Despite a fall in profits John Lewis continues to invest, while other multiples look enviously at its achievements, reports Tom Cole.

While its online business goes form strength to strength, John Lewis’ network of brick and mortar stores continues to span the country. Tom Cole reports.

While Comet and Dixons posted two-digit sales declines, John Lewis continues to defy the tough trading conditions, reports Tom Cole.

Consumer confidence being at an all-time low and huge public sector cuts effected the trading result of the main players in the multiple sector, comments Tom Cole.

Shares in Dixons Retail slumped to a two-year low after the group issued a profits warning and detailed an emergency plan to put the business back on track after trading had slumped, especially in the UK. Full-year underlying profit before tax (to 30 April) is now expected to be about £85m, some £20 million lower than the forecast given just three months ago. The shares are now a third of their already depressed value a year ago.

With the run up to Christmas so badly affected by the snow, retailers in general were mightily relieved that the expected post-Christmas spending spree materialised, as shoppers hunted for sale bargains ahead of the increase in VAT.

In the Bank of England’s latest quarterly report, governor Mervyn King restates his view that the economy will avoid a double-dip recession but he cautioned that the outlook for growth is “highly uncertain”. Consumers and businesses must cope not only with tax increases and the impact of public spending cuts, but inflation is also expected to remain above target as the rise in VAT, the depreciation of sterling, higher commodity prices and dearer imports affect the cost of living.

While John Lewis adopts its famous promise in relation to its online business, other multiples declare to be unaffected by the Best Buy expansion. Tom Cole reports.

Since 1925 John Lewis has been promising customers that it would be ‘never knowingly undersold’. But over the past ten years it has been reluctant to make the same pledge to those choosing to trade online. That has now changed. The price commitment, one of the most famous ever retail straplines, is finally being adopted for the entire online product range. But this will only apply to competitors with a high street presence. Pure-play e-tailers like Amazon are excluded from the price-match scheme.

As John Lewis announces its ambitious expansion plans and Best Buy’s roll-out continues, other multiple brands are visibly stepping up their act, reports Tom Cole.

John Lewis ended its half-year (to 31 July) in subdued form, recording throughout July the lowest year-on-year increases of the whole period. However, the company was quick to point out that this time last year business was just beginning to recover so the comparison was more challenging.

The opening of first two Best Buy stores was surrounded by a lot of hype to which other major multiple players responded with announcements of their expansion plans. Tom Cole reports.

Two years after announcing its tie-up with Carphone Warehouse, US giant Best Buy is finally opening its first UK store this month.  The Blueshirts and Geek Squad have arrived at last. 

This news may initially seem of greater interest to headline writers and retail analysts, but by the end of the year there will be five ‘big box’ stores covering large areas of the country so it is well worth taking a long hard look at what will be on offer in Thurrock in May, Hedge End and Merry Hill in June, and Aintree and Croydon in the autumn. 

To general relief the majority of shoppers shrugged off the gloom, ignored the recession and shopped enthusiastically over the Christmas and holiday period.  However the year-on-year comparisons were in the main soft and the disappearance of some well-known retail brands over the past year undoubtedly helped those still standing.  January was a stark contrast.  The BRC rated it the worst start in fifteen years, with snow, higher VAT and increasingly anxiety about the coming months keeping shoppers away from stores. 

Though the Bank of England believes the economy is now 'bumping along the bottom' and the final quarter of 2009 should at last record a return to growth, for many businesses any such upturn will come too late.  The Local Data Company reports that one in ten retailers closed their doors in the first nine months of 2009.