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European Retail Briefing: Inc Impact of COVID-19 - September 2020

ANALYST COMMENT: THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON SHOPPING BEHAVIOUR
Overview
Concerns about risk of infection remain high
Figure 1: Those worried about the risk of being exposed to the coronavirus, April-September 2020
Figure 2: Those worried about the risk of being exposed to the coronavirus, by age, 7-15 September 2020
Italians and Spaniards are the most in favour of face masks
Figure 3: Those who think it's important to wear a mask for the following activities, 7-15 September 2020
Spaniards remain the most uncomfortable to resume ‘normal’ activities
Figure 4: Those claiming to feel uncomfortable doing the following activities, 7-15 September 2020
The shift to online continues to endure
Figure 5: Those claiming to be trying to limit the time spent in-store, April-September 2020
Figure 6: Those claiming to have increased the amount of shopping they do online, April-September 2020
Figure 7: Those claiming to have increased the amount of shopping they do online, 7-15 September 2020
Opportunities for retailers as a result of COVID-19
Figure 8: Decathlon’s new Scan & Go mobile checkout solution
Figure 9: Zalando’s new second-hand clothing platform in Germany
Figure 10: Verkkokauppa.com’s new website for domestic products
Non-cash payments remain important
Figure 11: Those claiming to be trying to avoid using cash where possible, April-September 2020
Figure 12: Those claiming to be trying to avoid using cash where possible, by age group, 7-15 September 2020
Figure 13: Those claiming to be using click-and-collect more often, April-September 2020
EUROPEAN RETAIL SALES
Key points
Figure 14: Major European economies:  Year-on-year retail sales value growth, 2019-20
Figure 15: Major European economies:  Year-on-year retail sales volume growth, 2019-20
The short, medium and long-term impact on retail
Figure 16: Expected impact of COVID-19 on retail, short, medium and long-term, July/August 2020
Inflation
Figure 17: Major European economies:  All items CPI, 2019-20
Figure 18: Major European economies:  Food price inflation, 2019-20
LAUNCH ACTIVITY AND INNOVATIONS
France: Carrefour trials automated pick-up points in Paris
Netherlands: Ahold and ING team up to create a new digital payment method
France: Action to expand click & collect service from France to Belgium
HEADLINES FOR THE MONTH
Grocers
Clothing retailing
Footwear retailing
Multi-sector retailing
Electrical retailing
Furniture retailing
Online
Health and beauty retailing
NEWS ANALYSIS – FOOD AND DRINK
 CO-OPS
UK: Co-ops speedy delivery partnership with Deliveroo extended to 400 UK stores
 CONVENIENCE STORES
UK: AF Blakemore debuts online with acquisition of Vegan Store
UK: Sainsbury’s opens its most central store in Leicester Square
 GROCERS
Belgium: Colruyt subsidiary Fiets! sees sales of bikes boom after lockdown
Germany: Aldi Nord launches new recruitment channel on Instagram
Portugal: Auchan trials robots to help maintain stock on shop-floor shelves
Portugal: DIA like for like sales grow 9.3%
Spain: Carrefour to takeover 172 Supersol stores in Spain
Sweden: ICA
…sees sales for July grow 5.7% with larger formats performing stronger
…increases like for like sales in August by 5.2%
UK: Aldi trials audio prompts to aid blind and partially-sighted customers enter stores safely
UK: Asda plans to expand online delivery capacity to 1 million after online sales double
UK: Iceland creates 3,000 new jobs to cope with surge in online demand
UK: Just Eat sees sales surge during lockdown
UK: Morrisons
…profits fall due to costs incurred because of COVID-19
…to double number of in-store professional florists
UK: Tesco
…to support ‘exceptional’ online growth by creating 16,000 jobs
…to offer free delivery to Clubcard Plus members
…helps shoppers cut food waste in new charity tie-up
UK: Waitrose
…links up with Deliveroo in 12-week trial
…to follow Morrisons lead in banning plastic bags
 OTHER FOOD SPECIALISTS
UK: Hotel Chocolat opens ‘drive-to’ outlet
 OFF-LICENCES
UK: Bestway to market off 37 stores across the UK
NEWS ANALYSIS – CLOTHING AND FOOTWEAR
 CLOTHING RETAILING
Belgium: United Colors of Benetton to leave Belgium
Belgium: Van de Velde sales down 42% but cut costs by €4.4m
Poland: Primark debuts in Poland
Sweden: Lindex to cut head office jobs by 5% as part of £13 million cost reduction programme
UK: Ann Summers to negotiate turnover-based rents with landlords after tough year
UK: Burberry
…secures £573,000 PPE contract from government
…to launch luxury face masks costing £90
UK: Jigsaw to close 13 stores and cut more than 100 jobs as part of approved CVA
UK: Johnston of Elgin reveals new sustainability label
UK: New Look
…launches CVA after securing new financing
…landlords reject New Look proposed CVA which includes turnover-based rent plans
…launches second CVA amid COVID-19
UK: Next to launch beauty stores in former Debenhams sites
UK: Primark
…unleashes fleet of greener delivery trucks
…reports ‘significantly higher’ sales than last year in pre-close update
UK: Quiz secures favourable leasing terms following stores administration
UK: River Island to cut another 350 jobs as it struggles to survive amid COVID-19
UK: TK Maxx owner sees loss of £160 million
UK: Tommy Hilfiger Kids opens at Icon Outlet
UK: Urban Outfitters sees online sales boost Q2 profit
 FOOTWEAR RETAILING
Belgium: Scapino the highest bidder for Brantano
Netherlands: 43 Brantano stores to be converted under new owner vanHaren
UK: Dr Marten’s sales up 51% despite closures towards the end of its financial year
UK: Hotter receives £2m investment as part of CVA
NEWS ANALYSIS – MIXED GOODS
 MULTI-SECTOR RETAILING
Belgium: Colruyt closes its mixed-goods webshop Collishop
Netherlands: Hema now featured on Jumbo online site
UK: B&M to enter FTSE 100 following strong sales during COVID-19 pandemic
UK: Halfords reports a peak in sales during lockdown but warns of ‘significant uncertainty’ ahead
UK: M&S
…teams up with Doodle to extend click & collect offer
…to make 7,000 redundancies to reflect a ‘clear material shift in trade’ to online
…and Ocado tie-up goes live with 6,800 M&S products exclusively available at Ocado
UK: Mothercare seals 10-year franchising deal with Boots
UK: Poundland launches Pep&Co Home in new push towards homeware
 DEPARTMENT STORES
UK: Debenhams
…appoints Hilco as part of its liquidation contingency plan
…cuts 2,500 in a bid to reduce its cost base
UK: Fenwick reports declining sales and expects ‘sizeable’ loss in the coming year
UK: John Lewis
…reveals new vegan and recyclable mattress range
…teams up with furniture rental service Fat Llama
…unveils concession tie-up with US-based brand Peloton
…adds 30 new brands to its A/W range in a bid to ‘modernise’ offer
…and Waitrose pilot virtual queuing technology in stores
UK: Sanderson to open two new stores over the next year
UK: Selfridges
…to ‘change the way’ customers shop with the launch of Project Earth
…Oxfam to open second-hand pop-up at Selfridges
…to sell vertically farmed produce from its own store
NEWS ANALYSIS – HOUSEHOLD GOODS
 DIY RETAILING
UK: Screwfix to open 40 new stores in response to growing demand for convenience
UK: Topps Tiles sales up 13% in final quarter with ‘modest’ profits expected for the year
 ELECTRICAL RETAILING
Germany: Coolblue expands across Germany with first physical store planned
UK: Dixons Carphone to extend its ShopLive service to include bookable appointments
 FURNITURE RETAILING
Belgium: IKEA launches dedicated shuttle bus to deliver online orders
France: IKEA launches immersive experience as part of exclusive online launch of its catalogue
UK: DFS
…sees latent demand lead to trading 'significantly ahead of expectations’
…to offload The Sofa Workshops to rival Halo
 HOMEWARES RETAILING
UK: Cox & Cox records 59% y-o-y online growth in Q2 driven by homewares
UK: Dunelm
…performance ‘materially ahead’ of expectations as post-lockdown sales increase
…sales down 3.9% due to COVID-19
NEWS ANALYSIS – ONLINE
France: Cdiscount teams up with fresh grocery marketplace Pourdebon.com
UK: Amazon
…and Morrisons expand grocery tie-up to launch ‘Morrisons on Amazon’
…to create 7,000 jobs to meet growing online demand
UK: AO.com post ‘strong’ sales but remains cautious with Brexit to come
UK: Asos expects profits to beat expectations
UK: Boden reports ‘material impact on sales’
UK: Eve Sleep raises full-year revenue expectation
UK: Sosandar sees revenues soar 103% to £9 million
UK: The Hut Group targets valuation of £4.5bn in IPO
NEWS ANALYSIS – OTHER RETAIL
 HEALTH AND BEAUTY RETAILING
Germany: Douglas sees online sales increase over 40% during COVID-19
 BOOK AND STATIONERY RETAILING
UK: The Works at a pre-tax loss as COVID-19 has ‘significant impact’ on performance
 JEWELLERS
UK: LVMH
…and Tiffany & Co extend deadline to close £12 billion deal
…pulls out of Tiffany & Co deal
 SPORTS AND LEISURE GOODS RETAILING
UK: Frasers Group
…delays results for the second year running
…results show pre-tax profits are down 19.9%
…rescues DW Sports in £37 million deal
UK: Gymshark secures new investor General Atlantic for further growth and international expansion
UK: JD Sports pre-tax profits slump 61% as a result of shifting revenues to fulfill online orders
NEWS ANALYSIS – ECONOMY
UK: Government announce ‘bounce back’ plan for retail industry
UK: July retail sales continue their recovery from June and grow 2.7%
UK: BRC-KPMG
…August retail sales up 4.7%
…July retail sales recover as lockdown restrictions ease up

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