EVENTS TO WATCH
ECONOMIC DATA
Takeaway: Nothing big to call out from this weeks data point. The 2.6% comp was a slight acceleration on the 2yr trend line - up 20bps. What struck us as we looked at the chart this morning was the upcoming week 5 comp, which was the first flat reading in the ICSC since Feb. 2010. As we sit here in CT in the midst of a state wide travel ban retailers must deal with mother nature once again. Not a great set-up for a blowout week.
HIGHLIGHTS
E-Commerce Market Comparison
Takeaway: We ran our own consumer survey in late December to gauge what the landscape looked like across 19 different subsectors of retail. We've presented just a fraction of the findings - focused primarily on the Athletic Space in our Athletic Black Book and Foot Locker Calls. We'll dig into the entire space in much more detail when we release our E-Commerce Black Book.
We thought this was an interesting look at the global apparel and footwear market.
- The first graphic shows the top 10 countries ranked by 2013 revenue totals. The growth numbers across the board are pretty remarkable. The US and Japan were the slowest growers, but were also the most mature markets in 2008.
- China has been on an absolute tear with a 5yr CAGR of 180%. The total sales number is now on par with the US from a base of zero and penetration is now higher than the US. That's an amazing combination of consumer adoption and systems integration.
- The 5 most penetrated markets are now: UK, China, US, France, and Germany. Graphic 2 shows the Global heat map.
Apparel & Footwear E-Commerce Sales
Global Heat Map - Apparel and Footwear E-commerce penetration
Source: Euromonitor
OTHER NEWS
SHLD - Sears Canada Names Boire as CEO
FAST Retail - Uniqlo Enters Canadian Market
MAT - Mattel Names Christopher Sinclair as Chairman and Interim Chief Executive Officer
Sports Authority names former Pep Boys exec as chief marketing officer
GME - GameStop launches tax refund program
(http://www.chainstoreage.com/article/gamestop-launches-tax-refund-program)
NKE - Nike signs major sports deal with Xavier