European Retail Briefing - March 2010
European Retail Briefing is a monthly briefing providing news and analysis that includes company results, store openings, cross-border moves, M & A activities, executive changes and property developments. Additionally each month, European Retail Briefing focuses on a key issue or specific European retail sector. The month's retail news is then analysed sector by sector, making this an invaluable resource for all with an interest in the European retail industry.
What you get
What's included
- Consumer Attitudes and Behaviour
- Market data
- Competitive analysis
- Risks and Opportunities
- What’s Next
- Market Trends
This market report provides in-depth analysis and insight supported by a range of data. At the same time, introductory and top-level content is provided to give you an overview of the issues covered.
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Market
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Consumer
Mintel's proprietary consumer research provides our analysts with the attitudinal and behavioral data used to provide valuable insight to topical issues.
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Brand/Company
Mintel provides overviews of the top brands and manufacturers, and uses consumer research to explore attitudes and reactions to brands, as well as insight into what will resonate with consumers.
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Data
Market reports provide appendices of data to support the research and insight produced. Our tables of data are easily manipulated and downloadable to support your research needs and covers factors from consumer attitudes to market forecasts.

* This is a sample representation of the report layout and does not reflect the research included in this report.
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Table of contents
Analyst Comment
- Whither DIY?
- End of a love affair
- Still going strong
- First love
- Opportunities
- Whither DIY?
Headlines for the Month
- Food retailers
- Clothing retailers
- Multi-sector retailers
- Department stores
- DIY
- Food retailers
Retail Sales Review
- Key points
- France
- Figure 1: France: Retail sales trends, 2008-09
- Inflation
- Figure 2: France: Inflation, 2009-10
- Germany
- Figure 3: Germany: Retail sales trends, 2009-10
- Inflation
- Figure 4: Germany: Inflation, 2009-10
- Italy
- Figure 5: Italy: Retail sales trends, 2008-09
- Inflation
- Figure 6: Italy: Inflation, 2009-10
- Netherlands
- Figure 7: The Netherlands: Retail sales trends, 2009-10
- Inflation
- Figure 8: The Netherlands: Inflation, 2009-10
- Spain
- Figure 9: Spain: Retail sales trends, 2009-10
- Inflation
- Figure 10: Spain: Inflation, 2009-10
- UK
- Figure 11: Retail sales trends, 2009-10
- Inflation
- Figure 12: UK: Annual percentage change in Retail Price Index for selected product groups, 2008-10
- Key points
News Analysis
- Bakers (retail)
- Thorntons posts profit increase
- Co-ops (retail)
- Co-op Group reviewing media account
- Grocers
- Asda
- … and Sainsbury's launch youth training initiatives
- … bosses seek to tackle "boring" performance
- … LFLs up 6% in 2009
- Morrisons profit boosted by new stores
- Tesco
- … extends double Clubcard points offer
- … Tesco launches Couture clothing range
- Waitrose
- … joins forces with Delia and Heston
- … targets £10bn sales
- Clothing retailing
- TJX Europe FY like-for-likes rise 5%
- Tommy Hilfiger sold for $3bn
- Adili sold for £1
- Agent Provocateur appoints Winser as new chairman
- Alexon plots £20m cash call
- Austin Reed reports tough year
- Fat Face owner injects £8.5m fresh capital
- French Connection losses widen
- J Crew enters UK after deal with Net-a-Porter
- Matalan
- … considers refinancing
- … founder could receive £250m amid refinancing
- Moss Bros chairman steps down
- Mulberry reveals strong FY trading
- New Look board mulls IPO withdrawal
- Primark sales up 8%
- Suits You CVA successful
- SuperGroup
- … seeks to raise £125m
- … confirms IPO details
- … IPO expected to be oversubscribed
- Whistles suffers £5m loss in 2008
- Michels rules himself out of M&S chairman role
- River Island aims for slice of childrenswear market
- US: Gap plots new shopping website and Italian entry
- Mixed goods retailing
- Poundland
- … owner Advent mulls sale
- … announces bullish expansion plans
- … founder to launch mid-market variety chain
- Home Bargains in £25m expansion drive
- Multi-sector retailing
- Home Retail Group LFLs down 9.4%
- Books and stationery retailing
- Card Factory founders poised for £400m windfall
- Department stores
- Debenhams sales up 1.7%
- House of Fraser
- … announces partnership with Retail Arabia
- … outlines expansion plans
- John Lewis
- … combines store and online retailing
- … posts 9.7% profit rise
- Liberty
- … mulls freehold sale of London flagship store
- … poised for sale
- DIY retailing
- Kingfisher sales hit the buffers
- Travis Perkins profits down 11%
- Electrical retailing
- Best Buy circles Homebase stores
- Furniture retailing
- DFS poised for £500m sale
- Habitat makes redundancies to re-establish growth
- Home shopping
- Richemont makes Net-a-Porter bid
- Flying Brands profit up
- N Brown to launch plus-size menswear
- Health and beauty retailing
- Alliance Boots considers click-and-collect deals with rivals
- The Body Shop posts robust results
- Sports and leisure goods retailing
- Blacks
- … adjourns EGM after Sports Direct buys stake
- … begins store expansion
- … to ask for deadline for Sports Direct bid
- … circled by Halfords
- Sports Direct
- … blocks Blacks' fund raising and mulls bid
- … eyes Blacks Leisure stake
- … retails sales rise 9%
- … succeeds in Blacks stake purchase
- Miscellaneous specialist retailing
- Halfords
- … buys car servicing company
- … ponders £30m Blacks Leisure bid
- HobbyCraft attracts more suitors
- Economics
- BRC: Retail sales rebound in February
- London retail LFLs up 9.9%
- ONS: Retail sales down 1.8%
- Scottish retailers suffer poor January sales
- Bakers (retail)
E-commerce in Europe
- E-commerce infrastructure
- Figure 13: Europe: Broadband access, by country, 2009
- E-commerce shoppers
- Numbers of shoppers
- Figure 14: Europe: Consumers shopping online for goods and services in the last year, 2006-09
- Figure 15: Europe: Number of online shoppers by country, 2009
- What products and services they buy
- Figure 16: Europe: Products and services purchased online, by country, 2009
- E-commerce spending
- Market size
- Figure 17: Europe: E-commerce market size by country, 2009
- Spend per capita
- Figure 18: Europe: E-commerce spend per head of total population, by country, 2009
- Figure 19: Europe: Estimated e-commerce spend per head of online shopping population, 2009
- Online retail sales
- Sector size and trends
- Figure 20: Europe: Estimated online retail sales by country, 2005-09
- Online sales per capita
- Figure 21: Europe: Estimated online retail sales per head of total population, 2009
- Figure 22: Europe: Estimated online retail sales per head of online shopping population, 2009
- Online retail – sales forecasts and outlook
- Figure 23: Europe: Retail e-commerce sales estimates and forecasts, by country, 2009 and 2014
- Leading retailers
- Figure 24: Europe: Top 10 e-commerce retailers, 2008
Amazon.com Inc
- Strategic evaluation
- History
- Financial performance
- Figure 25: Amazon.com Inc: Group financial performance, 2005-09
- Retail offering
- Figure 26: Amazon.com Inc: Sales mix, North America and International, 2008
- Figure 27: Amazon.com: Dates of market entry
- Market positioning
- Figure 28: Profile of Amazon UK online customers, Nov 2009-Jan 2010
- Pricing
- Third party sellers
European Retail Briefing - March 2010