Retailing

Retail e-commerce in Saudi Arabia has seen huge gains with sales having more than doubled since 2019 in current value terms. This is largely attributed to the digital adoption wave and evolving shopping preferences, especially among millennials. The…

Retail e-commerce continued to stabilise in Ireland in 2023, following the significant boom seen during the era of the pandemic, when both consumers and retailers alike were forced to embrace the online channel. Whilst footfall has returned to…

The Public Investment Fund (PIF), Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, acquired a 30% stake in Riyadh-based grocery store chain Tamimi Markets Company in 2023. The PIF is looking to help Tamimi Markets realise its full potential, with the aim of…

Hypermarkets struggled in Ireland in 2023, due to a variety of factors. One such is the fact such stores, being large in size, were strongly affected by the hikes in energy bills and associated utilities. This made it challenging for hypermarket…

The overall growth of the retail market in Saudi Arabia has had a positive impact on home product specialists. As the retail market expands and evolves, there is an increasing demand for specialised professionals who can provide expert advice on home…

Home products specialists saw stagnant growth in Ireland in 2023. This is attributed to the boom in home improvements over the pandemic lockdowns, which has since eased off. Added to which, inflationary pressures and the cost-of-living crisis are…

The rise of e-commerce and digital platforms has transformed the retail landscape in Saudi Arabia, including when it comes to beauty specialists. Beauty specialists in Saudi Arabia have adapted to the digital age by establishing an online presence,…

Sales in health and beauty specialists slumped into a negative performance in Ireland in 2023, following a positive pattern in 2022. We note that the 2022 growth was primarily driven by the growing health and wellbeing and preventative health trends,…

Value-oriented department stores such as Centerpoint and RedTag continued to lead the category in 2023 outperforming outlets with a more premium positioning. This was largely due to price increases with many shoppers displaying a more conservative…

The performance of general merchandise stores in Ireland in 2023 was being supported by the positive trajectory of department stores. There was a strong rebound in department stores in 2022, following the disruptions seen during the era of the…

Al Dukan from Dabbagh Group Holding Co Ltd remained the only player present in the discounters category in Saudi Arabia in 2023. The group focused on increasing its number of outlets in the western province of the Kingdom in 2023 with it opening a…

Discounters maintained growth in Ireland in 2023, thanks to offering affordable goods to price-sensitive consumers. Indeed, discounters continue to expand their ranges of products, thus, to appeal to a wider range of consumers who are seeking…

Increasing health awareness and consciousness of consumers in Saudi Arabia helped to maintain strong demand for home delivered bottled water in 2023, which is one of the leading products within direct selling. Most households in Saudi Arabia are…

Direct selling remained in a relatively steep slump in Ireland in 2023, due to strong competition from a variety of other shopping channels which offer wider ranges of goods at lower prices – both online and offline. Added to which, inflationary…

Due in part to Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 strategy the Kingdom is experiencing accelerated population growth and internal migration toward concentrated metropolitan areas. This has presented opportunities for quality-focused convenience stores to…

Inflationary pressures, notably in food, drove value growth in convenience retailers in 2023. Here we note the cost of everyday essentials, such as butter, milk, flour, and eggs. While this supports value sales due to the higher prices, retailers in…

Appliances and electronics specialists in Saudi Arabia experienced steady growth in current value terms in 2023. Factors that contributed to this positive growth included increasing purchasing power, population growth and urbanisation. Furthermore,…

Appliances and electronics specialists saw sales plummet in Ireland in 2023, following positive growth in 2022. This slump is attributed to consumers seeing lower spending power due to inflationary pressures and the cost-of-living crisis, whereas in…

Apparel and footwear is thriving in Saudi Arabia with strong demand stemming from changing fashion trends, consumer preferences, the return of religious pilgrims and tourists, the demand for quality products and government regulations. Moreover, the…

Apparel and footwear specialists maintained double-digit value growth in 2023, following a significant sales boom the previous year. The 2022 sales boost was attributed to this being the first full year without pandemic-related restrictions, driven…

Vending in the UK was significantly disrupted by the pandemic as vending machines predominantly target closed sites such as academic institutions, hospitals and businesses, which also experienced a substantial decrease in footfall. The channel fully…

Supermarkets in the UK was the only grocery retail channel in 2022 to witness value sales decline, in a year characterised by soaring food prices, skyrocketing cost of utilities, high inflation, and a cost-of-living crisis, which all contributed to a…

Unlike larger store formats within grocery retailers, such as warehouse clubs, discounters, and hypermarkets, which have a strong focus on lower-priced products as well as the ability to limit the transfer of increased costs on to consumers, small…

In 2023, soaring inflation rates, an ongoing cost-of-living crisis, low consumer confidence and limited spending subdued the retail industry in the UK. Consumers continued to downgrade product purchases to mitigate the negative effects of the…

After a challenging 2022 due to high inflation, the emergence of the cost-of-living crisis, and additional pressure on operators due to a surge in utility prices, all of which affected the disposable incomes of local consumers and subsequently led to…

Despite increased competition from discounters and warehouse clubs, which offer low-cost products appealing to the elevated number of price-sensitive consumers in 2023, hypermarkets in the UK maintained positive sales growth. Amid the cost-of-living…

Home products specialists witnessed a surge in value sales in 2021, following declines due to pandemic-related restrictions. However, the channel did not return to 2019 sales levels until 2022. The cost-of-living crisis that began in 2022 and…

In 2023, health and beauty specialists in the UK maintained its positive trajectory despite rising price sensitivity among consumers and a significant squeeze on disposable incomes. Pricing strategies, and discounted offers in particular, played an…

In 2023, a year characterised by the ongoing cost-of-living crisis and high inflation, Poundland was one of the more active players in general merchandise stores in the UK, placing a strong focus on pricing and expanding its product range. In March…

Due to high inflation towards the end of the review period, resulting in elevated prices of goods and services, consumers became increasingly price conscious, supporting the second consecutive year of value growth for discounters in the UK. As…

Amid the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, local consumers turned to direct selling in the UK as a way to augment their household earnings. Data released by the UK’s Direct Selling Association (DSA) revealed a significant surge in the number of people…

Despite price increases as a result of inflation that continued to drive the local population to adopt more conscious spending patterns in 2023, convenience retailers in the UK maintained a positive trajectory during the year as proximity and…

In 2022, appliances and electronics specialists in the UK was the only non-grocery retail channel to experience a decline in sales. Due to the cost-of-living crisis and the squeeze on discretionary budgets, many consumers were forced to be…

After a year of strong double-digit value growth in 2022 for apparel and footwear specialists in the UK, the channel maintained its positive trajectory in 2023 to outperform all other non-grocery retailers, except for leisure and personal goods…

The vending channel experienced healthy growth in current value terms in the US in 2023, and also maintained solid growth in value terms at constant 2023 prices. The continued normalisation of work and mobility routines post-pandemic benefited…

Although supermarkets recorded positive growth in the US in current value terms in 2023, it posted near flat growth at constant 2023 prices. As such, inflation, rather than a higher number of units sold, was behind much of the value gain. In current…

Small local grocers experienced positive growth in current value terms in the US in 2023, although it was one of the lower growth channels within grocery retailers, and decline continued in value terms at constant 2023 prices. Small local grocers in…

In 2022, the annual rate of inflation in the US rose to the highest level recorded in 40 years. As a result, rising costs firmly supplanted the COVID-19 pandemic as US consumers’ foremost concern. With the prices of groceries and petrol rising…

In 2022, as the rate of inflation in the US hit the highest level seen in decades, consumers were forced to look for ways to ration their spending. This had a significant impact on the retail industry, as US residents cut back on purchases of…

Hypermarkets experienced slower current value growth in the US in 2023 than in the previous year. This was largely a response to the still difficult inflationary environment in the country. Many US consumers continued to put off purchases of…

In 2023, home products specialists (which encompasses homewares and home furnishing stores, home improvement and gardening stores, and pet shops and superstores) in the US saw value declines in both current terms and constant terms at 2023 prices.…

Health and beauty specialists in the US saw low current value growth in 2023, but maintained a similar decline to the previous year at constant 2023 prices. Current value growth for the pharmacies channel was almost flat in 2023. This marked the…

In 2023, although general merchandise stores in the US saw slight growth in current value terms, sales continued to decline at constant 2023 prices, driven by department stores. In December 2023, Arkhouse Management, and Brigade Capital Management…

Sales growth slowed for discounters in the US in current value terms in 2023, reflecting a general trend in the grocery retailers space, as inflation led consumers to volume buys and cheaper meal planning. Nonetheless, discounters recorded one of the…

Direct selling continued its declining trend in both value terms at constant 2023 prices and in current value terms for the second year running in the US in 2023. The impressive growth posted by direct selling in 2020 has not been sustained. As a…

As it did for many industries, the pandemic distorted the growth curve for convenience retailers. Following historically high current value growth rates in 2021 and 2022, sales slowed for convenience retailers (which encompasses convenience stores…

In 2023, sales of appliances and electronics specialists in the US declined for a second year running in both current value terms and in value terms at constant 2023 prices. The inflationary environment led consumers to postpone discretionary…

In 2023, current value growth in apparel and footwear specialists slowed for a second year in a row in the US, as demand continued to normalise relative to 2021, and consumers managed through another year of high inflation. This is a bit misleading,…

In 2023, sales through vending in Mexico (in machines situated in a public environment) registered healthy growth for a third consecutive year in current value terms, confirming that the pandemic is a thing of the past. Although growth was slower…

In 2023, supermarkets in Mexico registered growth in current value terms, and even saw a more dynamic rate of increase than in the previous year. In fact, during 2022 supermarkets saw a performance well below other channels, such as discounters, as…