Having grown consistently over the past five years, the EU health & beauty (EU H&B) market now looks set to change.
Strong growth in the EU health & beauty market, particularly in new member states, has encouraged cross-border expansion of pan-European chains. While the likes of Schlecker and AS Watson have found the EU to be a land of opportunity, smaller players have struggled. Moreover, with the increasing presence of grocers, the concentration of power is set to change the EU H&B landscape. Continue reading “EU Health & Beauty Set for a Strong Year Ahead” »

According to a new report, consumers are showing signs of fatigue towards celebrity marketing. The cult of celebrity has reached a crossroads – over-exposed celebrities have saturated the market and aging populations mean that the growth audience is shrinking. Marketers must therefore pursue new tactics to avoid the pitfalls associated with celebrity-backed campaigns or celebrity-branded consumer packaged goods. Continue reading “Consumers are tiring of the “cult of celebrity”” »

British consumers are more disloyal than ever before with the retailers they use, according to a new report. Across retail as a whole, some 10.8 million shoppers are disloyal to the stores they use; and, across every retail sector more consumers are saying that they would prefer to use an alternative store to the one they currently use most. The findings demonstrate the extent of the challenge retailers now face in holding on to shoppers, especially in the face of the credit crunch when every customer counts.

Continue reading “Loyalty to Stores Falls to a New Low: a Fifth of Shoppers Would Like to Defect” »

So you thought the DIY shopping was a man’s job. Think again. A new report, How Britain Shops 2008: DIY, finds that heading to the nearest DIY store, picking bookcases you can dismantle, guttering or rawlplugs are no longer unsuitable jobs for a woman. Forget the old stereotype of shopping for clothes, shoes or jewellery, the report finds that more women are shopping for DIY than ever, heading home with armfuls of new kitchen or bathroom fittings.

Continue reading “Men as DIY Shoppers Challenged by Ms Fix-its” »

Despite the notion of hip-hop culture being a bad influence on young people today, a new report shows that it has become part of mainstream American consumer culture.

Although being related to controversy, significant sales can be attributed to products prominently featured in lyrics, spontaneously embraced by the hip-hop world and products that appear to be genuinely used by an artist prior to the relationship.

Continue reading “Despite Critique Brands Cash in on Hip-Hop Culture” »

A typical basket of 100 grocery items cost 5.8% more in May than it did at the beginning of the year, according to new research, in effect adding around £514m a month to the British grocery bill. For hard pressed consumers such an increase comes on top of a host of other price rises and demonstrates why, for many households, inflation feels far higher that the government’s official rate.

Continue reading “Will Price Increase of Fruit and Veg Lead to Make or Break?” »

According to a new report premium/luxury operators are driving growth in the £14.7bn UK department store sector. The sector returned to growth in 2006 following two years of decline, and has not only sustained this trend for the second consecutive year in 2007, but is likely to outperform in 2008. Though Marks & Spencer’s recovery was a major factor in the return to growth in 2006, it is the high-end operators that have been the main drivers in 2007.

Continue reading “Premium Operators fuelling growth in the UK Department Store Sector” »

From its humble beginnings in the 1950s, fair-trade has developed into a global movement. A new report reveals fair-trade sales across Europe, the US, Australia & New Zealand and Japan have experienced double digit growth since 2002.

Ethical consumerism will increasingly come to the fore as people shop for products they feel akin to politically, ethically and aesthetically. Consumers will choose brands that are actively making a difference in a transparent and trustworthy manner. This is reflected by the double-digit growth of 15.7% (between 2007-2012), which has been forecast for fair-trade purchases over the next 5 years, in the 11 countries covered in the report.

Continue reading “Global Ethical Revolution – Per head spend on fair-trade products highest among Brits” »

Sainsbury has announced a 4.1% rise in underlying sales for the 12 weeks to March 22. As well as reporting a 13th consecutive quarter of like-for-like growth, Sainsbury has entered into a property joint venture with British Land, paving the way for redevelopment at the majority of the 39 stores included in the deal.

Sainsbury has continued to achieve credible total and like-for-like sales rises, announcing an increase in like-for-like sales for the 13th consecutive quarter. Sales have been driven by increased transaction numbers and higher average transaction sizes. Price inflation, at 2.1% during the last quarter, was also important here, with food volumes only marginally positive. Continue reading “Sainsbury: plenty to play for” »

Despite the credit crunch, there are still significant opportunities for retailers and developers in the European out-of-town (OOT) arena, with the Mediterranean countries showing strong potential for further rapid development. However – going forward – these opportunities will become harder to find. In the South the prime OOT locations get snapped up, while in northern Europe retailers and developers will increasingly need to focus on redeveloping older sites and make existing space work harder.

Continue reading “Italy and Spain Experience Further Growth in the Out-of-Town Retail Market” »