20 Jun Market highlights – June 2017
Every month B.D.C. gives you the key retail information you should not have missed. Key trends, innovation, major players, startups, market figures – discover in 60 seconds the latest key retail news.
UK MARKET HIGHLIGHTS
According to IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index, May 2017 recorded the slowest UK online sales growth since Octoer 2015. However don’t get it wrong: online sales were still rising but (only) by 10.2% in May. It could be explained by the rising inflation and uncertainty surrounding lately general elections.
In 2016, UK shoppers have bought more frequently food online. Indeed the Kantar Worldpanel’s quarterly FMCG E-commerce Index suggests that 7.3% of UK grocery sales took place online last year (+6.7% vs 2015). In 2017, UK online grocery sales are expected to reach £11.1bn.
KEY PLAYERS
Amazon just announced the acquisition of the US-based organic food specialist, Whole Food Market for £10.7bn. It strengthen Amazon’s ongoing diversification and may give to the Ecommerce giant the physical opportunity to deploy its Amazon Go store’s model. Whole Food Market has 9 locations in the UK, including 7 in London.
L’Oréal announced this month it has entered into exclusive talks with Natura Cosmeticos, Brazilian cosmetics brand regarding The Body Shop acquisition. Despite many speculations regarding potential bidding winners (such as Goldman Sachs), L’Oréal has picked the Brazilian firm that values the ethical cosmetics retailer at £880 million. Nonetheless it’s worth noticing that it is still subject to approval by Brazilian and US regulators, as well as being submitted to L’Oréal’s employee representative body.
INNOVATION & TRENDS
New Balance offers its customers the chance to virtually visit its factories thanks to virtual reality. The retailer decided to roll out the technology in 7 of its flagship stores, so customers can see in-store how shoes are manufactured and assembled in the factory. Mary Halladay, global head of eCommerce and omnichannel at New Balance said: “we’re a 100-year-old company and from the very beginning we’ve manufactured shoes in the US and the UK and we’re committed to our associates and the quality of the product.”
New Balance goes with the flow. Indeed we have seen few other VR in-store experiences over the last months, such as Topshop and its VR summer campaign.