Showing just how big an occasion St Patrick’s Day (17 March) is, the event boosted the latest three-day (Saturday-Monday) UK retail footfall, which came in up 4.1% year-on-year in regional markets outside of London, according to MRI Software data.
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Total footfall was up 8.1% in all UK retail destinations compared to St Patrick’s Day last year.
Understandably, there was 51.9% footfall surge in Northern Ireland, by far the highest in the UK, as market towns also saw a 31.3% uplift.
The related holiday moving to a Monday this year, rather than falling on a Sunday in 2024, likely played a key role in this increase, the report said.
“For the first time in seven years, thousands of people lined the streets on Monday for St Patrick’s Day parades across towns and cities in Northern Ireland, “reinforcing the strong economic and social impact of the celebrations”, the report added.
The surge is also likely to have also been fuelled by major sporting events including the football Carabou Cup Final and the final day of the rugby Six Nations Championships.
“The combination of events, extended festivities, and major sporting occasions contributed to a strong weekend for UK retail and hospitality sectors, providing optimism for the year ahead”, MRI Software added.
Nike Inc.’s top strategy and communications executives are leaving the company, adding to the list of senior leadership changes under Chief Executive Officer Elliott Hill.
Daniel Heaf
Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer Daniel Heaf is departing after management opted to eliminate his role, according to an internal memo seen by Bloomberg News. The teams he oversaw will be integrated into the finance department.
Chief Communications Officer KeJuan Wilkins is also exiting after nearly 20 years rising through the ranks. He was promoted to that role in 2023 under the prior CEO John Donahoe. The company has yet to name a replacement.
Hill has reshuffled Nike’s senior management team since taking the top role in October, including naming new heads of sports marketing, legal and human resources departments.
Nike is attempting to end a sales slump after a tumultuous year of corporate layoffs and the CEO change. Hill is reshaping the company by returning to its sports roots and rekindling relationships with retail partners.
Nike is set to report its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. Analysts project that sales fell 11% for the quarter.
Wilkins and Heaf didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The owner of Kay Jewelers said sales are recovering following a disappointing holiday season that led Wall Street to slash expectations for the jewelry retailer.
Zales
Signet Jewelers Ltd. sees revenue of $1.5 billion to $1.53 billion in its fiscal first quarter, the company said Wednesday. The average estimate compiled by Bloomberg is close to the low point of that range. The company also expects e-commerce sales and revenue from stores that have been open for at least a year to be flat to up 2% in the period. The average of three analyst estimates is near the midpoint of that range.
Signet shares gained 14% in trading before US markets opened Wednesday. They had lost 40% this year through Tuesday’s close.
Signet, which also owns the Zales and Jared chains, warned Wall Street earlier this year that holiday sales were worse than expected, in part because its brands didn’t offer enough gold jewelry or lab-grown diamonds in the $200-to-$500 price range that shoppers were looking for.
On top of that, engagements have recovered more slowly than the company anticipated following the pandemic. Bridal sales account for about half of Signet’s annual revenue.
The company said Wednesday that it took steps to address those shortfalls in recent weeks.
“Since holiday, we increased our depth of assortment at key price points while also benefiting from improved bridal trends,” Chief Executive Officer J.K. Symancyk said in the company’s statement. That led to a sales rebound in January, with the trend continuing and the company observing “growth across all categories” so far in the quarter, he added.
Symancyk, who took over in October and previously served as CEO of PetSmart Inc., has told analysts he wants to rely less on the bridal category and boost sales of fashion jewelry, including pieces with more lab-grown diamonds.
The company is also looking to reduce its reliance on shopping malls. Chief Financial Officer Joan Hilson said the company will transition more than 10% of its mall locations “to off-mall and the e-commerce channel over the next three years.”
Signet is forecasting revenue of $6.53 billion to $6.8 billion in the current fiscal year, while analysts have projected a total that’s closer to the top of that range.
The company also increased its quarterly cash dividend by 10% to 32 cents per share, above estimates.
Elliott Hill has made his strategy for turning around Nike Inc. very clear in his first five months as chief executive officer: return the sneaker giant to focusing on sports, not fashion.
Nike
Hill has reshaped the company’s organizational chart, overhauled the sports marketing unit and tried to rekindle relationships with key retail customers and pro leagues, including the NFL.
“We lost our obsession with sport,” Hill, who returned to Nike after a long run as one of its top executives, told analysts in December. “Moving forward, we will lead with sport and put the athlete at the center of every decision.”
Investors will get an early read on Hill’s progress when Nike reports earnings on Thursday afternoon. Wall Street isn’t expecting much improvement yet. Analysts project quarterly sales sank 11%, which would be the biggest decline since the depths of Covid five years ago.
The company’s shares have fallen for three straight years. That’s the worst stretch in its history, which went public in 1980. The stock is down about 9% since Hill was announced as CEO in September, bigger than a decline of 1.7% for the S&P 500 Index.
Hill, who officially started in October, refocused Nike back on core sports such as running and basketball. The company had spent the past several years pumping investment into lifestyle products – those worn on the sidewalk, not on the court. That strategy initially boosted growth, but didn’t last, leading to a painful year of job cuts and a CEO change.
“Nike sells a lot of products that are more lifestyle than sport, but the brand’s identity is built off what these products can do for you,” said Simeon Siegel, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets. “That has to start and center around sport.”
Nike is also raising its presence in fitness and activewear through a partnership with Skims, the underwear label founded by celebrity Kim Kardashian. The collaboration, announced in February, is expected to release its first line next year.
Adding to Nike’s challenge is widespread uncertainty in the retail industry as brands contend with fallout from President Donald Trump’s escalating trade wars and softening consumer confidence. Several chains have forecast underwhelming outlooks for this year.
Hints about Nike’s sports renewal began to trickle in shortly after Hill was named its next CEO in September. Nike had become reliant on lifestyle franchises such as Air Force 1s, Dunks and Air Jordans. However, they were losing their allure and new product development at headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon, had slowed.
The remaining problem, according to Poonam Goyal, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, is that management must still clear out a pile of unwanted inventory. That’s led to heavy discounts and will hurt in the coming months, she said. Analysts don’t expect the company to return to sales growth until 2026.
Executive Chairman Mark Parker, also a former Nike CEO, told employees in a memo announcing Hill’s appointment that the company needed to realign around product creation and helping athletes reach their full potential. Hill followed by telling staff to expect an “unrelenting focus on our athletes.”
Hill immediately began working to secure Nike’s long-term contract extension with the NFL, which had been considering other bidders for the license to make its on-field uniforms. Then senior management told employees that Nike had begun preparing a global push for its outdoor business, which includes hiking gear like trail shoes and fleece jackets.
Meanwhile, a sports reset took shape as Hill restructured his organizational chart. He segmented Nike’s corporate teams by sport across men’s, women’s and kid’s lines and named basketball, soccer and running as some of the most crucial categories.
Hill also shuffled sports marketing, naming Nike veteran Ann Miller executive vice president of the division. The move, he told employees in a memo, would “empower us to deliver more effectively on our commitment to serving athletes.”
In recent months, Nike has signed agreements with the NFL, NBA, WNBA, FC Barcelona and the Brazilian Football Confederation. It did, however, lose out to rival Puma SE as the soccer ball supplier for England’s Premier League, ending a 25-year partnership.
In December, Hill declared his intention to shift investment away from clicky ads that drive e-commerce traffic to its online shop. He told investors that Nike would “reinvest in our brands” and spend more marketing dollars on major sports moments.
That effort materialized in February, when Nike aired its first commercial at the NFL’s Super Bowl in nearly three decades. It starred many of the company’s top women endorsers: sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson, gymnast Jordan Chiles and basketball stars Caitlin Clark, Sabrina Ionescu and A’ja Wilson.
Hill made the rounds in person too. He flew to New Orleans to host a Super Bowl party. At the NBA All-Star weekend in San Francisco, he promoted a new shoe.
Then, shortly after superstar Luka Doncic, who’s sponsored by Nike’s Jordan brand, was traded by the Dallas Mavericks in a shock deal to the Los Angeles Lakers, the company had an ad for that, too. “Full tank. No Mercy,” it said.
Entertainment8 years ago