Insight Report | February 18, 2019 Premium January 2019 UK Retail Sales: Solid Growth for Grocery and ClothingJanuary was a solid month for the core sectors of grocery and clothing, though the substantial department stores/mixed-goods retailers sector turned negative; the latter may not surprise watchers of John Lewis’s weekly sales figures, which ranged from meaningfully negative to mildly positive across most of January. Read More
Insight Report | February 18, 2019 Premium December 2018 US Retail Sales: Year-Over-Year Growth Slows to Just 1.0% as Most Sectors Experience a Sluggish DecemberOur measure of core retail sales is non-seasonally-adjusted sales excluding gasoline and automobiles. This metric increased by just 1.0% year over year in December, slowing dramatically from the growth in preceding months, including a 5.2% uplift in November. This resulted in total holiday-period sales coming in at $693 billion, up by just 2.9% year over year. Read More
Insight Report | February 12, 2019 Premium January 2019 US Same-Store Sales: Costco Misses Consensus, L Brands Comps DeclineCostco’s January comps misses expectations but e-commerce continues to shine Read More
Market Navigators/Market Outlook | January 31, 2019 Premium Sector Overview: North American Food Retailers — Cross-Channel Retailing Is Emerging as the Dominant ModelEach Sector Overview report provides an analysis of a particular retail sector or consumer market. This report covers the North American grocery sector, concentrating on the US. Our coverage focuses on supermarket retailers with some discussion of other grocery channels. Mass merchandisers, warehouse clubs and discount stores are covered in a separate Sector Overview report. Read More
Flash Report | January 30, 2019 Register for Free Access Unilever Expands Home Care Portfolio with the Acquisition of The LaundressOn January 28, Unilever announced it had acquired The Laundress, a premium detergent and fabric care company headquartered in New York. The Laundress was founded in 2004 by Gwen Whiting and Lindsey Boyd after two years of research yielded a non-toxic line of laundry and home cleaning products. The portfolio now includes over 85 eco-friendly products. Unilever said The Laundress will continue to operate from its New York City headquarters and that the two founders will remain in place to lead the business and operate the brand’s flagship store in New York. Read More
Insight Report | January 29, 2019 Premium New Retail Briefing # 2: Alibaba Steps Up Partnerships, NetEase Kaola Opens Flagship StoreAlibaba launched the “A100 Strategic Partnership” program in January 2019 to help partner brands digitalize by giving them access to resources within its ecosystem so participating brands can access Alibaba services in 11 areas to enhance online-offline business integration. Alibaba will also assign a dedicated team to serve each participating brand. Read More
Flash Report | January 29, 2019 Register for Free Access Legacy UK Retailers Tesco and Marks & Spencer Think Radically to Expand Margins and Revive Revenue GrowthIn a press release on January 29, Tesco confirmed plans to close fresh-food counters in around 90 stores, with 700 further stores retaining a “full or flexible” counter offer. It will also simplify stock management at store level, close store canteens and make job cuts at its head office. The company estimates that up to 9,000 roles could be impacted but it expects up to half of these people could be redeployed. Read More
Insight Report | January 28, 2019 Premium December 2018 Monthly Consumer Update: US, UK and ChinaRetail Sales: The U.S. government shutdown means that December retail sales figure are not yet available. In November, year-over-year growth in retail sales excluding automobiles and gasoline remained broadly stable at 5.1%. In November, grocery store sales were up 3.0% and clothing store sales up were 4.1%; department store sales were down 0.2% year over year. Read More
Deep Dive | January 28, 2019 Free Report 10 Retail Trends for 2019: Get Ready for Retail ReinventionGet ready for better stores and better retailing. We expect 2019 to be a year of reinvention — and not just for the retail sector as a whole, but for physical stores in particular. As we outline over the following pages, we anticipate that the year will be marked by spectacular retail, fast retail and smart retail. Read More
Flash Report | January 28, 2019 Register for Free Access Super Bowl Retail Preview: US Shoppers to Spend $14.8 Billion on 2019 Game FestivitiesThe biggest spenders are those aged 35–44, who say they will spend an average of $123.26. The lowest are those 65 and older at $40.97. Viewers in the Northeast plan to spend the most, at an average $94.89, followed by the West at $84.01, the South at $79.09 and the Midwest at $69.24 — not surprising given the two teams playing are based in the Northeast and Southwest. Read More
Insight Report | January 25, 2019 Premium 10 Trends for China E-Commerce 2019We expect 2019 will be a dynamic year for e-commerce in China. Consumers have high expectations and competition is stiffening. Here are 10 trends we think will shape China’s e-commerce landscape in 2019: Read More
Insight Report | January 25, 2019 Premium December 2018 US Monthly Retail Traffic and In-Store Metrics Report: Traffic Recovers After an Early-December LullU.S. store-based traffic and sales declined in December, while the conversion rate declined by 0.7 percentage points, according to RetailNext. ATV grew 3.1%, maintaining its strong showing since October. The rate of product returns climbed significantly, by 1 percentage point, its biggest increase since November 2017. Read More
Flash Report | January 24, 2019 Register for Free Access JD.com Takes Flight in Indonesia with Drone Delivery TrialJD.com’s drone delivery is the first time a Chinese drone has been used for delivery in Southeast Asia, and is also the first time the Indonesian government has granted permission to use a drone for logistics purpose. Read More
Event Coverage | January 23, 2019 Register for Free Access AI Creates Smarter Living: Takeaways from the TechLIFEStyle Conference in Hong KongThe Coresight Research team attended TechLIFEStyle conference, part of StartmeupHK, held in Hong Kong January 22, 2019. StartmeupHK is an initiative launched by InvestHK to promote Hong Kong as a startup destination, connecting entrepreneurs and investors. The theme of the event was “living smarter, living better,” looking at how lifestyle technology can be woven into everyday life. These are some highlights of the event. Read More
Insight Report | January 21, 2019 Premium UK Holiday 2018 Retail Sales and Trading Wrap-Up: December Growth Slows as Uncertainty Accelerates Structural Shift Away from the MidmarketMomentum in the retail sector decelerated meaningfully in December, as measured by both value and volume (real terms). Value sales growth slowed from 4.2% in November to 2.1% in December. This was despite a number of retailers reporting a better month in December following an unusually tough November. Across November and December in aggregative (our definition of the holiday period), sales were up 3.0% year over year. Read More
