Estée Lauder Asia sales skyrocket
Estée Lauder Asia has recorded its third largest quarterly growth rate in 20 years, and was a leading driver of growth for the wider global company.
While headline growth was affected by the adoption of new accounting standards, the parent company, which is based in New York, said Asia-Pacific sales had risen by a “strong double-digit” rate on a reported basis and at constant currency.
“The growth was broad-based, with most markets growing double digits. China and Japan accelerated, while Hong Kong continued its strong growth,” the parent company said in a statement.
Globally, Estée Lauder achieved net sales of US$3.52 billion ($4.88 billion) in the three months to September, an eight per cent increase, compared with US$3.27 billion ($4.53 billion) in the prior-year quarter.
President and CEO Fabrizio Freda said the strong result “reflected multiple engines of global growth throughout our product categories, brands, regions and channels”.
200 UK centres on brink of collapse
More than 200 shopping centres across the UK are in danger of collapsing into administration as their major big-box anchor stores decline and online shopping takes off, which has happened faster in Britain than almost anywhere else.
Many of the at-risk centres are owned by US private equity firms under deals that will need refinancing. And as they have to return value to their investors, they are unlikely to put up with falling revenue.
According to the National Retail Research Knowledge Exchange Centre’s retail analyst Nelson Blackley, small towns are in danger of “catastrophic” ramifications, including increased vandalism and other crime, as hundreds of shopping centres become soulless, hollowed-out shells.
“UK shopping centres must change if they are to survive,” said Blackley. “Some of the big centres in the UK are incorporating Sea Life Centres, ice rinks, indoor ski slopes – these are the shopping centres that, in my view, will survive.”
Brazilian fashion chain appoints CEO
The board of Brazilian apparel chain Lojas Renner has promoted its chief procurement officer, Fabio Adegas Faccio, to be chief executive, effective next April 18, the company said.
In a securities filing, Brazil’s largest clothing retailer said that the current CEO, José Galló, would remain with the company as a board member.
Shares in Lojas Renner were up 1.4 per cent in afternoon trade on November 1 following the announcement.
US online sales tipped to surge
US online spending during the coming holiday shopping season is likely to grow 14.8 per cent this year to US$124.1 billion ($172.07 billion), far outpacing the 2.7 per cent growth predicted for bricks-and-mortar locations.
The forecast, reported by Reuters, was released on November 1 by Adobe Analytics, the web analytics arm of Adobe Systems. The company measures transactions from 80 of the top 100 US retailers and trillions of customer visits to US retail sites.
Online sales this year would benefit from an extra day between Cyber Monday and Christmas, which is likely to provide a US$284 million ($393.78 million) sales boost, the report said. Cyber Monday, the Monday following the US holiday of Thanksgiving, is promoted by online retailers as a day for exceptional bargains. It falls this year on November 26.
Global push to cut plastic waste
Some 300 companies, representing 20 per cent of all plastic packaging produced globally and together representing the entire supply chain, have signed a global commitment to end plastic waste and pollution at the source.
The initiative was led by a British charity, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, in collaboration with UN Environment. Among the signatories are such major companies as Burberry, Carrefour, Coca-Cola, ColgatePalmolive, Danone, Diageo, H&M, Henkel, L’Oréal, Marks & Spencers, Mars, Nestlé, Philips, SC Johnson, Unilever and Walmart.
It was also signed by the French and British governments. The commitment, which was announced at the “Our Oceans” conference in Bali, is one of the most far-reaching ever when it comes to plastic waste.
“We know that cleaning up plastics from our beaches and oceans is vital, but this does not stop the tide of plastic entering the oceans each year. We need to move upstream to the source of the flow,” said a statement by Dame Ellen MacArthur, the retired British sailor who launched the foundation 18 years ago to advocate for a circular economy.
