Executive Summary

• This week’s note “From the Desk of Deborah Weinswig” discusses the imminent start of the official holiday shopping season this weekend.
• Turkey is just one tradition for the Thanksgiving holiday; many US stores planned to open on Thursday night for shoppers looking to get a jump on Black Friday sales.
• UK retail sales grew by 2.6% year over year in October. Total growth softened from 4.7% in September, largely due to unusually warm weather in October.
• Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is continuing its expansion into offline retail, spending $2.88 billion to acquire a 36.16% stake in one of China’s most prolific operators of hypermarket stores, Sun Art Retail Group.