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Tag: Department Stores

  • Australian Retail Health Index Drops to Negative 1.07 as Insolvencies Rise

    Australian Retail Health Index Drops to Negative 1.07 as Insolvencies Rise

    Australian retail conditions worsened sharply in the three months ending June 2026, dragging KPMG’s Retail Health Index down to negative 1.07 from negative 0.37 in the previous quarter.

    A steep 11.4 per cent drop in consumer sentiment drove the decline, even as total household spending and producer prices recorded modest gains.

    Pressures on cash flow and demand led to 254 retail insolvencies during the three-month period. Employers pulled back hiring across store networks, cutting job vacancies by 15.3 per cent to leave 26,000 open roles across the country. The index measures spending, sentiment, turnover, pricing and underlying business performance to gauge sector viability.

    Value Hunting Alters Store Economics

    Shoppers across Australia have shifted their habits toward planned, price-sensitive purchases rather than halting expenditure entirely. Foot traffic and checkout totals increasingly concentrate around major promotional windows such as End of Financial Year sales, thinning margins for operators between events.

    For regional retail groups and brand distributors, this concentration creates sharp operational volatility. Inventory holding costs rise between discount periods, while staffing models must flex quickly to handle brief spikes in transaction volume without blowing out payroll costs.

    Digital Channels and Labour Adjustments

    Suppliers face renegotiations on wholesale terms as storefront operators fight to protect gross margins against higher input costs. Landlords in secondary shopping centres risk longer lease negotiations, particularly where specialty fashion and discretionary merchants struggle to sustain standard rent-to-sales ratios.

    The contraction follows a prolonged period of cautious buying that started when higher borrowing costs began constraining disposable income across major metropolitan centres. Earlier quarters had managed to absorb rising operational overheads through modest price adjustments, but consumer pushback against shelf prices has now limited further retail pass-through.

    Promotional Execution Takes Centre Stage

    Relief for the sector depends heavily on whether lower supply chain disruptions and sustained population growth can offset cautious household budgets. Retailers are directing investment into automated personalisation and inventory tracking systems to lift conversion rates ahead of high-volume seasonal trading.

    Merchant performance across the market now hinges on order execution during the upcoming Black Friday and Cyber Monday discounting calendar.

  • SingLand to Shut Marina Square for 360,000-Sqm Mixed-Use Rebuild

    SingLand to Shut Marina Square for 360,000-Sqm Mixed-Use Rebuild

    Singapore Land Group will close Marina Square on March 31 to redevelop the 40-year-old complex into a 360,000-square-metre mixed-use property.

    The project replaces the standalone shopping centre with three towers housing 204 luxury apartments, 13,000 square metres of office space, a 304-key hotel, and a four-storey retail hub by 2031.

    The Rebuild Plan for Marina Bay

    SingLand plans to build a 49-storey residential tower alongside an eight-floor office block and hospitality facilities. The revamped four-storey retail podium will pivot toward food and beverage outlets, pet-friendly public spaces, padel courts, a botanic loop, and covered pedestrian bridges linking directly to NS Square.

    Master planning is led by PLP Architecture alongside local firm DP Architects. The current building was designed in the 1980s as an inward-facing structure focused on department stores, a bowling alley, and cinemas, cutting off foot traffic from the surrounding waterfront district that grew around it over four decades.

    Why Single-Use Retail Boxes Are Disappearing

    The overhaul reflects a broader structural change across Asian retail hubs. Standalone malls in central business districts face direct pressure from decentralised suburban retail, with more than 50 town centres across Singapore now offering duplicate tenant mixes within residential estates.

    Landlords are responding by stacking residential and commercial towers directly above retail space to engineer built-in foot traffic. The same dynamic drives major mixed-use precinct investments across the region, including IconSiam and One Bangkok in Thailand, Omotesando Hills in Tokyo, and Taikoo Li in Shanghai.

    Planning Incentives and Anchor Store Decline

    Urban planners in Singapore are actively encouraging commercial landlords to retire single-use retail boxes. SingLand is tapping the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s Strategic Development Incentive Scheme, which grants higher gross plot ratios and flexible land-use rezonings for developers adding residential and hotel components to older commercial sites. Similar transformations are underway at Union Square on Havelock Road and Tanglin Shopping Centre near Orchard Road.

    When Marina Square opened in 1986, its 59,000 square metres of retail floor area made it Southeast Asia’s largest shopping complex. That legacy retail model relied on sprawling department store anchors, an arrangement that has broken down following the collapse or scaling back of operators such as Robinsons, John Little, and Metro.

    Tenants face a final trading date of March 31 before demolition crews take over the site ahead of the 2031 handover.

  • Singapore Retail Sales Growth Slows to 1.5% in July as Luxury Holds Firm

    Singapore Retail Sales Growth Slows to 1.5% in July as Luxury Holds Firm

    Singapore retail sales excluding motor vehicles rose 1.5 per cent year-on-year in July to SG$3.7 billion (US$2.9 billion), slowing from a 4.1 per cent gain in June.

    Official Department of Statistics data released on Monday showed shoppers pared back daily supermarket and fuel spending while sustaining double-digit increases on high-end discretionary items. Online transactions generated 18.3 per cent of total retail turnover during the month.

    Discretionary Spend Defies Inflation

    Recreational goods rose 13.9 per cent year-on-year, propelled by sports equipment purchases. Turnover for watches and jewellery climbed 11.1 per cent over the same period, giving both categories three consecutive months of double-digit expansion.

    Everyday retail categories faced a sharper contraction. Fuel receipts dropped 1.1 per cent in July after an 8.0 per cent expansion in June, reflecting a mid-year drop in pump prices before crude costs picked up again heading into late third-quarter trading. Supermarkets, convenience stores, mini-marts, and food and alcohol retailers all posted annual revenue declines.

    Right now, this is a market where retailers serving the masses are struggling, while those attracting the wealthy thrive.

    Josh Gilbert, lead analyst for Apac at Etoro, noted that households have adjusted their budgets around elevated living expenses by cutting routine spending to protect big-ticket purchases.

    Department Stores Squeezed

    Department stores suffered their sixth contraction in seven months. The persistent slide exposes structural problems for general merchandise retailers competing against specialized mono-brand stores on one side and cross-border e-commerce platforms on the other.

    Landlords across central shopping corridors face an increasingly split tenant base. Prime retail space dedicated to athleisure, fitness gear, and hard luxury continues to deliver higher sales densities, while suburban grocery anchors and legacy multi-brand floors yield lower turnover rents.

    Distortions and the Next Baseline

    Part of the drag on staple retail reflects a high comparative base from July 2025, when households spent state-issued SG60 vouchers across neighborhood stores and supermarkets.

    August retail numbers will reveal whether renewed oil price volatility and the complete runoff of previous fiscal stimulus further weaken food receipts, ahead of fourth-quarter lease renegotiations across major shopping mall portfolios.

  • Japan Retail Sales Rise 4.0% in July as Department Stores Beat Formats

    Japan Retail Sales Rise 4.0% in July as Department Stores Beat Formats

    Japan’s retail sales rose 4.0 per cent year on year in July, driven by vehicle demand and strong department store receipts. Data released on August 31 by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) showed department stores expanded 4.3 per cent, outperforming convenience stores at 1.3 per cent and supermarkets at 0.8 per cent.

    Wholesale sales across the country climbed 9.0 per cent over the same period, pointing to steady business-to-business inventory movement alongside consumer channels.

    Autos and Machinery Lift Totals

    Gains varied sharply by product line. Motor vehicle retail jumped 16.2 per cent year on year, delivering the fastest expansion among all retail sectors tracked by METI. Machinery and equipment retail climbed 6.3 per cent, while general merchandise sales rose 3.1 per cent and medical and cosmetics retail gained 1.6 per cent. Fuel retail turnover remained flat.

    Apparel and textile retail dropped 6.6 per cent year on year. That was the steepest contraction in the survey and the only major retail category to decline in July.

    Department Stores Lean on Inbound Spend

    The gap between falling clothing sales and rising department store receipts reveals a split in consumer behavior. Department store operators historically rely on apparel for a large share of their floor space, yet their revenue expanded while domestic clothing retail contracted. Tax-free transactions, luxury goods, and jewellery purchases by foreign visitors filled the shortfall left by cautious local fashion shoppers.

    Department stores across East and Southeast Asia have navigated similar pressures, leaning into high-margin luxury concessions and tourist footfall to offset sluggish domestic volume in apparel. For Japanese operators, sustained gains now tie closely to exchange-rate levels and international passenger arrivals rather than domestic wage spending.

    METI will publish its finalized July commerce figures in mid-September, with retail watchers monitoring whether vehicle order backlogs and inbound tourist spending hold up through late summer.

  • Central Retail First-Half Profit Jumps 35% to $155 Million

    Central Retail First-Half Profit Jumps 35% to $155 Million

    Central Retail posted a 35 per cent increase in first-half net profit to 5.0 billion baht ($155 million), driven by grocery gains and aggressive store pruning in Thailand and Vietnam.

    Total revenue from continuing operations rose 2.4 per cent to 123.7 billion baht ($3.9 billion), with grocery accounting for 46 per cent of all sales.

    Store and online sales rose 2.2 per cent across the network, beating a 2.2 per cent expansion in total retail selling area. Gross margins widened by 110 basis points to 24.8 per cent, outpacing operational cost growth. Finance costs dropped sharply, while profit contributions from a newly acquired 40 per cent stake in JD Sports lifted the bottom line.

    Pruning hardlines and shifting to athleisure

    The conglomerate closed 11 branches of Power Buy, B2S, and Officemate over the past 12 months. It also severed 39 stores in April by exiting the NK appliance retail business in Vietnam. Hardlines revenue fell 2.9 per cent during the half, or 0.5 per cent when excluding the NK divestiture.

    Fashion sales edged up 2.1 per cent. Central Retail took its minority stake in JD Sports partly to overhaul sports merchandising at its proprietary Supersports chain, shifting shelf space toward high-turnover athleisure ranges.

    Food delivered the bulk of operating momentum. Grocery sales increased 6.1 per cent, recording same-store sales growth of 2 per cent in the first quarter and 3 per cent in the second quarter. Overall group same-store sales slipped 0.1 per cent for the six months, dragged down by two-year stacked declines of 7.5 per cent in hardlines and 5 per cent in fashion.

    Uneven regional recovery

    Across Southeast Asia, diversified retail conglomerates have spent the past two years ditching fragmented specialty formats to defend supermarket cash flow against inflation. Central Retail mirrors regional peers that expanded fast into bulky non-food retail during low-rate cycles, only to find floor space unproductive once discounters and online platforms undercut consumer electronics and stationery.

    Trading conditions remain split between its two core markets. In Thailand, high household debt and slow tourism recovery continue to curb discretionary spending, even with the central bank lifting its 2026 economic growth forecast to 1.9 per cent. Vietnam provides stronger retail momentum, backed by rising inbound tourism and state efforts to lift domestic consumer spending.

    Central Retail now manages 3,834 stores and 75 shopping centres with 779,000 square metres of net leasable area across both countries. Investors are watching third-quarter same-store sales figures to see whether hardlines and fashion can pull out of negative territory.

  • Kering Redirects up to €300 Million to Asia as Regional Sales Grow 12 per Cent

    Kering Redirects up to €300 Million to Asia as Regional Sales Grow 12 per Cent

    Kering has reallocated up to €300 million in capital toward Asia-Pacific markets as regional sales growth of 8 to 12 per cent outpaced softer Western demand across its fashion portfolio.

    Asian territories now generate nearly half of total group revenue, led by Greater China at 20 to 25 per cent, Japan at 8 to 10 per cent, and the rest of Asia-Pacific contributing 10 to 15 per cent.

    Where the Revenue Comes From

    Direct-to-consumer flagship boutiques in cities like Shanghai and Tokyo anchor the group’s regional retail network, capturing full-margin sales. Wholesale partnerships with upscale department stores account for 35 to 40 per cent of total volume, while digital commerce platforms generate 15 to 20 per cent. The standalone eyewear division adds between €1.5 billion and €2 billion annually across all licensed and owned lines.

    Yves Saint Laurent proved the strongest performer in the region. The label expanded at annual rates of 25 to 30 per cent in Asian markets between 2019 and 2023, lifting global house sales from €3.18 billion in 2022 to an estimated €3.7 billion by 2024.

    Brand Performance and Capital Shifts

    Gucci remains the conglomerate’s largest single cash generator, producing roughly €9.5 billion in 2024 revenue. Its share of group intake fell from 52 per cent in 2022 to 48 per cent, prompting management to divert capital toward faster-growing labels and regional retail upgrades.

    Bottega Veneta generated between €1.8 billion and €1.95 billion with gross margins reaching 68 per cent, driven by leather goods demand. Balenciaga showed signs of recovery with projected growth of 5 to 8 per cent after revenues contracted 15 per cent during 2023.

    European luxury groups spent the past two years reassessing their heavy reliance on flagship labels in Asia. While rivals like LVMH diversified early across jewellery and hospitality, Kering’s concentrated bets on fashion houses make regional retail productivity critical to its bottom line.

    Management continues to review smaller portfolio brands generating under €200 million annually, with further divestment decisions expected as capital shifts to primary retail hubs.

  • Hong Kong Retail Sales Rise 4.5 per Cent to HK$31 Billion in July

    Hong Kong Retail Sales Rise 4.5 per Cent to HK$31 Billion in July

    Hong Kong retail sales climbed 4.5 per cent year-on-year in July to HK$31 billion ($3.95 billion), extending the city’s growth streak to 15 straight months.

    The result held steady against the revised 4.6 per cent increase recorded in June, bringing total retail sales expansion for the first seven months of the year to 8.9 per cent.

    Online purchases expanded faster than physical store traffic. E-commerce sales reached HK$2.8 billion in July, up 9.5 per cent from a year earlier, and represented 9.1 per cent of total retail turnover in the city.

    Jewellery and luxury goods lead gains

    High-value categories drove the bulk of the monthly expansion, according to figures released by the Census and Statistics Department. Sales of jewellery, watches and clocks jumped 19.7 per cent, while electrical appliances and consumer durables rose 11.5 per cent. Medicines and cosmetics gained 7.3 per cent.

    Everyday retail lines experienced much slower momentum. Department store commodities, optical shops, and alcoholic drinks and tobacco recorded uplifts ranging between 0.5 per cent and 1.8 per cent.

    Tourism events against external headwinds

    The sustained expansion points to firming domestic household incomes and stable employment across Hong Kong, even as store operators adjust to spending shifting online. The wide performance gap between luxury spikes and subdued department store receipts indicates local consumer sentiment remains selective outside tourist-heavy categories.

    City officials are counting on an upcoming lineup of mega-events to lift inbound visitor traffic through the rest of the year, while monitoring how evolving global economic headwinds affect local consumption.

  • Louis Vuitton Exits Chinese Province After Sales Drop and Trademark Dispute

    Louis Vuitton Exits Chinese Province After Sales Drop and Trademark Dispute

    Louis Vuitton closed its retail footprint in a Chinese province after local store sales dropped and a trademark dispute sparked consumer backlash against the French luxury house.

    The pullout follows intense public scrutiny in China over the brand’s legal enforcement of its intellectual property, which prompted pushback from shoppers and weakened foot traffic across regional department stores.

    Reassessing Regional Footprints

    Luxury groups in mainland China are reviewing their exposure to lower-tier provincial markets where operating costs outpace store revenue. Falling retail demand across secondary cities has pushed European fashion houses to trim underperforming storefronts and redirect capital toward flagship flagships in tier-one hubs.

    Shopper sentiment in the affected province turned sharply against the brand during the legal dispute. Local consumers shifted spending away from the label, accelerating management’s decision to shut down operations in the territory entirely.

    Consolidation in Core Hubs

    European luxury labels previously expanded across provincial capitals to capture rising domestic wealth outside Beijing and Shanghai. That expansion model now faces pressure as consumer spending concentrates in top-tier commercial centres and duty-free zones such as Hainan.

    LVMH continues to review its retail network across Greater China, with future store renewal deadlines and regional lease expiries determining where the group will prune or retain square footage.

  • Uniqlo Plans 20 Urban Flagship Stores Across Japan over Next Decade

    Uniqlo Plans 20 Urban Flagship Stores Across Japan over Next Decade

    Fast Retailing plans to expand Uniqlo’s flagship store network in Japan to around 20 locations over the next decade. The apparel group is shifting capital away from standardised suburban shopping centres to focus on multi-storey urban showpieces in prime metropolitan districts.

    The strategy alters the retail footprint that built Uniqlo into Japan’s dominant clothing chain. For decades, the brand expanded by opening uniform formats along roadside corridors and inside suburban shopping complexes across provincial prefectures. Future capital expenditure will prioritise high-traffic urban centres designed to deliver higher sales density and elevated brand visibility.

    Shifting capital from roadside formats

    Standard suburban outlets offer limited scope to show the brand’s full product range or create distinctive customer experiences. Flagship formats allow the group to display complete seasonal collections, test specialty service concepts, and handle heavier transaction volumes per square metre.

    Across Asian retail markets, apparel groups face maturing domestic suburban populations and rising store operating overheads. Flagship locations in transit hubs capture both regular daily commuters and high-spending international tourists, delivering better returns on lease costs than distributed suburban networks.

    New locations and tourist hubs

    Uniqlo currently runs global flagship stores in Tokyo’s Ginza district and Osaka’s Umeda commercial hub. Future openings under the revised 10-year plan will target prime retail corridors in Nagoya and Sapporo, along with additional high-footfall central Tokyo districts such as Shibuya.

    The urban rollout begins in western Japan, with Uniqlo scheduled to open its first global flagship store in Kyoto in November.

  • South Korea Retail Sales Rose 6.4% in July on Summer Spending

    South Korea Retail Sales Rose 6.4% in July on Summer Spending

    South Korea’s major retailers increased combined sales by 6.4 percent year-on-year in July. Demand for vacation gear, imported fashion, and food delivery services drove the rise.

    Internet platforms handled the bulk of that growth. They captured 60.8 percent of total retail revenue during the month, according to data from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

    Department Stores and Convenience Chains Expand

    Brick-and-mortar turnover climbed 3.2 percent from a year earlier. Both department stores and convenience chains extended their unbroken run of year-on-year growth to 13 consecutive months.

    Department stores posted the sharpest gains offline, with sales jumping 17.9 percent. Demand rose across every major category. Imported apparel, summer travel gear, and cooling appliances led the expansion.

    Convenience stores generated a 1.1 percent sales increase over the same period. Foot traffic slipped. Higher spending per transaction kept overall takings positive.

    Online Channels Take Larger Revenue Share

    Digital platforms posted an 8.5 percent revenue increase compared with July last year. Food delivery orders, packaged groceries, and home appliances recorded the fastest category gains across web storefronts.

    Consumer habits in the country continue to split. Digital channels dominate everyday replenishment, while physical stores rely on experiential shopping and premium apparel to draw spending.

    Trade ministry officials will publish the August retail index next month. That report will show whether back-to-school shopping and late-summer promotions sustained the sales momentum.

  • SM Retail Revenue Hits 223.6 Billion Pesos as Network Expands Beyond Manila

    SM Retail Revenue Hits 223.6 Billion Pesos as Network Expands Beyond Manila

    SM Retail posted first-half 2026 revenues of 223.6 billion pesos ($3.7 billion), up 5.6 per cent from a year earlier. Regional consumer spending gathered pace across the Philippines.

    Net income rose 6.0 per cent to 8.9 billion pesos ($270 million). Same-store sales grew 2.9 per cent across a nationwide network of 4,837 stores.

    Food and Speciality Stores Drive Turnover

    Food retail generated roughly 60 per cent of total sales across 2,824 points of sale. It rose 6.1 per cent with same-store gains of 3.3 per cent. SM Store, the group’s 79-location department store chain, grew revenue 3.2 per cent. Speciality store sales expanded 5.9 per cent, even after the operator closed a net 73 outlets to trim marginal locations.

    The company relies on an asset-light format by leasing space within sister developer SM Prime’s commercial properties. Of the 490 physical stores opened over the past year, 80 per cent sit outside Greater Manila. These target provinces where modern retail still represents less than half of household shopping spend.

    Mall Developer Backs Bay Reclamation

    SM Prime lifted first-half revenue 5.3 per cent to 71.7 billion pesos ($1.2 billion). The developer operates 90 malls across the Philippines and nine in mainland China. Rental income provided more than 60 per cent of that total. Revenue from leisure facilities, including cinemas and ice-skating rinks, rose by more than 10 per cent during the same period.

    Expansion into secondary provinces mirrors retail decentralisation across Southeast Asia, where operators such as Central Group in Thailand and Vincom Retail in Vietnam build commercial centers ahead of rising provincial incomes. Remittances from overseas workers feed directly into these regional retail hubs. They underpin Philippine private consumption at 75 per cent of gross domestic product.

    Work continues on Pasay 360, a 360-hectare Manila Bay reclamation joint venture with local authorities. The project will expand the Mall of Asia complex with new commercial, hotel, and residential districts over multiple development phases.

  • The Warehouse Starts Turnaround Push Across 84 New Zealand Stores

    The Warehouse Starts Turnaround Push Across 84 New Zealand Stores

    The Warehouse rolled out a nationwide brand campaign across 84 stores in New Zealand on August 23, targeting market leadership through an operational turnaround.

    Created with advertising agency TBWA New Zealand, the campaign runs under the banner This Is Warehouse Country across television, digital channels, social media, outdoor billboards, and in-store displays.

    Rebuilding Market Position

    The push anchors a broader transformation program at the discount department store group. Content in the campaign draws on four decades of customer milestones and household memories to rebuild foot traffic and loyalty across the store network.

    Trading conditions across Australasia have forced discount operators to defend value credentials as supermarket chains and global online platforms squeeze general merchandise margins. The Warehouse previously relied on category expansion and price promotions to protect market share, but the latest shift centers on core brand equity.

    Execution Across Network

    All 84 branches are participating in the rollout, aligning physical merchandising with national broadcast assets. The group continues to recalibrate its wider store fleet and merchandising mix under the ongoing restructuring plan.

  • Korean retailers struggle amid sluggish demand

    Korean retailers struggle amid sluggish demand

    The first quarter of 2025 presented significant challenges for the South Korean department store industry due to a notable decrease in domestic consumption. This tough economic climate had a substantial impact on sales and profits. Lotte Department Store was the only major player to announce a significant increase in profits, primarily attributed to its strong overseas operations and internal streamlining.

    Lotte Department Store reported a 44.3% year-on-year increase in its operating profit to 130 billion won in Q1 2025. This growth occurred despite a minor 1.1% drop in revenue, falling to 806.3 billion won. The company attributed this positive development to their aggressive cost-efficiency strategies, including shutting down underperforming stores and reinvesting in flagship locations. Additionally, their international business arm recorded a 6.2% revenue increase, marking its return to profitability.

    In contrast, Lotte’s rivals, Shinsegae and Hyundai Department Store, failed to meet their profit expectations. Shinsegae’s revenue fell by 0.8% to 659 billion won, while its operating profit decreased by 5.1% to 107.9 billion won. Hyundai also experienced a 0.8% decline in sales, falling to 589 billion won, and a 5.7% reduction in operating income to 97.2 billion won.

    This downward trend was linked to a poor performance across almost all product categories due to growing consumer pessimism and colder-than-average winter weather, which adversely affected fashion sales. This is a significant blow considering that fashion typically represents up to 50% of annual department store revenue.

    Challenging Market Conditions

    An industry official said, “Political instability due to emergency rule, increased trade uncertainty stemming from US tariff actions and unpredictable weather have all negatively affected our performance.” This statement reflects the combined impact of domestic and global challenges on the sector.

    On a brighter note, E-Mart, the market leader in the big-box retail sector, reported impressive first-quarter results. The company’s standalone revenue rose 10.1% year-on-year to 4.63 trillion won, while operating profit surged 43.1%, reaching 133.3 billion won. This was its best quarterly performance since 2018.

    Company executives credited this achievement to an increase in foot traffic at both its standard discount stores and warehouse-style Traders locations. This indicates a resurgence in consumer interest in brick-and-mortar shopping, despite the ongoing economic uncertainty.

    In contrast, Lotte Mart reported a modest 0.3% rise in revenue to 1.49 trillion won, while its operating profit fell sharply by 34.8% to 28.1 billion won. Its domestic operating profit, excluding overseas earnings, dropped by a staggering 73.6% from the previous year.

    The Power of Pricing Strategy

    Both E-Mart and Lotte Mart have focused on low-price strategies through centralized purchasing. However, E-Mart’s larger scale has given it a stronger position to pass savings onto consumers. Its aggressive promotions, including the “Price Shock Declaration” and “Great Eat Festa”, were widely credited as contributing to its superior performance.

    An industry official commented, “As integrated purchasing intensifies, the retailer with greater volume naturally holds an advantage in reducing procurement costs.” They predicted a potential promotional war in the second half of the year if Lotte Mart decides to roll out large-scale discounts to regain market share.

    Questions & Answers

    Why did Lotte Department Store outperform its competitors in Q1 2025?
    Answer: Lotte’s strong performance is attributed to its successful international business and aggressive cost-efficiency measures, which included closing underperforming stores and reinvesting in flagship locations.

    How did the weather impact the performance of department stores?
    Answer: An unusually cold winter affected the sales of fashion items, which typically make up to 50% of annual department store revenue.

    What factors contributed to E-Mart’s strong first-quarter performance?
    Answer: E-Mart’s success is credited to both an increase in foot traffic at its stores and aggressive promotions that passed on savings to consumers.

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  • Suning develops omnichannel smart retail through Wanda department stores

    Suning develops omnichannel smart retail through Wanda department stores

    Suning.com, the Fortune Global 500 retailer owned by Suning Holdings Group, one of the largest commercial enterprises in China, recently announced the establishment of its Department Store Group. It will focus on professional operations of fashion department store business to strengthen its full-scenarios development in online-and-offline smart retail and improve the shoppers’ experience.

    The Company will also acquire nationwide all Wanda Department Stores, belonging to Wanda Group, the large Chinese commercial real estate developer, to expand its bricks-and-mortar retail portfolios and facilitate the all-categories merchandise supply chain to satisfy more local consumers and boost Chinese retail market profits.

    As the leading omni-channel smart retailer in China, Suning.com has always been committed to building a full-scenarios retail ecosystem both online and offline to create diversified shopping experiences visible and ready to serve consumers anytime and anywhere. The establishment of the new group with acquisition of Wanda Department Store is expected to further reinforce Suning.com’s offline advantages, improving its overall retail network resources and increasing the business potential of the Company to develop new business opportunities of all-categories merchandise operation, especially of fashion, lifestyle products and fast-moving consumer goods.

    The 37 Wanda Department Stores are located in first- and second-tier cities in China, with more than 4 million registered customers. Through the deal, Suning.com will also bring its powerful technology capabilities such as data learning, artificial intelligence, IoT to accelerate the digitization of operation management for traditional department stores to increase the overall service experience and profitability of the industry.

    Zhang Jindong, Chairman of Suning Holdings Group said: “The prosperity of the physical retail industry must not only rely on the traditional model and experience. It needs to embrace innovative technology and market concepts to continuously create quality and customized services for consumers.”

    Suning and Wanda has built a strategic cooperation since 2015 and strengthened the partnership in 2018 with the former’s acquisition of a tiny stake in the latter’s commercial management subsidiary.

  • Department stores lead Singapore retail sales

    Department stores lead Singapore retail sales

    Singapore retail sales rose 2.6 per cent in March, excluding motor vehicles, as the sector’s slow but steady recovery continues.

    Month-on-month, retail sales rose 1.1 per cent.

    The headline figure – which includes motor vehicles – showed a year-on-year decline of 1.5 per cent as car sales in the city state slumped 16 per cent.

    According to Statistics Singapore, retail spending (including vehicles) totalled S$3.8 billion in March, with e-commerce accounting for 4.1 per cent of that.

    Department stores were the big winners of the month, with sales up 9.1 per cent, while food retailers also performed well, up 7.5 per cent. Sales of medical goods and toiletries rose 6.2 per cent and of apparel and footwear, and watches and jewellery, by 5 per cent.

    Sales of phones and computer equipment fell by 8 per cent.

    In the foodservice sector, sales of food and beverage rose 3.6 per cent to an estimated $716 million, led by fast-food outlets, up 16.1 per cent.

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