobao and Tmall’s direct discount venue offering a 15% price reduction recorded 210 million orders, while the venue featuring value-for-money products from manufacturers generated nearly 90 million orders.
- As of 00:00 am China Standard Time (CST) on Nov. 11, 402 brands surpassed RMB 100 million ($13.72 million) in GMV each, while 38,000 brands more than doubled their GMV year-on-year.
MARKETS
The Bank of England’s chief economist has signalled that interest rates will not need to rise further as 5.25% is already enough to ‘bear down on inflation’.
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