Event Coverage | January 9, 2019 Register for Free Access CES 2019 Day 3: Five Cool Things You Need to KnowAI promises to make businesses smarter and free humanity of many mindless, repetitive jobs. This means people who do mindless, repetitive tasks will need to find something else to do. The good news is, AI will also create new, higher-skilled jobs, such as building and maintaining the AI systems. Read More
Market Outlook | January 8, 2019 Premium Sector Overview: European Retail — Germany’s Shoppers Cut BackApparently alarmed by world events such as Brexit and tariff wars, and in a context of slowly climbing inflation, German consumers have retrenched their discretionary spending. Read More
Event Coverage | January 8, 2019 Register for Free Access CES 2019: Five Innovative Technology Startups From Day 2Chronolife has a device to help people with chronic or congestive heart failure (CHF) by anticipating medical emergencies with its wearable Chronolife vest. The Parcel Guard is a smart mailbox designed to prevent “porch pirates” — people who steal packages from your front porch. P&G Ventures, Procter & Gamble’s startup division, unveiled at-home skincare device Opté Precision Skincare System (Opté). Capstone Connected Home launched the Smart Mirror, a mirror integrated with Google Assistant with touchscreen capabilities. The Bread Bot, developed by Wilkinson Baking Company, a fully automated robotic bread-making machine that bakes and sells bread like a vending machine. Read More
Event Coverage | January 8, 2019 Register for Free Access CES 2019 Day 2: Five Cool Things You Need to KnowSeveral major electronics companies (including LG, TCL and Samsung) announced ultra-high definition TVs with 8K resolution (which offer four times the number of pixels of a 4K TV). This resolution is especially suitable for larger screens (55” and larger.) An interesting development, but could be a while before you can enjoy the full 8K experience, given that 4K content is available through only a small number of broadcasters — and requires a high-speed Internet connection of at least 25 Mbps. Read More
Event Coverage | January 7, 2019 Register for Free Access CES 2019: Five Innovative Technology Startups From Day 1The Coresight Research team is attending CES 2019 (formerly, the Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas this week. Here are some of the notable startups and startup trends we saw on day one: Snips offers voice assistant technology as a white-labelled solution for enterprise device manufactures. Dreamlight provides a “smart” sleep mask, a complex sleep-aid system that uses lighting and sound to help people sleep better. Lululab showed offLumini, an artificial intelligence skincare assistant that analyzes facial skin to make personalized skincare product recommendations. Read More
Event Coverage | January 7, 2019 Register for Free Access CES 2019 Day 1: Five Cool Things You Need to KnowThere has already been a proliferation of voice-controlled digital devices, such as intelligent digital assistants. With the advance of the Internet of Things, we will start to see connected devices communicating with each other. Read More
Company Profile | January 1, 2019 Premium Seven & i Holdings (TSE: 3382) Company ProfileSeven & i Holdings Co. Ltd. was founded in 2005 through the merger of Ito-Yokado Co. Ltd., Seven-Eleven Japan Co. Ltd. and Denny’s Japan Co. Ltd. Headquartered in Tokyo, the company operates retail, food, financial and IT businesses. Seven & i Holdings operates convenience stores, superstores, supermarkets, department stores, restaurants and other operations worldwide. The company had around 21,800 stores of various types in Japan as of Feb. 28, 2018, and around 66,200 stores in other parts of the world as of Dec. 31, 2017. Read More
Company Profile | January 1, 2019 Premium EssilorLuxottica (ENXTPA: EL) Company ProfileEssilor Luxottica is formed by the merger of Essilor and Luxottica, two distinctive and disruptive companies in the vision care sector. Essilor designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of lenses. Its flagship brands are Varilux, Crizar, Transitions, Eyezen, Xperio, Foster Grant, Bolon and Costa. Essilor is also involved in development of equipments, instruments and services for eyecare professionals. Luxottica Group is a designer, manufacturer and distributor of fashion, luxury, sports and performance eyewear. The company operates under two segments—manufacturing and wholesale distribution in addition to retail distribution. Read More
Company Profile | January 1, 2019 Premium Ascena Retail Group, Inc. (NasdaqGS: ASNA) Company ProfileAscena is a specialty retailer offering apparel, shoes and accessories for women and tween girls under four segments: Premium Fashion, Value Fashion, Plus Fashion and Kids Fashion. The company operates approximately 4,600 stores int the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico through the brands Ann Taylor, Loft, Maurices, Dressbarn, Lane Bryant, Catherines, and Justice brands. It also sells online, including anntaylor.com, LOFT.com, louandgrey.com, maurices.com, dressbarn.com, lanebryant.com, catherines.com, and shopjustice.com. The company was founded in 1962 and is based in Mahwah, New Jersey. It was known as Dress Barn, Inc. until 2011, when it changed its name to Ascena Retail Group, Inc. Read More
Company Profile | January 1, 2019 Premium Alimentation Couche-Tard (TSX: ATD.B) Company ProfileAlimentation Couche-Tard Inc., founded in 1980 and headquartered in Laval, Quebec, operates convenience stores and fuel stations under banners such as Circle K, Couche-Tard, Holiday, Ingo, Mac’s, Re.Store and Topaz. The company offers grocery items, food and beverages, fuel, lottery tickets, automated teller machines and car wash services. Alimentation Couche-Tard operates in North America, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Russia and Lithuania. As of Oct. 14, 2018, the company operated 9,943 convenience stores in North America that employed around 105,000 staff and 2,718 convenience stores in Europe that employed around 25,000 staff. Read More
Company Profile | December 31, 2018 Premium Dufry (SIX: DUFN) Company ProfileDufry AG is a Switzerland-based company engaged in the travel retail business under the Dufry, Nuance, World Duty Free, Hellenic Duty Free and Hudson banners, among others. The company operates more than 2,300 duty-free and duty-paid retail shops located in airports, cruise liners, seaports and other tourist locations. Its product assortments include beauty, confectionery, liquor, tobacco, watches and jewelry, electronics, toys and apparel, and publications such as newspapers, magazines and books. Dufry operates in five geographic divisions: Southern Europe and Africa; UK and Central Europe; Eastern Europe, Middle East, Asia and Australia; Latin America; and North America. Read More
Company Profile | December 31, 2018 Premium Casino Group (ENXTPA: CO) Company ProfileCasino Guichard-Perrachon SA is a French multinational food and general merchandise retailer that operates hypermarkets, supermarkets, convenience stores, cash-and-carry outlets and e-commerce stores. The group’s banners include Monoprix, Casino Supermarchés, Carulla, Pão de Açúcar, Franprix, Vival, Spar, Le Petit Casino, Minuto Pão de Açúcar and Assaí. As of December 2017, the group owned more than 12,200 stores in France, Latin America and the Indian Ocean region, including more than 9,200 stores in France alone. It operates the general merchandise website Cdiscount in France. Read More
Analyst Corner | November 28, 2018 Register for Free Access Weinswig’s Weekly Nov 23, 2018FROM THE DESK OF DEBORAH WEINSWIG Hacker Group Magecart Poses Threat to Retailers and Consumers Alike Hacker groups operating under the Magecart umbrella have been targeting retailers and consumers. Although not yet a household name, Magecart has been modifying software on e-commerce websites to skim credit card information since 2014. The hackers sell the stolen… Read More
Flash Report | November 28, 2018 Register for Free Access Sears Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy ProtectionOn Monday, October 15, Sears Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Sears Holdings said that it plans to reorganize around a smaller store platform of EBITDA-positive stores, and will close 142 unprofitable stores toward the end of the year; this is in… Read More
Deep Dive | November 20, 2018 Premium NetEase, Alibaba and JD.com March into Private LabelChinese Tech Giants Develop Private Labels Chinese tech giants NetEase, Alibaba and JD.com have all begun developing their own private labels in recent years: NetEase launched NetEase Yanxuan, which translates into “strictly selected by NetEase” in 2016, officially kicking off the private-label game with a designated online shopping website. Alibaba launched its private-label online marketplace… Read More