Retail

Bloomberg A surge in US apparel costs helped fuel above-forecast inflation for January, sending Treasury yields higher. But the era of markdowns for struggling retailers is far from over. Clothing prices, which account for 3 percent of the consumer price index, jumped 1.7 percent in the biggest monthly gain since 1990, Labor Department data showed. That helped the so-called core ...

Bloomberg UK retail sales barely grew in January, more evidence consumers are reluctant to splash out amid a squeeze from rising prices. Sales increased 0.1 percent from December, far below the 0.5 percent gain forecast by economists in a Bloomberg survey. From a year earlier, sales rose 1.6 percent, the weakest for a January in four years, the Office for ...

Bloomberg Tesco Plc faces growing investor pressure to sweeten its 3.9 billion pound ($5.5 billion) offer for wholesaler Booker Group Plc ahead of a shareholder vote in less than two weeks. Alpine Associates Management Inc. opposes Tesco’s offer on the existing terms and believes Booker shareholders should vote against the deal, the investor said by email. Alpine has an economic ...

Bloomberg US shoppers may be ordering more clothing than socks and underwear on Amazon after all. Amazon.com Inc. is spiriting away share of apparel sales from Target Corp., Macy’s Inc. and JC Penney Co., according to a report by Coresight Research. Amazon Fashion is tied with Target as the second-most-shopped apparel retailer in the US, behind Walmart Inc., as measured ...

Bloomberg Walmart Inc. is introducing low-cost clothing brands for women, kids and plus-size customers, aiming to lure shoppers as Amazon.com Inc. gobbles up more apparel sales. The store brands include Time and Tru in ladieswear — which will replace the jettisoned DanskinNow label — along with Terra & Sky in plus-size apparel and Wonder Nation for kids, according to a ...

Bloomberg Investors in Hennes & Mauritz AB left its first ever capital markets day wondering whether the retailer is aware its clothes seem to be going out of fashion. With the value of their H&M shares down about 45 percent since the end of 2016, owners said management gave a lot of details on pretty much everything except the main ...

Bloomberg Kraft Heinz Co. suffered its worst stock decline in more than two years after posting disappointing sales and profit, boosting speculation that the food giant will need a large acquisition to fuel growth. The shares tumbled as much as 7 percent in the wake of the results, which reflected a persistent slump in the US packaged-food industry. Though Kraft ...

Bloomberg Hennes & Mauritz AB executives, addressing a gathering of investors for the first time since reporting an earnings slump, failed to convince shareholders that the apparel retailer’s turnaround plan is on track. The Swedish company said it expected sales in comparable brick-and-mortar stores to recover in 2019 but said they’d continue to slide this year. The shares fell as ...

Bloomberg Gucci surged past rival Hermes in sales as shoppers snapped up more of designer Alessandro Michele’s crystal- and sequin-coated creations over the holidays. The Italian fashion label closed out the year with another quarter of runaway growth, with comparable sales rising 43 percent, parent Kering SA said in a statement on Tuesday. Its revenue of 6.2 billion euros ($7.6 ...

Bloomberg PepsiCo Inc.’s snacks are having to pick up more of the slack for its ailing beverages. The company posted sales and earnings that topped analysts’ estimates last quarter, helped by an uptick in volume at its Frito Lay business in North America. The snack growth helped offset continued declines at the Purchase, New York-based company’s drinks business. Still, a ...