Procurement activity is hot in November
November has seen some high-profile acquisitions and insolvencies, from the high street to Savile Row, as the lasting impact of the pandemic and the constant pressure of inflation continue to squeeze the UK’s high street.
Frasers Group has acquired Gieves & Hawkes, a bespoke tailor with five stores in the UK. Frasers Group, led by Mike Ashley (founder of Sports Direct and former owner of Newcastle United, among other roles), has bought a number of fashion and retail businesses out of administration. These include the House of Fraser department store chain in 2018 and the clothing brand Jack Wills in 2019, as well as more recent fast-fashion acquisitions like Missguided and I Saw It First. Gieves & Hawkes, by contrast, is one of the UK’s oldest bespoke tailors, having catered to three different Kings of England and based at 1 Savile Row. It faced financial difficulties during the pandemic when numerous formal events were cancelled, and was finally put on the market when the owner went into administration.
Online furniture retailer Made.com also went into administration this month. Made.com had thrived during the pandemic as consumers were spending more time at home, but it couldn’t sustain its success. Next acquired its intellectual property, including the brand and website, for £3.4m, but around 400 staff have lost their jobs and consumers may not be able to claim refunds on backorders.
More recently, the British clothing retailer Joules also went into administration. Joules employs 1,600 people and has 132 stores across the UK, which will continue to operate while managers at Interpath Advisory try to find a buyer. Both Frasers Group and Next are reportedly among those considering bidding, along with Marks & Spencer and TFG London, owner of well-known retail brands Phase Eight, Whistles and Hobbs.
On the world stage, cosmetics company Estée Lauder has beaten out luxury conglomerate Kering SA, owner of Gucci, Saint Laurent and Balenciaga, among many others, to acquire the Tom Ford brand. At £2.4 billion, this will be the largest acquisition in Estée Lauder’s history. The company already has licensing agreements with Tom Ford, and Tom Ford himself, the eponymous designer and current chief creative officer, will remain until at least 2023. However, some analysts question whether the Tom Ford name will hold its value without your own participation.
Blue forecasts for this year’s Black Friday sales
Black Friday spending is forecast to decline 15% this year as consumers are expected to cut spending amid rising cost of living. However, shoppers may still see it as an opportunity to ride out price increases, especially as some retailers introduced holiday discounts this year. This was to encourage shoppers to start their Christmas spending early and to address a drop in sales caused by the cost of living crisis, which saw sales volumes fall 6.2% in September compared to a year ago. past (but the value of those sales increased, due to skyrocketing prices).
John Lewis launched its Black Friday deals earlier this year to help customers spread the cost of Christmas, with deals running through December 1. They are also offering customers the option of paying interest-free monthly installments for some items, as well as a longer return policy. Meanwhile, Amazon also had its Prime Early Access Sale starting in mid-October, giving access to early deals in an attempt to help customers “save money and shop smarter.”
However, early numbers for Black Friday indicate that home deliveries are down 5%, while the number of frequent shoppers is also lower than expected and still below pre-pandemic levels. How Black Friday and the festive period will play out remains to be seen, but retailers may feel the effects of increasingly cautious shoppers this year.
Consumer wariness may also be the result of late delivery warnings ahead of Christmas, as Royal Mail workers are poised to strike during the key shopping period. Retailers have approached other delivery companies, including UPS and Yodel, to handle the additional demands, but warned they may have limited ability to do so. The cautionary advice may be to order early.
Poor cybersecurity fuels concern
Research from cybersecurity advisor Coalfire found that retail is one of the worst performing sectors in defending against cyberattacks. 64% of brands have at least one significant cybersecurity vulnerability that a hacker can easily exploit. It’s a warning to retailers during Black Friday and the run-up to Christmas, as a lack of industry expertise leaves them without resources to manage their digital infrastructures and protect customers. With digital transactions over the festive period, it is a key time for hackers to exploit. In fact, victims of online shopping scams lost an average of £1,000 per person over the festive season last year, according to the National Fraud Intelligence Office.
Christmas campaigns begin
This month also saw the return of Christmas ads. Every year, household brands launch their heartwarming Christmas campaigns, with renowned Christmas advertisers like Coca-Cola and John Lewis sitting at the top of the list. Coca-Cola finally launched its iconic ad on November 25, with brands like Sainsburys, Aldi and John Lewis launching their ads weeks ago.
In fact, this year, Christmas, like Black Friday, came earlier. While the John Lewis Christmas ad is usually the traditional opening of the Christmas season, this year Sainsburys, Lidl and M&S beat them to the punch, launching their seasonal campaigns a week earlier than in previous years. Again, commentators suggest this is a consequence of the cost of living crisis: retailers want to get in early. Sainsburys, in particular, reported that customers brought their Christmas shopping forward to spread the costs, and were more likely to dine at home than in restaurants.
In other news, the animal rights organization Peta has launched its own Christmas campaign this year for the first time. The ad tells the story of a turkey that manages to escape from the slaughterhouse in the run-up to Christmas and is taken in as a pet by a local family. Come Christmas Day, instead of turkey for the holiday meal, as the runaway turkey fears, the family is vegan and eating ‘Tofurky’, a brand of vegan turkey in the US.
Of course, this is a push by the charity to draw attention to animal rights and, in doing so, encourage more vegan options. Jennifer White, Peta’s communications manager, said: “You can get a vegan turkey crown, vegan pigs in blankets, vegan ‘goose fat’ for your baked potatoes. You can have a traditional Christmas dinner, just without the turkey.” Peta has confirmed that the ad has been well received, but it remains to be seen if this campaign will significantly alter the age-old gastronomic traditions associated with the season.
Another PR success this Christmas has been Mars Wrigley’s divisive decision to remove Bounty bars from its celebration boxes, sparking a fierce debate on social media. The announcement is, in fact, that there will be limited edition ‘No Bounty’ celebration boxes available this Christmas, although boxes containing Bounty bars will still be sold. Dan Walker, Richard Osman, Lorraine Kelly and Piers Morgan have weighed in on the ‘diabolical decision’ to remove the bars, which has been recognized as one of the PR successes of the year by John Harrington, UK editor of PR Week.
Source: news.google.com