Week in Review

April 10, 2022

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Week in Review | Apr. 10, 2022

Retail sales are continuing to rebalance to pre-pandemic spending patterns – particularly a return to stores and an uptick in spending on services, according to Mastercard Spending Pulse.

FINANCE

Ted Baker (UK) is attracting more suitors with Marks & Spencer (UK) and Next (UK) tipped as potential buyers. Analysts expected bids for the retailer to be in excess of £314 million.

Next has a joint venture with Gap in the UK and also owns a 25% stake in Reiss (UK).
Marks & Spencer has been moving towards becoming a platform for third-party brands.

Asos (UK) and Boohoo (UK) could become targets of short-sellers who analysts say are focusing on brands and retailers who have little to no pricing power as they are most vulnerable to rising costs and weaker consumer demand.

PODCAST

How to Build Team Engagement that Makes Employees Feel Connected and Valued

There’s a lot of focus these days on the number of people who are quitting their jobs.

But even people who haven’t quit their jobs are not necessarily happy or engaged.

In this podcast, Paul Glover, C-suite performance coach, talks about how companies can get their team re-energized and back on board.

How leadership can identify blind spots in their organizations that can lead to disengaged employees.
How teams become dysfunctional – and what leadership needs to do to reboot.
Mind hacks and tricks that trial lawyers use to engage and influence juries – and that leaders can use too.
The transformational value of storytelling in the workplace.

🎧 Listen to the podcast

RETAIL

“I was never in doubt that people would welcome the opportunity to dress up again with the opening of events, as well as weddings.” – Brian Brick, CEO, Moss Brothers (commenting on the brand’s sales rebound)

Mall foot traffic showed a strong Q1 rebound. Top-performing U.S. indoor malls saw a 16.8% month-on-month increase from February to March, with open-air lifestyle centers up 18.4% and outlet centers up 26.1%, according to Placer.ai’s Mall Index.

Malls nearly hit March 2019 levels during the week of March 14.
Many indoor malls have returned to profitability.

Marks & Spencer (UK) is moving into the growing resale market through a partnership with kidswear peer-to-peer online platform Dotte.

Scotch & Soda (The Netherlands) plans to open 20 new stores around the world this year.

Moss Brothers (UK) plans to open 10 new stores this year as it said its earnings before tax have more-than-tripled against pre-Covid levels to £17 million for the past year.

The formalwear specialist credits part of its sales growth to the introduction of a new casualwear line.

MARKETS

US retail sales (excluding auto) increased 8.4% year-on-year in March and 18.0% over 2019, according to Mastercard Spending Pulse.

Apparel sales rose 16.0%, while department stores increased 14.0%.
Stores at physical stores rose 11.2% year-on-year and 9.4% compared to March 2019.

UK retail foot traffic showed a 1.2 percentage point improvement in March over February, the British Retail Consortium said. It was still 15.4% below 2019 levels.

Retail parks saw traffic up 5.1 points from February, followed by high streets (+3.1 points) and shopping centers (+4.3).

UK consumer confidence has seen its biggest fall in March since the 2008 Financial Crisis, on worries over inflation, according to a PwC survey.

PwC’s consumer sentiment index declined to -20 after peaking at +10 in June last year.

Eurozone February retail sales inched up 0.3%, following a 0.2% rise in January, missing analysts’ expectations for a 0.6% jump, according to Eurostat data. Retail sales were up 5% from 2021.