Ben Stevens

🗞 What’s been happening this week? ·      Retail sales saw a modest uplift in sales in July, however volumes remain below pre‑pandemic levels. Great to share insights with The Telegraph, This Is Money's Angharad Carrick, InternetRetailing's Amanda Whyte and others. Read more from me on the delayed figures from the Office for National Statistics through the link in the comments below. ·      Fantastic to attend the John Lewis Partnership breakfast briefing on Wednesday, with Peter Ruis, Vikki Kavanagh and Michelle Wilson discussing John Lewis & Partners’ hopes to attract nostalgic middle-aged and younger shoppers through a new partnership with TOPSHOP TOPMAN. This will see the debut of Topshop in 32 John Lewis stores and online from February 2026, with Topman in six locations. Ruis says it will “exemplify the new John Lewis” under Rachel Morgans’ fashion direction. ·      Personalisation is a key battleground in retail, but an execution gap exists in segmentation according to Retail Economics and beBettor research shared with Retail Week. Read more on how to close this gap through the link in my comments below. ·      Aldi UK rolled out InPost UK parcel lockers across 536 stores, enabling customers to collect and return parcels, with plans to expand to 600 locations by 2026. Over 115 million retail parcels are now delivered or returned through lockers, representing 7% of online orders and 12% of returns, according to our latest Retail Economics research with InPost – further details are linked in the comments. ·      Oxford Street will be traffic-free on 21 September from Orchard Street to Oxford Circus to demonstrate potential pedestrianisation plans. ·      Primark opened its first standalone homeware store in Great Britain, spanning 12,000 sq ft in Manchester. The concept forms part of a wider investment including refurbishments of Market Street and Trafford Palazzo. ·      Holland & Barrett trialled a revamped beauty category in six stores between June and August, reporting a 7% sales uplift compared with control sites. The format mixes topical products, ingestible supplements and expert advice, with rollout to larger city stores planned for 2026. ·      Currys plc announced a £50m share buyback after posting a 3% rise in like-for-like sales in UK & Ireland during the 17 weeks to 30 August. Growth was driven by B2B, gaming, AI computing and services. ·      In a trading update, Watches of Switzerland Group PLC recorded “strong trading” in the 18 weeks to 31 August, particularly in the US despite new tariffs on Swiss imports. UK growth remained stable.   🚨 🚨 🚨 This is just a selection of news this week. If you want to hear more, subscribe to our free weekly podcast below, covering all major retail news every Monday at 6am ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/eZNDVfZ7   ____________________________________ ⤴ Follow me for weekly retail, consumer and economic insights. ____________________________________

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