RETAIL FORECASTS REPORT 2021 | BDO LLP
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LOSERS
Superdry Superdry has been hit hard by the pandemic, with store sales down 30% during lockdown one and periodic spells of stronger online growth unable to offset the slump. Despite Superdry’s abundance of hoodies and joggers, products which have generally proved popular in Lockdown, it has been squeezed between cheaper fast fashion players, such as boohoo.com and ASOS, as well as to more premium brand names, such as Nike and Adidas, while it was also forced to discount to offload items that had accumulated in stores. John Lewis The appeal of John Lewis has historically been built around its customer service, product quality and the customer experience in its stores, all strengths it is much more difficult to communicate online. Its e-commerce offer has achieved good growth in 2020, with online penetration rising above 60% versus 40% pre-pandemic, and its prior investment in digital channels paying off. However, question marks remain over whether it will be able to continue encouraging customers online during the key fourth quarter, which is part of the reason why John Lewis partners were not paid a bonus in 2020 for the first time since 1948 and a number of head office redundancies were announced in November 2020.
Moss Bros Formal products like suits and shirts have experienced a huge drop-off in demand, as consumers work from home and social events such as weddings and Christmas parties are cancelled. As a specialist with a narrow focus on precisely these areas, Moss Bros has been particularly impacted and is reportedly considering a CVA at the time
Boots Despite most of Boots’ stores remaining open during the lockdown, sales plummeted. One reason for this was a sharp deterioration in the sales of non-essential beauty products, and the cessation of services such as optical care. Perhaps more worryingly, another contributor was consumers abandoning high streets and town centres where many of Boots’ stores are located, and Boots may now have to adapt to the fact that the growth of homeworking means footfall may never return to its previous levels.
of writing. WH Smith
WH Smith had relied heavily on the growth of its travel division in recent years, and it is this part of the business which has been particularly decimated by the pandemic, with its stores in airports and railway stations seeing a fraction of the number of customers they would have previously expected.
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