Retail

Bloomberg Celebrating the holidays might be pretty ho-hum, but one area that’s booming is toys. After a terrible year of remote school, cancelled birthday parties and little vacationing, parents and grandparents ridden with so-called “Covid guilt” are spending a lot more on puzzles, crafts and games. And this is setting up the US industry for its best Christmas in years—and …

Bloomberg Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) and Zara owner Inditex both reported that an improvement in sales stalled in the autumn as a new round of Covid-19 lockdowns led consumers to curb spending on clothes. From late October through November, H&M’s sales fell 22% from a year earlier, the Swedish retailer said on Tuesday. Spanish rival Inditex reported a revenue decline …

Bloomberg Nestle’s organic sales should grow this year on average at roughly the same pace as last year, according to Chief Executive Officer Mark Schneider. The world’s largest food maker generates some 90% of its revenue from in-home consumption, which has benefited from lockdown and social-distancing measures, Schneider said on Swiss television program Bilanz Standpunkte on SRF 1. On the …

Bloomberg China’s antitrust watchdog fined Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and a Tencent Holdings Ltd unit over a pair of years-old acquisitions and said it’s reviewing an impending Tencent-led merger, signalling Beijing’s intention to tighten oversight of internet sector deals. The State Administration for Market Regulation said it’s reviewing the combination of DouYu International Holdings Ltd with Huya Inc, which could …

Bloomberg Lululemon Athletica Inc — whose founder once body-shamed women on live television — is finding that offering larger sizes can pay off. Sales of women’s garments rose 22% last quarter, reaching pre-pandemic growth levels, the company said on a call with investors after reporting third-quarter results that beat estimates. Executives didn’t specifically attribute the surge to the more inclusive …

Bloomberg Walmart Inc says it’s preparing its more than 5,000 pharmacies across the US to receive Covid-19 vaccine doses, including adding freezers and dry ice to handle any cold-storage demands. The preparations underway at Walmart and Sam’s Club pharmacies also include creating processes to tell customers when to get their first and second doses and entering agreements with states about …

Bloomberg Costco Wholesale Corp topped Wall Street’s profit expectations during the first quarter amid continued high demand for food and supplies, even as the warehouse chain said pandemic-related costs remain elevated. Profit climbed to $2.62 a share in the period ended on November 22, the company said. Analysts had expected $2.06 on average, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Costco …

Bloomberg Live streaming by Chinese influencers like Wei Ya and “lipstick king” Li Jiaqi, peddling everything from skincare products to toilet paper, lured millions to Alibaba Group Holding Ltd’s biggest binge-shopping day last month, posting a record $75 billion in sales. In Europe, the event barely made a ripple. While Alibaba’s Tmall platform in China logged 583,000 orders in one …

Bloomberg Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group Plc is in last-ditch talks to buy the ailing Debenhams department store in a move which could save thousands of jobs. The owner of the Sports Direct brand confirmed it was in negotiations in an emailed statement and said “we hope to be able to save as many jobs as possible” at Debenhams, one of …

Bloomberg Boutique women’s clothing chain Francesca’s Holdings Corp filed for bankruptcy after the pandemic eroded the company’s already flagging sales. The Houston-based company sought Chapter 11 protection in US Bankruptcy Court in Delaware with plans to sell the business, according to a statement. TerraMar Capital LLC or an affiliate has agreed to become the stalking-horse bidder in a court-supervised auction, …