Retail news round-up on November 16, 2015: Aldi and Lidl submit planning applications for 171 new stores, Cinven emerges as frontrunner to snap up Kurt Geiger.

UK retailers to incur costs of £180m from returned goods

Black Friday is set to cost British retailers £180m in returned goods during the 24-hour sales period this year.

Retailers stand to lose £130m just from handling returns of items bought on the biggest shopping day, according to the retail intelligence company Clear Returns.

Costs related to lost margins, cleaning and storing, oversupply of stock and the lost value of future custom from the shopper add a further £50m to the returns bill.

Bargain-hungry Britons are likely to spend £1.07bn on online shopping alone during Black Friday, up from £810m last year, according to Experian-IMRG.

This would be the first time that internet sales in the UK surpass £1bn in a single day.

Aldi and Lidl eye five times as many new stores as big four

Aldi and Lidl are planning to set up more than five times as many new supermarkets as their big four rivals combined.

Both German discounters have lodged planning applications for 171 new stores this year, with Aldi filing 93 and Lidl submitting 78 applications.

On the contrary, Tesco, Morrison’s, Sainsbury’s and Asda have filed a total of just 29 planning applications, according to figures compiled by Barbour ABI exclusively for The Sunday Telegraph.

Sports Direct in talks with House of Fraser for Lillywhites shop

Sports Direct’s chief executive, Dave Forsey, is thought to have held secret discussions with House of Fraser boss Nigel Oddy about introducing outposts of London’s Lillywhites shop in some of the Chinese-owned group’s department stores.

It is understood that talks between both retailers are at an early stage and House of Fraser has already rejected the idea of taking on Sports Direct branded shop-in-shops.

Cinven emerges frontrunner to buy Kurt Geiger

Kurt Geiger is poised to change hands with a European private-equity firm emerging as the frontrunner to snap up the upmarket women’s footwear and accessories retailer for about £250m.

Cinven is thought to have edged ahead of rival bidders including Lion Capital, according to Sky News.

A deal was not yet close to being signed.

 

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