Executive Summary

• This week’s note “From the Desk of Deborah Weinswig” focuses on three trends that our global teams—which are currently preparing our holiday 2016 reports—expect to have an impact on US consumers this holiday season.
• This holiday shopping season is expected to be led by the millennials, who will help drive the highest e-commerce sales revenue yet. A recent study found that more than one-fifth (21%) of millennials started their holiday shopping by November 1 last year and that more than a third (38%) started their shopping before Black Friday.
• US fragrance and cosmetics group Coty has acquired London-based GHD for US$510 million. GHD, short for Good Hair Day, produces electrical hair appliances. The company generated 2015 revenues of US$219 million and has seen 30% revenue growth during the past three years.
• ZTO Express, which delivers parcels for Alibaba and JD.com, is planning an IPO in the US later this month that could raise as much as US$1.5 billion. China is the world’s largest express delivery market, with 21 billion parcels delivered in 2015.