Global consumer confidence is continuing to rise, according to Morning Consult research.
- European consumers are feeling more confident as inflation cools and recession risks recede.
- In the US consumer confidence remains steady, but wobbled a bit in March due to recent bank failures.
- In China, strong retail and consumer spending prompted economists to revise up growth forecasts for 2023.
What we’re watching: Whether this ‘sentiment’ will boost retail sales, or simply mean that consumers are feeling less pessimistic, but remain cautious.
FINANCE
Hermes (France) reported Q1 sales rose 23% year-on-year to €3.4 billion ($3.6 billion), driven by the reopening of China. Demand has been so strong that the company is opening more factories to boost supplies.
LVMH (France) reported Q1 sales increased 17% to €21 billion (US$23 billion)
Super Dry (UK) has warned that it is unlikely to make a profit this year. The brand is looking to raise funds by by offering new shares worth up to 20% of its market value – just under £14.5 million ($
- The company said that February and March sales showed “significant” year-on-year growth, but were still below expectations.
Fast Retailing (Japan) has raised its full year outlook to 2.68 trillion yen ($20 billion), up 16% year-on-year – and a 1.1% increase over its January outlook of 2.65 trillion yen.
- The retailer’s H1 (Sept to Feb) net income rose 4% to 153 billion yen, exceeding analysts’ forecasts. Revenue rose 20% year-on-year to 1.47 trillion yen.
Walmart (USA) has sold Bonobos to WHP Global (USA) and Express (USA) for $75 million. Walmart had purchased the DTC menswear brand in 2017 for $$310 million
Rent-The-Runway (USA) reported a Q4 net loss of $26.2 million, an improvement over a loss of $39.3 million a year earlier.
- Sales rose 18% to $75.4 million from last year.
- The retailer expects Q1 revenue in the range of $72 million to $74 million.
RETAIL TECH
Retailers Lean In to Automation
From the rapid growth of self-service cashier stations to more advanced operations, as well as powering warehouses, retail automation is seeing a surge of new innovations from technology companies and new interest from retailers.
A new study shows that retailers anticipate a significant increase in automation and expect up to 70% of routine tasks will be partially or fully automated by 2025.
They expect to leverage the labor and productivity benefits by re-deploying associates to customer-facing high-value tasks (18% of retailers) and support business operations (26% of retailers). Read more
PODCAST
Your Corporate Culture Might Be Sabotaging Your Market Strategy
For most companies simply trying to develop a successful business strategy while facing constantly shifting market conditions is challenging enough – without having to think about their corporate culture.
However, rethinking our corporate culture could be that game-changer that actually gets us to our goals.
In this episode Hiton Barbour, a marketing and communications strategist who has worked for a long list of Fortune 100 companies, talks about how to do this.
You’ll Learn
- How companies lose their corporate culture – and how they can build it back
- The game-changing benefits of getting internal communication right.
- How to build an actionable strategy – and get your entire team to lean in to it.
MARKETS
Major banks continue to warn of a looming recession in the U.S., currently set to arrive later this year. Citibank CEO Jane Fraser told investors that the US will enter into a shallow recession after JP Morgan forecast “storm clouds” gathering in the wake of the recent banking crisis (… a crisis that to a great extent was created by the financial sector).
- The Federal Reserve issued a similar outlook, even as inflation continued to ease.
The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) latest World Economic Outlook highlighted some areas of caution in the global economy, with the focus on risks from banking instability, sticky core inflation and rising public debt levels.
- Global growth is now forecast to slow from 3.4% in 2022 to 2.8% in 2023, before ticking up slightly to 3.0% in 2024.
📣 Promote your brand, build your business – with Inside Fashion newsletter sponsorships.
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