RETAIL FORECASTS REPORT 2021 | BDO LLP
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KEY SECTORS IMPACTED AND EXAMPLES Fashion – While overall fashion sales have plummeted during the pandemic, online sales have been much more resilient. ASOS sales were up 10% for the four months to end June 2020, with H&M’s online sales rising 40% in the six months to 31 May 2020. Although stores will see some resurgence in 2020, much of the spend shifted to online will now stay there. Health & Beauty – Online specialist The Hut Group, which owns a number of online health and beauty brands, reported that lockdown sales had soared and in September 2020 successfully raised £1.88bn through an IPO. ASOS has reported beauty sales up 50% during lockdown and has begun a partnership with Charlotte Tilbury’s beauty brand, which also includes the creation of a dedicated hub containing tips fromTilbury herself, as well as video tutorials, challenges and live Q&A sessions across the ASOS social channels. Revolution beauty also continues to achieve more of a presence with its ‘fast fashion’ inspired strategy of ‘fast makeup’. These are all indications that for younger consumers the traditional channels of department stores and specialist retailers are much less relevant and that, despite its physical limitations, they can be inspired by and engage with online if right content and technology is in place.
Home – IKEA and SCS have reported strong sales online, while Harveys and Laura Ashley are among those to permanently close stores. DIY & Gardening – Wickes and B&Q have reported big increases in online spend in a sector that has, until now, remained very store based. Electricals – Dixons Carphone reported online sales as tripling on last year during the period of store closures and more than doubling on last year, even as stores re-opened. Grocery – As lockdown began Grocers saw delivery slots fill up rapidly, and some – including Ocado & Sainsbury’s – were even forced to close their online portals as demand escalated. Stores have worked on increasing online capacity, with Tesco increasing its available delivery slots from 0.6 million in March to 1.5 million in September, while Sainsbury’s is to extend early morning delivery times by half an hour to 6.30am and by up to an hour in the evening, to 11.30pm, as part of attempts to hit 700,000 orders a week by the end of October. Regulatory changes have also helped, such as the relaxation of caps on the amount of hours drivers can work both in a single stint (up from nine hours to 11) and across a fortnight (up from 90 hours to 96).
Once the coronavirus outbreak is over, do you think you will do more online shopping as a result?
I will buy more food online after the outbreak I will buy more non-food online after the outbreak
6.6
I am not buying more online than I usually do
7.6
55.2
29.8
I will buy both more food and non-food online after the outbreak
15.6
15.1
I am currently buying more online, but will stop once the outbreak is over
Data retrieved from GlobalData Retail’s monthly survey of 2,000 nationally representative UK respondents (asked in early June).
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