What’s happening in retail & with brands – trends for week ending 5th October 2012

October 8, 2012

Company Results

- Abel & Cole have reported a 32% increase in sales to £46.5m for the year to August 2012. EBITDA increased to £4.6m from £2.9m for the same period. (Source: Retail Week) – Arnold Clarke have reported a 1% decrease in sales to £2.25bn for the year 2011. Pre-tax profit increased to £51.7m from £50.5m for the same period. (Source: BBC) – Bargain Booze have reported a 3.9% increase in sales to £395.3m for the year to 30 April 2012. Pre-tax profit decreased by 7.7% to £11.5m for the same period. (Source: The Grocer) – Dunelm have reported a 13.8% increase in total sales to £151.8m for the 13 weeks to 29 September 2012. Like-for-like sales increased by 3% for the same period. – Findel have reported a 7.9% increase in Group sales for the 26 weeks to 28 September 2012. – Halfords have reported a 6.2% increase in Group sales for the 26 weeks to 28 September 2012. Retail sales and like-for-like sales increased by 4.3% and 4.6% respectively for the same period.

- John Lewis have reported a 26.5% increase in sales (including VAT) for the week to 29 September 2012. Fashion, Electricals & Home Technology and Home sales increased by 36%, 31.8% and 13% respectively. Sales at johnlewis.com increased by 48.4%. – New Look have reported a 30% increase in like-for-like EBITDA to £61.1m for the year to August 2012. (Source: The Telegraph) – Sainsbury’s have reported a 4.3% increase in total sales for the 16 weeks to 29 September 2012. Like-for-like sales increased by 1.9% for the same period. – Ted Baker have reported a 15.4% increase in Group sales to £118.6m for the 28 weeks to 11 August 2012. UK and European retail sales increased by 7.9% to £74.7m, ecommerce sales by 82.4% to £6.2m and profit before tax and exceptional costs increased by 10.4% to £9.4m for the same period. – Tesco have reported a 1.4% increase in Group sales (including VAT) to £36bn for the 26 weeks to 25 August 2012. Group pre-tax profit decreased by 11.6% to £1.7bn while UK sales increased by 2.2% to £23.9bn for the same period. – Waitrose have reported a 6.9% increase in sales (including petrol) for the week to 29 September 2012.

Higher sales were reported in many non-fashion categories helped by the weak comparisons. Gifting and leisure were the best performing categories, while beauty and luxury also performed strongly.

Fashion had its best week this year with elevated growth reported by the vast majority of stores. Weak comparisons aside, seasonal ranges continued to sell well with formalwear and footwear the best performing categories.

Homewares registered a marginal fall in trade undoing last week’s gains. Mixed trading patterns occurred with textiles and lighting outperforming, while furniture and accessories struggled.

The recent good run across non-store channels continued with the vast majority of stores recording double-digit growth.

 

Clothing, Footwear & Accessories

- Asos have appointed Brian McBride as their new Chairman, replacing Lord Waheed Alli at the beginning of November 2012. (Source: The Telegraph) – Jacques Vert have appointed Sarah Morris as their Group Trading Director, effective 08 October 2012. (Source: Drapers Online) – Celebrities and fashionistas are getting all strung up this season with the latest pair of killer heels from renowned footwear designer Jimmy Choo. As part of the Cruise 13 collection, Jimmy Choo introduces the Taste sandal worn by Azealia Banks, Elizabeth Banks, Ginnifer Goodwin and Kristin Stewart.

- Joe Brown have appointed Michael Bates as their new Managing Director and have appointed former Managing Director, Simon Brown, as their Brand Director. (Source: Retail Week) – Matalan have announced that they are to create 5,000 temporary jobs across their stores in the run up to Christmas. (Source: Retail Gazette) – It is reported that Mint Velvet have opened their 12th standalone store in Reigate, Surrey. (Source: Retail Bulletin) – Clothes Show Live has teamed up with legendary brand UCLA to sponsor ‘The Varsity Project: Emerging Designer Award in association with Clothes Show Live‘. The award is aimed specifically at emerging student designers to give the iconic American style varsity jacket their own unique stamp.

- Ted Baker have opened their first store in Beijing, China. (Source: Express)

Electrical & Entertainment

- Amazon have announced that they are to recruit 10,000 temporary staff over the Christmas period to support high demand at their fulfilment centres in the UK. (Source: The Telegraph) – Dixons Retail Plc have appointed Jaan Ivar Semlitsh as their new Managing Director for Northern Europe.

Food & Drink

- Aldi have announced plans to invest £181m to open 40 new stores and create 4,500 jobs in the UK by the end of 2013. (Source: Financial Times) – It is reported that Morrisons have appointed Gordon Mowat to the newly created role of Managing Director at their M Local business. (Source: Retail Week) – Sainsbury’s have announced that they are to relax their rules on the cosmetic appearance on fresh produce following one of the worst growing seasons British farmers have experienced for decades. (Source: Retail Week)

Household

- Argos have launched a new gifting service for businesses, allowing them to select from 15,000 products to give to their employees and customers for instant redemption. (Source: Retail Bulletin) – Jeff Fagan has joined Go Outdoors as their new Retail Director, effective 01 October 2012. (Source: Retail Week) – Harvey Nichols have announced that they are to open their first Christmas pop-up store in Westfield Merry Hill, West Midlands, effective 06 October 2012. (Source: Retail Bulletin)

- It is reported that Mothercare have appointed Philippe Dayraud as their Global Product & Sourcing Director. (Source: Retail Week) – Optical Express have announced that they are to close 40 stores of their subsidiary business while buying-back the remaining 40 as part of the administration process. (Source: Retail Week) – It is reported that Poundland have opened their new 200,000 square foot distribution centre in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, creating 250 new jobs. (Source: The Grocer) – Sports Direct have acquired 20 stores of JJB Sports from administrator KPMG for £23.7m, saving 550 jobs. (Source: Reuters) – Wiggle have appointed Peter Williams, Dilys Maltby and John Crosby to their newly created advisory board. (Source: Retail Week)

Courtesy of ‘The Thinker‘

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Introducing The New MySpace

September 28, 2012

Last time you probably heard about MySpace, it was sold for $35 million, down from a $550 million buy price just a few years before… Part of that headline was that Justin Timberlake bought into it, and now just over 12 months on, we see the new interface and experience showcased in this video ‘This is MySpace’ along with a registration page to gather emails in readiness for the re-launch.

The experience looks very cool at first glance, it actually makes Facebook look boring, and content/functionality wise, it pairs back to its roots in music, with a focus on finding artists, albums and popular songs and videos. Plus it’s powered by Facebook Connect and Twitter sign-in, so it might be able to pull a few people back in along with their content. Who’s heading back!?

http://www.digitalbuzzblog.com

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Cross Channel Commerce Paradigm.

February 6, 2012

With mobile and social quickly emerging as the new consumer focal points, retailers need to fully understand these channels to develop a cross-channel strategy that maximizes the strengths and potential ROI of both. The previous two Convergent Commerce Series articles, Cross-Channel Plan for Mobile Engagement and The Optimized Mobile User Experience, discussed the need for a cross-channel retail strategy that incorporates online, mobile, brick and mortar and social, and how to successfully implement a mobile channel that holds as the backbone for this new commerce paradigm. Integrating social into the cross-channel commerce strategy does raise some interesting questions: Will consumers utilize Share to Facebook and Twitter from mobile devices? Is there a relationship between frequency of engagement with retailers and the likelihood of following them on a social outlet? Finally, are converted fans then more likely to further interact with the brand by, say, downloading the retailer’s smartphone app?

As Facebook and Twitter gain incredible popularity, social media is increasingly becoming a popular medium for commerce. Last year, Twitter announced that it had 175 million registered users while Facebook currently boasts of more than 800 million active users — all of which fundamentally joined because they are interested in what their friends and family have to share. People spend over 700 billion minutes a month on Facebook, continually posting status updates, checking-in to a location and sharing information seen or heard, and retail commerce is no exception to this.

Since social plug-ins launched in April 2010, an average of 10,000 new web sites integrate with Facebook every day and over 500 million users engage with Facebook monthly through these external web sites. Because there are currently over 350 million users that access Facebook through their mobile phones ― and people who access Facebook through their mobile devices are twice as active as non-mobile users ― retailers should have a Share to Facebook and Twitter functionality on their mobile optimized web sites and rich apps.

By enabling social integration (Share to Facebook, Twitter and Email) in their mobile optimized web site and rich app, a retailer allows customers to share products and services immediately with their entire social network. Consumers who need feedback right away, perhaps looking for that second, third or even tenth opinion on a last minute gift for a friend, are the perfect use cases for social integration into the mobile commerce experience. The ability to share ideas from social to mobile in real-time is imperative for consumers on the go and in the retail store.

From a retailer’s standpoint, social network integration is a great marketing tactic; it is free brand advocacy and gets 130 impressions on average per consumer per post. Like ratings and reviews, it allows retailers to gain valuable market intelligence to further develop a personalized relationship with the consumer. Retailers should interact with their customers through these channels by monitoring and responding to Twitter and Facebook wall posts, solidifying a personal relationship with the customer. In addition, retailers should use their social networks to highlight their commerce channels to their community following. Consumers have no reason to engage in a deeper, more personal relationship with the retailer unless they are enticed with an attached value proposition—so it is up the retailer to create one.

According to a recent IBM Institute survey, consumers look for the following incentives/abilities when following a retailer on a social network:

Trial new products; Receive preferred customer status; Influence product development or changes;
 Provide feedback to a retailer on customer service or store experience;
 Learn of news and industry trends;
 Interact with other consumers; and 
 Share feedback and reviews with people in their social network.

But once retailers entice the consumers to engage with them socially, how do they then influence them to further interact by, as posed earlier, downloading their app? The same method the retailer used to obtain Facebook fans also increases app downloads: advertise app-only promotions on social pages and in the retail store, turn the app into the new store loyalty card, share brand news through the app and invite customers to take customer satisfaction surveys.

Now is the time for retailers to integrate their web, in-store, catalog and mobile channels if they want to provide their customers with a seamless, personalized and convenient shopping experience across all channels, anytime and anywhere. Many top retailers already have successfully enabled a cross-channel retail strategy, including Brooks Brothers, Cabela’s, Petco, Wet Seal and Toys “R” Us, and are leading the way by delivering to customers a great buying experience at all touch points across the brand. Those who do it right will build a customer for life.

Thanks to the guys at www.themobileretailblog.com

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GAP and their iPad APP

September 7, 2011

Image representing iPad as depicted in CrunchBase

Image via CrunchBase

We missed this little gem from GAP. Their new iPad App looks fantastic. The app includes video interviews, social feeds from facebook and twitter amongst all sorts of goodness, but the biggest thing here is that everything is ready for purchase or sharing directly from the iPad app, no matter what piece of content you are looking at.

I would love to see how the guys at GAP can get this APP going with product placement in TV shows. Might be the next thing they are looking into, anyway for now please enjoy…………

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The ecosystem around Facebook is growing at a rapid pace.

August 3, 2011

Image representing Facebook as depicted in Cru...

Image via CrunchBase

Facebook growth stats fill countless blogs, comments and ebooks, and although they have recently lost a few users in certain countries their growth in others is still phenomenal. One of the most interesting developments for us is the ecosystem that is being spawned around the “worlds 3rd largest” country.

It appears that countless agencies, media companies, designers are sprouting up to fulfill the insatiable appetite from businesses for all things Facebook. We believe that this is only the start and businesses are only limited by their imagination. The videos below show some of the ideas that are now live.

 

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The growth of ‘F-commerce’. The history of Facebook commerce.

July 20, 2011

Image representing Facebook as depicted in Cru...

Image via CrunchBase

Social commerce is an area which is estimated to grow to $30 billion by 2015. Obviously a market that is worth looking at; the dominant player ? Our old friend Facebook according to the latest stats Facebook users hit 750 million in July 2011 dispelling the rumours that Facebook was potentially running out of steam.

As mentioned several times on this blog we believe that it is essential that traditional retail get a foothold in this area or risk losing further ground to their online cousins and new market entrants who adopt new business models and steal market share very quickly. The infographic below highlights key milestones for Facebook but also some other interesting facts. enjoy……..

By the way there is also some really interesting data from JWT highlights are listed below:

JWT’s trend reports are the result of quantitative, qualitative and desk research conducted by JWTIntelligence throughout the year. Specifically for this report, JWTIntelligence interviewed experts and influencers in research, technology and business, and conducted a quantitative study in the U.S. and the U.K. The survey used SONAR™, JWT’s proprietary online research tool, to poll 971 adults aged 20-plus from May 20–June 1, 2011.

Findings from the survey include:

    • The Millennial Generation is most interested in F-Commerce: More than four in 10 Millennials (aged 20-33) in the U.S. and the U.K. said they wish there were more opportunities to shop within Facebook, versus 26% of Gen Xers (aged 34-46) and 16% of Boomers (47-66). Nearly half agreed that they spend so much time on Facebook already, they might as well shop there too, compared to a quarter of Gen Xers and 14% of Boomers. Similarly, 48% said they wish the places where they shop had a page where customers could buy products/services directly on Facebook (27% of Gen Xers and 19% of Boomers said the same)
  • Privacy concerns are a big hurdle for F-Commerce: Nearly eight in 10 of American and British adults said they worry about the privacy implications of shopping directly on Facebook. Three-quarters said they “don’t think Facebook is secure enough to make purchases on,” and nearly that many said they “wouldn’t use a shopping application on Facebook because of concerns that it could compromise my privacy—e.g., shared with third parties.” Interestingly, while the Millennials have an appetite for F-commerce, they’re the ones most concerned about privacy.
  • Overlaying the social graph helps people make decisions more quickly: When asked about websites that offer personalized recommendations based on one’s Facebook profile, 46% of American and British adults felt that “there is too much information out there, so I think this is helpful”; Millennials were most likely to say this (59%), followed by Gen Xers (49%) and Boomers (31%). More than one-third said personalization of this nature helps them make decisions more quickly; again, Millennials (51%) were more likely to say this than Gen Xers (36%) or Boomers (21%).

history-of-f-commerce-large 

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Tweet me Happy

June 10, 2011

Image representing TweetDeck as depicted in Cr...

Image via CrunchBase

Although I have had a Twitter account for 9 months or more, I only really started to Tweet in April this year. The reason for this is that I saw it as the poor man’s Facebook and a quick fire gossip generator.

What value is there in a 140 character Tweet I asked myself?

If the numbers you get back off the Internet are even remotely close; 200 million Twitter accounts, 50 million Tweets a day, the answer is pretty clear.

There is a lot of value in a Tweet.

So what made me realise that there was more to Twitter than being an on-line tool for stalking celebrities?

The answer is easy. The answer was TweetDeck.

Now I’m sure there are other tools that do similar things to TweetDeck but this is the tool I downloaded to my laptop that made me see the power of Twitter.

A bit like watching the green characters and symbols flicker on the screen in the Matrix, TweetDeck finally allows me to see, sense and touch the social chatter that is clogging up our cyber airwaves.

The “almost” sale of TweetDeck to UberMedia for a cool $30 — $40 million followed by a bid from Twitter itself for an even cooler $40 — $50 million shows how valuable the world of Tweeting is.

Sure there is an element of the “dot-com boom” about some of the more recent social media acquisitions but it’s down to the reach of Twitter and the pull of the tools that are rising to the surface of a very crowded social intelligence application pool.

With a reported 5.5% of Tweets originating from Twitter equating to 27.5 million Tweets per day, I would imagine that this means there are a hell of a lot of people that are like me and have TweetDeck ticking along throughout the day.

It’s this coverage that is worth the money not the code, it’s the marketing and up-sell opportunities of having a captive Twitter audience that can be used to push highly targeted banner adds and drive sales.

It makes you wonder whether soon we’ll be hearing about someone bidding vast quantities of money for someone’s Twitter account because they have 50 million followers… having a captive market or direct access to so many people must have some value?

With Linkedin recently floating for £5.5 billion there’s a current clamor for a piece of the social networking pie.

So what is the value of a Tweet?

In February this year, I read that Twitter was valued at around $10 billion I make that just over $70 million per character and growing!

Amazing!!!

Fri, 03/06/2011 – 09:55 — Richard Lewis

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Social BI IS NOT EQUAL TO Old BI

April 28, 2011

As more and more companies turn their attention to their Business Intelligence strategies, many are shifting their attention towards Social Media and trying to fold this into their corporate stack. All the traditional BI players are scrabbling for position to align their offering with a growing clamor to make sense of the social noise that is out there through the likes of Facebook, Twitter, You Tube and LinkedIn etc.

So much noise and chatter and yet how powerful is that information if you are able to harness it for the benefit of your business and your customers?

If you know how to use social media for process improvement, identifying current market trends, listening to what’s in and what’s out, what the competition are doing, what people are saying about you – your business is going to be in a better place. So how do you get Old Traditional Business Intelligence to provide you with the elusive 360-degree view of your business? You don’t.

The big players have been able to extend the life of their creaking systems through advances in hardware and improvements in network bandwidth and make it appear as if the technology has moved on with the times. New and faster chips, solid-state disks and scaled up RAM have conveniently ramped up the power and capacity of legacy systems but the scale of Social BI is something else!

In 2010, the human race created 800 exabytes of information, from tweets and Facebook updates to PowerPoint presentations and photographs. That’s 800 billion gigabytes, or the amount of data you can fit on 75 billion 16-gig iPads. To put that into context, between the dawn of civilisation and 2003, we only created five exabytes; now we’re creating that amount every two days. By 2020, that figure is predicted to sit at 53 zettabytes (53 trillion gigabytes) – an increase of 50 times. (Google)

As Chief Brody once famously said… “We’re going to need a bigger boat”.

 Or

We’re going to have to have a re-think about how we go about things and start looking at and developing some new technology that can cope with the sheer scale of data being generated on a daily basis. So a bigger disk and whacking in a bit more memory is not really the answer from a raw power perspective, so how can we bring the social media side of things into our BI stack?

Putting scale to one side, making sense out of a twitter feed and making sense of a stock table in an ERP system are chalk and cheese. A database requires structure be it through a relational schema accessed via SQL or an OLAP cube accessed via MDX.

How far apart is this from making sense of a conversation and some links to web pages from a Twitter feed? Social media demands a new kind of solution to a relatively new problem. A new solution that augments your existing BI stack by providing a fast and efficient layer, designed for free text search, designed for scale and focused around finding and extracting value out of the myriad of social media systems popping up on a day to day basis.

For once, this is an opportunity for the innovators. Old BI won’t cut the mustard however Social BI + Old BI might just do the trick if you can plug the gaps and gaffer tape a few things together. It’s going to be interesting watching which innovations rise to the top and then see who buys who because I believe the value of Social BI will out muscle traditional Business Intelligence in a couple of years. Exciting times!

Tue, 26/04/2011 – 11:38 — Richard Lewis .

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Follow your interest. Discover the world……….twitter

March 28, 2011

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The guys at twitter released a video to celebrate their 5th birthday. Great little video to show what people use the technology for



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2010 The year of Facebook

November 19, 2010

This is icon for social networking website. Th...

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Everyone knows that Facebook has over 500 million users and growing daily, however figures released have shown that Facebook’s US traffic has grown by a massive 55% in the last year meaning that in the US they have 151.13 million uniques. For a while Facebook seemed to be in a battle with Twitter however these latest figures show that the real battle is now between Facebook and Google; the two most visited sites in the world.

Facebook has had a number of successful high-profile product releases that have turned it into one of the world’s most valuable companies Open Graph and Instant Personalisation having cemented the company’s role as the web’s most important platform.The multi billion dollar question is can it keep delivering in 2011, it certainly has a lot to live up to.

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