Alliance Boots Looks for Solutions as Pharmacy Business Catches Cold
17 May 2012 / By: Himanshu Pal -

While Alliance Boots’ latest set of results – sales growth of 18.4% for FY 2011 – seems to have impressed many; the retail geek in me continues to remain bearish with regards to the company’s retailing / health & beauty business. Many of the thoughts I echoed last year while commenting on FY 2010 results - Alliance Boots Reports Double-Digit

Store of the Week: Toys R Us
11 May 2012 / By: Bryan Roberts -

Store: Toys R Us

Location: Southampton

It’s fair to say that trudging to a Toys R Us the morning after watching Southampton lose 3-0 to Reading and enjoying some ‘refreshments’ with some old school friends was not a very enticing prospect. Toys R Us has always felt like something of a missed opportunity. Toy selling should surely be one of the most engaging and interactive experiences in the world of retailing. Instead Toys R Us in the UK has historically been

Morrisons Gets a Timely Wake-up Call as Q1 2012 LFL Sales Drop 1%
03 May 2012 / By: Himanshu Pal -

Complacency and resting on the laurels of past achievements is a recipe for disaster. Something similar (although not of equivalent proportions) has happened with Morrisons who reported their first like-for-like (LFL) sales growth decline since 2005 earlier this morning. Although the retailer’s sales (excluding fuel) grew 1.5% during Q1 2012, its LFL sales decline of 1% is surely likely to discomfort Dalton Philips and his management team in Bradford.

Store of the Week: Elko
02 May 2012 / By: Bryan Roberts -

Store: Elko

Location: Lindir Shopping Center, Kopavogur, Iceland

The fact that markets like consumer electronics are shifting online is beyond all reasonable doubt, with many electronics chains around Europe facing up to the fact that they will need fewer, smaller stores as part of a multi-channel offer. That said, many retailers find themselves wedded to a store estate that includes some genuine monsters in terms of store size. The viability of these megastores in now subject

Store of the Week: Game
05 Apr 2012 / By: Bryan Roberts -

Store: Game

Location: Johannesburg

As both of my regular readers will recall, I’ve mentioned in the past that there is quite a big difference in a store being beautiful and a store being successful. Some retailers (Whole Foods, Wegmans and Bass Pro are just three that spring to mind) manage to combine both beauty and remarkable success under the same roof. Carrefour Planet is an example of a concept that did the beauty angle pretty well without quite getting around to the

Store of the Week: Tesco Click & Collect
23 Mar 2012 / By: Bryan Roberts -

Store: Tesco Click & Collect

Location: The Internet & Watford

As with so many things, such as social media, karaoke, Ugg boots and portable telephony, I must confess that I misjudged the potential of click & collect grocery retailing. Initially, it felt to me to be a combination of the worst of both worlds: the clunky and infuriating online shopping experience and the need to get off my ample backside and drive to a supermarket. A naïve point of view, admittedly,

Store of the Week: Budgens
16 Mar 2012 / By: Bryan Roberts -

Store: Whalley’s Budgens

Location: Chalfont St Peter

I have a great deal of affection for Budgens. My first ever professional store visit (in 1998 I think) was to a Budgens convenience store concept called b2, a former 7-Eleven in Willesden Green. My first ever analyst meeting was with Budgens. Hosted by affable CEO John von Spreckelsen (now at topical retail investment vehicle OpCapita), the meeting concluded with Budgens Plc giving me three bottles of wine, cementing the

Store of the Week: Piccadilly Express
09 Mar 2012 / By: Bryan Roberts -

Store of the Week: Piccadilly Express

Store: Piccadilly Express

Location: Plovdiv, Bulgaria

One of the issues that we are frequently wrestling with here at KR Towers – and certainly one of the issues that is top of mind for both retailers and suppliers – is that, for the first time in living memory, average grocery store size is declining. With hypermarkets under the cosh – Carrefour’s results this week were unsurprisingly lacklustre and Tesco has

Forecasting Change in 2012
06 Mar 2012 / By: Ray Gaul -

In February, Kantar Retail's analyst teams around the world focused on some of the economies hardest hit by the latest recession: France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. With this latest round of new forecasting we also focused in on three global key customers—Casino, Carrefour, and Walmart. Our premise: Efforts by Casino and Carrefour to reorganize in Europe and Walmart to reorganize in the USA may have an adverse effect on their overseas investments—particularly in Latin America where

Store of the Week: Jumbo
02 Mar 2012 / By: Bryan Roberts -

Store: Jumbo

Location: Amsterdam

There can be no doubt that Amsterdam is among the finest cities in the world for a variety of reasons, to which has been added the fact that it is likely to be the home of several new Jumbo stores in the near future. The family-owned business has recently concluded its acquisition of rival retailer C1000 and, while details on the integration are yet to be finalised, it is likely that many C1000 supermarkets will be converted to the marvellous Jumbo

Store of the Week: Mercadona
15 Feb 2012 / By: Bryan Roberts -

Store: Mercadona

Location: Barcelona

One of the topics we are frequently contemplating here at Kantar Retail Towers is the divergent fortunes of some of the big global retailers compared to their smaller single-country or regional brethren. While the likes of Walmart, Carrefour and Tesco have had well documented problems in their domestic markets, there is a host of smaller grocery retailers that continue to grow rapidly, focusing on serving one or two national markets in an extremely

George Plassat Inherits a ‘Poisoned Chalice’ as Carrefour’s New CEO
30 Jan 2012 / By: Himanshu Pal -

Carrefour, the world’s second largest retailer, has announced the appointment of Georges Plassat as the new CEO and Chairman with effect from June 1, 2012. Plassat replaces Lars Olofsson in a move that was widely expected considering the retailer’s below-par performance and profit warnings. I believe Plassat’s appointment has another critical yet understated dimension, the unfulfilled expectations of private equity owners Blue Capital (Groupe Arnault

Kantar Retail's Top 50 European Retailers, 2011
23 Jan 2012 / By: Alexandra Mansfield -

Kantar Retail proudly presents its Top 50 European Retailer Ranking. This list ranks the top 50 European players by 2011 sales estimates, and provides a five-year growth outlook for each retailer.

Highlights

The European economy suffered in 2011, contending with an unresolved euro area sovereign debt crisis, rising prices, fiscal austerity measures and consumer reticence. Debt and growth

Kantar Retail's Top 25 UK Retailers, 2011
23 Jan 2012 / By: Alexandra Mansfield -

 Kantar Retail proudly presents its first Top 25 UK Retailer Ranking. This list ranks the United Kingdom’s top 25 retail players by 2011 sales estimates, and provides a five-year growth outlook for each retailer.

Highlights

The United Kingdom faced a challenging set of economic issues in 2011. Financial uncertainty reigned, as the stagnant economy continued to be affected by

Kantar Retail's Top 50 Global Retailers, 2011
23 Jan 2012 / By: Alexandra Mansfield -

Kantar Retail proudly presents its Top 50 Global Retailer Ranking. This list ranks the top 50 global players by 2011 sales estimates, and provides a five-year growth outlook for each retailer.

Highlights

Global retail growth gained traction in 2011, despite uncertainty in Europe. The euro area debt crisis, natural disasters and political unrest in oil countries peppered the global scene,