Week in Review

April 24, 2022

Share This Newsletter

Week in Review | Apr. 23, 2022

Retail spending and inflation figures are indicative of the industry as a whole. Despite overall inflation, many apparel brands and retailers are still seeing good sales growth – and could continue to do so this year.

RETAIL

Uniqlo (Japan) plans to open 400 to 500 stores annually in key international markets. It plans to add 30 new stores each year in North America.

Pepco Group (The Netherlands), the owner of Pepco, Poundland and Dealz, has pledged to ‘protect prices’ after reporting a 17.% rise in first-half revenue driven by new store openings.

Victoria’s Secret (USA) has launched a new brand, Happy Nation, aimed at tweens ages eight through 13. The collection, available online only, is size-inclusive and gender-free and includes sweats, swim, bras, undies and family-friendly body care products. Prices range from $5 to about $40.

Why DTC Brands are Heading to Malls

Back in 2019, ‘mall’ was seen as a ‘four letter word’. So why are they suddenly back in fashion?

It seems that the surge in ecommerce over the past two to three years has pushed up digital marketing costs – and pushed brands back to physical retail.

Retail leases are still fairly cheap as we head out of the pandemic – and opportunity for brands to expand. Read more

FINANCE

Fast Retailing’s (Japan) net profit rose 38.7%, to $1.17 billion for the six months ended Feb 28.

PVH Corp (USA) announced plans for a total revenue target of $12.5 billion by 2025. The company’s PVH+ plan will be leveraging the global strength of its Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger brands.

Lululemon (Canada) plans to double its revenue by 2026 to $12.5 billion. The company has outlined what it calls its “Power of Three x2” strategy, which will focus on product innovation, customer experience and market expansion.

Gap Inc. (USA) cut its first-quarter guidance, citing the “macro-economic dynamics” as well as the execution challenges at the Old Navy brand.

Net sales growth guidance of approximately low to mid-teens year-on-year declines, compared to prior guidance of mid to high single digit year-on-year declines.

Missguided (UK) is on the brink of collapse and has appointed advisers to explore options. The fast fashion company had global sales of £287 million ($368 million) in the year to last March, mostly in the UK and US.

PODCAST

How to Drive Up Return on Digital Marketing with Predictive Analytics

Customer acquisition costs have gotten so high that it’s been driving digital brands to open physical stores – which is now seen as the less expensive way to attract new customers.

John Readman, Founder & Product Owner at Ask BOSCO has worked with some of the world’s largest brands – including Asos, Pepsi, BMW, Superdry, Honda, HP, Toyota, Argos and Sigma Sports – helping them shape their online proposition and increase their e-commerce performance.

In this podcast he talks about:

Why the money is in the conversion not the clicks.
How competing for keywords is helping Google and Facebook – not you.
Why every brand needs a ‘marketplace strategy’
How predictive marketing is helping brands maximise the return on their digital marketing spend.

🎧 Listen to the podcast

MARKETS

Wage increases are helping support retail sales in the face of rising inflation. However if inflation continues to rise, it could start to take a toll on sales in the second half of the year.

US retail spending rose 0.3% in March, following a 0.7% gain in February, the Commerce Dept said.

Spiraling inflation has been highlighted as a ‘clear and present danger’ to the global economy by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The EU is the hardest hit as prices rise on the back of the crisis in the Ukraine.

The World Bank slashed its expectations for global economic growth to just 3.2% this year, compared to last year’s estimated 5.7% growth, as the Ukraine war, widespread inflation and the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic stifle growth.