Today in retail: Anglo-French relations looking good

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Brexit negotiations have failed to sour the appetite for international expansion in the beauty world, as today’s deal between Feel Unique and The Beautyst proves.

Britain’s Feel Unique acquired French etailer and social media platform The Beautyst this morning, bolstering its European expansion plans – and its appeal to millennial consumers.

Feel Unique has already been branching into France, establishing four bricks-and-mortar stores in Paris over the last year.

Beauty retail is a hive of activity at the moment. From brands such as Estée Lauder and Models Own launching retail presences, to an ever-active M&A market, it shows no sign of slowing.

Elsewhere today, Ann Summers reported a 3% decline in turnover and flat profits in its full-year results, though like-for-likes crept up 0.6%.

Meanwhile, retail’s pantomime villain Dominic Chappell is being pursued by the Insolvency Service, which is taking legal action against the former BHS owner for failure to provide information relevant to its inquiry into the retailer’s collapse.

Quote of the day

“I’m not over-egging it to suggest this, but it’s probably one of the strongest and best recoveries I’ve seen in UK grocery…I think they are very well placed to kick on now, they’re in a very sweet spot in the industry and I am overwhelmingly impressed by what they have achieved.”

— TCC global insights director Bryan Roberts gives Retail Week his view on the Co-op’s turnaround progress

Today in numbers

80%

The proportion of retail executives who said their organisation understands the need for transformation, according to The DNA of the Retailers of Tomorrow report, unveiled at World Retail Congress.

62%

The proportion of retail executives who said that they had not started or were only at the beginning of their transformation, in the same report.