29th December 2018
Unofficial retail data? Be very sceptical
Early in December, Mike Ashley, the owner of Britain’s Sports Direct sportswear chain and the Newcastle United football club described retail trading in November as “the worst on record, unbelievably...
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28th December 2018
Britain’s “Worst retail November on record ” wasn’t
Though media still quote Mike Ashley on November sales, the Office of National Statistics reported the fourth highest ever annual growth on December 20.
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19th October 2018
Britain’s physical stores keep growing. But is clothing now the exception?
September’s release from Britain’s Office of National Statistics show that sales in physical stores are still growing. They were 3.1% up year on year in September, and 3% for the...
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18th October 2018
UK Q3 2018 physical store growth “fastest since 2014”
UK retail sales through physical stores in the 12 months to September 2018 grew at their fastest rate (7.2%) since 2014, the country's Office for National Statistics announced on October...
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15th October 2018
US physical retail showing “fastest growth
US retail sales through physical stores in the twelve months to September showed their fastest growth (4.1%) since 2011, the US Department of Commerce announced on October 15. The value...
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4th October 2018
US retailer shares drop after Amazon minimum wage rise
But no retailer explains why Amazon's increasing warehouse wages to local going rate is bad for real retailers
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15th July 2013
Does social media make a mark only when it doesn’t matter?
Between May and June 2013, Gap was targetted by one of the biggest social media campaigns ever, on one of the most important issues around. Gap ignored one and a...
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18th January 2013
Will 2013 offer “the first favourable sourcing environment in years?”
That's what Credit Suisse forecast for the year. We're not so sure. And explained why in the monthly FlanaRant published in early January
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6th November 2009
The November Summary
Here's what we think are the key emerging issues in sourcing at the beginning of November.Political stability and our ability to predict it. In their different ways, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Honduras...
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28th July 2009
Kellwood and CIT: we may still be near the brink
Kellwood and CIT have survived the threats of bankruptcy. But the spectre of serious damage to the world garment supply chain remains.The threats to CIT, though, may not have gone...
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21st April 2009
Tesco and Primark show three-way split in worldwide apparel retail
Tesco announced a 1% fall in its latest year's clothing sales, while Primark announced a 5% growth in its sales for the latest half year. The numbers confirm what's beginning...
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24th March 2009
Who’s paying for UK price cuts?
How are UK apparel retailers affording to slash prices when their US peers aren’t?UK clothing prices again fell 9.3% in February compared to the same month in 2008. The equivalent...
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