Bloomberg Ralph Lauren Corp has reopened a significant portion of its global store network and will accelerate its digital plans as pandemic restrictions ease around the world. Chief Executive Officer Patrice Louvet said all stores in China and Korea are back in business, and Japan and Australia are set to return this week. Two-thirds of Ralph Lauren stores have been ...
Read More »Retail
Chinese retail tycoon’s Wumei mulls HK IPO
Bloomberg Wumei Holdings Inc, the Chinese retail group that owns one of the country’s biggest supermarket chains, is considering an initial public offering in Hong Kong, people with knowledge about the matter said. The Beijing-based company has held preliminary talks with potential advisers about a listing, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is ...
Read More »China’s Meituan sales beat estimates
Bloomberg Meituan Dianping reported a smaller slide in revenue than analysts projected after the Chinese internet services giant proved resilient to virus-induced lockdowns. Sales fell 12.6% to 16.8 billion yuan ($2.4 billion) in the three months ended March, compared with the 15.6 billion yuan average of analysts’ estimates. It reported net loss of 1.58 billion yuan, while analysts projected a ...
Read More »Alibaba’s sales growth hits new lows over uncertainty
Bloomberg Alibaba Group Holding Ltd expects revenue growth to slow this year, reflecting post-Covid 19 economic uncertainty at home as well as the potential for US-Chinese tensions to disrupt its business. The e-commerce giant forecast sales growth this year of at least 27.5% to more than 650 billion yuan ($91 billion), down from 35% previously and slightly below analysts’ estimates. ...
Read More »Walmart to expand Sam’s Clubs in China after virus-led boom
Bloomberg Walmart Inc plans to expand its members-only warehouse chain, Sam’s Club, in China to 100 stores in the next eight years as it embarks on an ambitious growth plan after the coronavirus pandemic. The local unit of the Bentonville, Arkansas-based company told employees about the goal in a townhall meeting, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked ...
Read More »Marks & Spencer outperforms worst-case coronavirus fears
Bloomberg Marks & Spencer Group Plc said it’s outperforming its worst-case coronavirus scenario in a positive sign for a UK retailer that’s going through the latest of a series of turnaround programmes. When the outbreak spread to the UK, M&S said it anticipated that clothing and home sales would fall by 70% in the four months through July, with its ...
Read More »Walmart sales rise on stockpiling amid virus
Bloomberg Walmart Inc jumped after reporting coronavirus-related stockpiling led to a surge in quarterly sales, underscoring the company’s strong position amid widespread carnage in the US retail sector. Comparable-store sales, a key retail metric, increased 10% for US Walmart stores in the period, compared with the 8.6% estimate compiled by Consensus Metrix. That’s the fastest pace of growth in almost ...
Read More »Over 15,000 HK shops may shut down sans rent relief
Bloomberg From luxury boutiques to mom and pop stores, Hong Kong’s retailers are hurting. Unless landlords can offer more relief, one in four could disappear by December if sales don’t improve, putting an end to the city’s reputation as a shopping hotspot. That’s the gloomy prediction of Hong Kong Retail Management Association Chairman Annie Yau Tse, who says the rent ...
Read More »JC Penney to close 29% of its stores in post-bankruptcy plan
Bloomberg JC Penney Co, the department-store chain that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week, said it will close about 29% of its stores. The retailer will reduce its store count to about 604, down from the 846 it currently has across the US, according to a company filing. In fiscal 2019, those locations brought in $9.2 billion in net ...
Read More »Pier 1 to wind down operations
Bloomberg Pier 1 Imports Inc said it would seek bankruptcy court approval to wind down its retail operations after the coronavirus pandemic made it difficult for the US retailer to find a buyer. The company said in a statement on Tuesday it intends to sell its inventory and remaining assets, including its intellectual property and e-commerce business, through the court-supervised ...
Read More »