Page 47 - HW February 2020

global eyes
Will the UK market pick up, post-Brexit?
ALTHOUGH THE PUNDITS are reporting a decrease in uncertainty, now that Brexit is certain, there will clearly be a hangover for retail from the effects of decreased spending in the period prior to the General Election.
The picture leading up to Christmas was parlous to say the least, with high profile high street brands like John Lewis Mothercare and others closing stores and/ or restructuring and as many as 140,000 retail employees having lost their jobs.
Paul Martin, KPMG’s UK Head of Retail, says that although total retail sales in December were up 1.9%, sales actually declined by 0.9% over November and December combined.
Bricks & mortar suffered the most,
he says: “Consumers clearly favoured logging on to walking in, with online sales up 12.8% in December. However, if taking a two month average, growth online was clearly muted at only 2.6.%.”
Brits probably just wanted to take their minds off things in December according to figures from Barclaycard, which show a shift away from shopping and towards spending on feel-good experiences.
Cinema ticket sales were +19%, spending in pubs was +11.7% and on takeaways +12.5%, while spending fell on typical Xmas present spending like clothing, toys and computer games.
Helen Dickinson, Chief Executive of the British Retail Consortium has gone so far as to say; “2019 was the worst year on record and the first year to show an overall decline in retail sales.
“This was also reflected in the CVAs, shop closures and job losses that the industry suffered in 2019. Retailers also faced challenges as consumers became both more cautious and more conscientious as they went about their Christmas shopping.”
The key drivers of this are quite
clear, she says: “Twice the UK faced the prospect of a no deal Brexit, as well as political instability that concluded in a December General Election – further weakening demand for the festive period.”
On top of this, as elsewhere in the world, UK retail was affected by an earlier peak to 2019 festive season shopping: “Black Friday overtook Christmas as the biggest shopping week of the year for non-food items,” says Helen Dickinson.
And the prospects for 2020? Not clear, says the BRC chief: “Looking forward, the public’s confidence in Britain’s trade negotiations will have a big impact on spending over the coming year.”
We’ll be looking for evidence of what impact all this has had on the big UK DIY players and their trade arms in the coming months.
Kingfisher snatches digital expertise from toy firm
Kingfisher Group has appointed Jean- Jacques “JJ” Van Oosten as Chief Customer and Digital Officer, who returns to the company after a decade elsewhere.
JJ has been with famous Danish toy company, The LEGO Group, where he was Chief Digital Officer, charged with leading LEGO’s digital ambition to make ecommerce the largest part of its business.
Prior to that, JJ built his expertise in leading technology, data, digital services and ecosystems, in the retail and home improvement sectors including previous roles at REWE, Travis Perkins, Tesco
and Kingfisher, where he was Group IT Director from 2005-08.
JJ is a Belgian national who speaks fluent English, French and German and will be a member of the Group Executive team, based at Kingfisher’s head office in Paddington, London.
Kingfisher CEO, Thierry Garnier,
says of the new appointment: “JJ is an experienced digital leader with a track record of driving change in international companies. He has a key role to play at Kingfisher as we look to accelerate our digital and data capabilities and grow ecommerce sales.”
JJ comments: “I’m delighted to be returning to Kingfisher after a decade that has seen technology change the world, especially in retail. I’m looking forward to working with the team to build on the foundations Kingfisher has established.”
www.kingfisher.com
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FEBRUARY 2020 | NZHJ 45