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EU Retail in Focus: Smart Checkouts, Summer Sales Slump & Brand Resilience · The Retail Podcast

• 0:00
  Hello and welcome to another fantastic edition of Five Things
• 0:03
  Friday EU Edition now. And now I'm I'm a bit all over
• 0:20
  the place. It's a little bit of chaotic in
• 0:22
  the retail podcast headquarters because there's so much going
• 0:25
  on. And we're joined by my wonderful
• 0:28
  Co host Alexandra. What's on Alex, as I'll be
• 0:30
  referring to her from from here on out.
• 0:33
  And we're going to split the show into two parts.
• 0:35
  We're going to jump in with Alex's top of mind.
• 0:38
  What are the news stories for her?
• 0:40
  And then I'll finish off with the three, but we'll, we'll put
• 0:42
  them in two sections. So hopefully for this week that
• 0:45
  will be OK. And she's just shared with me
• 0:48
  some lovely news that she'll also be at NRF Europe, which
• 0:52
  we're both very excited to do. And I'll get to go to the VIP
• 0:56
  section in the business parts, right?
• 0:59
  It's not right. Yes, we see you in person there.
• 1:03
  Yeah, we we will get to I'll be able to poke you.
• 1:06
  I'm not advice. You're real Alex that I'm
• 1:10
  talking to. So listen, let me let's get
• 1:13
  straight into this. Tell me what is top of mind for
• 1:16
  you this week. So the first topic this week is
• 1:20
  about coal rights, which is one of the one of Belgium's largest
• 1:25
  supermarket chain. They are introducing a new
• 1:28
  checkout system across their 200 stores called Easy Checkout.
• 1:34
  So instead of scanning barcodes one by one, they are installing
• 1:39
  an overhead smart camera mounted above each lane that will
• 1:43
  automatically recognise the products when the employee
• 1:47
  transfers them from a cast to another.
• 1:50
  So you have to know that this this supermarket already had an
• 1:54
  unusual checkout process where you have where they are already
• 1:59
  transferring items from one cart to another.
• 2:03
  This is to avoid having both hands taken and go faster.
• 2:08
  So the system has been developed in house their innovation team,
• 2:13
  but also in partnership with the company Helio Vision.
• 2:17
  And they have tested this since 2023.
• 2:20
  It already identifies 85% of the of their items, even when they
• 2:26
  have multiple barcodes like multi bags.
• 2:29
  Yeah, and it just makes check up to 70% faster, so you're.
• 2:35
  Going to love it. Yeah, and it's nice week out
• 2:38
  process a little bit faster, although, isn't it?
• 2:40
  I'm sure there's sometimes people you can see in the queue
• 2:42
  that love to have a good chat with the checkout person.
• 2:45
  For me, if it helps get it get the experience shorter, that's
• 2:49
  got to be cool. Yes, exactly.
• 2:51
  And also something I wanted to share is that some large items
• 2:56
  will be scanned manually, for example packs of water or beer.
• 3:00
  So that's the exception. The first fifty stores will get
• 3:04
  the upgrade in September, OK. And the full rollout in Belgium
• 3:08
  and Luxembourg will be planned by the end of 2026.
• 3:12
  So sorry, so you. Just melt pissed out so you
• 3:15
  don't worry. Yeah.
• 3:16
  So, yeah, I think this is a good example of how AI is being used
• 3:21
  again for incremental but impactful change in retail.
• 3:26
  So call rate isn't reinventing checkout entirely.
• 3:30
  This is, yeah, this is not a big innovation, but it's removing a
• 3:35
  repetitive step and they're speeding things up for customers
• 3:39
  and stuff. And it's also a step forward
• 3:41
  fully visual product recognition, which could
• 3:45
  eventually make barcode scanning, you know, it could
• 3:48
  make it could make it disappear in supermarkets in the in the
• 3:52
  future. That's that's interesting to
• 3:54
  see. That's fantastic, I love it.
• 3:56
  OK. And what's #2 for you?
• 3:58
  And #2 is about the French summer.
• 4:02
  The reason why I chose this topic is because the numbers
• 4:06
  shows how much shopping habits are changing currently.
• 4:10
  So after four weeks of summer, after four weeks of summer
• 4:14
  sales, the numbers confirm it fewer people are taking part.
• 4:19
  So only 39% of French shoppers joined in this year compared to
• 4:24
  43 last year. And on average they have made
• 4:28
  2.7 purchases and spent about 1, €115.00 in total.
• 4:34
  So it's not a lot and most of the action actually happened in
• 4:38
  the first two weeks and then the interest dropped very quickly.
• 4:42
  Because everyone's on holiday, right?
• 4:44
  They're all at the beach. Yeah, it's usually in August,
• 4:48
  but you know, summer sales is still a big thing.
• 4:52
  When do they start? What's the context?
• 4:54
  They start in July, right? Yes, exactly.
• 4:56
  Always the IT depends on the shops and the stalls on how long
• 5:01
  it lasts. But yeah, usually the beginning
• 5:03
  is very popular. It used to be, you know, a big
• 5:06
  thing where, for example, a personal example is that with my
• 5:10
  mom when I was younger, we used to go, you know, in the shops
• 5:14
  before the sales to yeah, choose.
• 5:17
  What you want? To choose what we wanted to buy.
• 5:19
  Yeah. For later.
• 5:20
  And we would queue in the morning of on the first day to
• 5:24
  get the item. Yeah.
• 5:26
  And you've seen these videos of people queuing and waiting in
• 5:30
  front of the shops and it's just not happening anymore.
• 5:33
  To lose, yeah. Yes, exactly.
• 5:36
  And to lose in my hometown. Yeah.
• 5:38
  But what is interesting is that it's the sectors like tech,
• 5:42
  fashion, beauty and HomeGoods that also declines.
• 5:46
  And there is another reason also why people are not so interested
• 5:51
  anymore is because we now have access to discounts all year
• 5:55
  round on platforms like, for example Timmy or Aliexpress.
• 5:59
  We discussed this in the last episode already, so you already
• 6:03
  know my opinion, but it just makes the seasonal sales feel
• 6:08
  less special. And then in terms of major
• 6:11
  actors, major players, So Amazon still leads the way, but this
• 6:17
  time jumped ahead of Sheen into 4th place.
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  So this is showing a growing taste for sports and outdoor
• 6:24
  gear. As you said, people are going on
• 6:26
  holidays, so they will be looking for outdoor equipment.
• 6:30
  I've. Gone took a lot of my money this
• 6:32
  summer. I had to buy some surf equipment
• 6:35
  and so they they were very kind in taking my money.
• 6:39
  But but it was in the summer sales.
• 6:41
  I did do it in the sales. I think the caffeine do a
• 6:43
  fantastic job in general. Yes, a great ambassador of a
• 6:46
  French retailer. They do, they do.
• 6:48
  And they are expanding really quickly in the UK too.
• 6:51
  So yeah, it's really amazing to see.
• 6:54
  So, yeah, that was the second topic.
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  So I think just to conclude that if the traditional sale sales
• 7:01
  still matter, especially early on, innovation in pricing and
• 7:06
  service will be key to staying relevant for retailers and it's
• 7:10
  clear that they will have to find new ways to create
• 7:13
  excitement. I got you.
• 7:15
  Well, look, Alex, thank you so much for sharing with us.
• 7:18
  Apologies. We we had to move things around.
• 7:21
  Are you I can't remember you. I know you had holiday already.
• 7:24
  Are you around next week? No, I'm not.
• 7:26
  I'm leaving tomorrow. Until you come back from
• 7:30
  holiday, have a wonderful time. Thank you, Alex.
• 7:34
  Birkenstock, the German footwear icon.
• 7:37
  Despite the headwind of new US tariffs, the companies actually
• 7:41
  managed to step past profit expectations this quarter.
• 7:44
  The key strong full sell price through a firmer gross margin at
• 7:49
  60.5%. Revenue came in just shy of
• 7:53
  forecasts at 635,000,000, but management strategy of modest
• 7:58
  price increases and keeping much of its manufacturing within the
• 8:02
  EU seem to have cushioned the blow from trade tensions.
• 8:05
  Investors like what they saw. Shares were up about 5% in
• 8:09
  permanent trading. It's a reminder the brand
• 8:11
  strength and discipline price can be powerful armour against
• 8:15
  policy driven shocks. Over in the world of beauty,
• 8:19
  Europe's leading beauty retailer Douglas also delivered upside
• 8:23
  surprise. Adjusted EBITDA landed 158.2
• 8:27
  million, comfortably ahead of expectations, demonstrating the
• 8:31
  power of beauty and how people are still looking towards beauty
• 8:36
  as a category up for indulgence. Cells hit the 1 billion mark.
• 8:40
  Growth in Germany and Central and Eastern Europe more than
• 8:44
  made-up for the softer performance in France.
• 8:47
  For a sector often seen as discretionary, Douglas numbers
• 8:51
  hint at the resilience and premium segment.
• 8:53
  Consumers might be cutting back elsewhere, but they're still
• 8:57
  willing to spend on a little bit of luxury.
• 8:59
  But unfortunately it's not upbeat everywhere.
• 9:02
  Carlsberg, the Brewer behind Tuborg and 1664 reported half
• 9:06
  year results that mis forecast. My advice to Carlsberg non
• 9:10
  alcoholic, that's where your future will be.
• 9:13
  Organic operating profit was up 2.3% to 7.23 billion.
• 9:17
  So still significant market in Danish Corona.
• 9:21
  While volume slipped nearly 2%, management nudged its full year
• 9:25
  guidance higher to 3 to 5% growth.
• 9:28
  But the tone was cautious, flagging a tougher second-half.
• 9:31
  For retailers and grocers. This is a useful bellwether.
• 9:35
  If one of Europe's brewing giants is feeling the squeeze,
• 9:38
  it suggests consumers are being more selective, even in
• 9:42
  categories, once for staples. So in the space of single
• 9:47
  earnings morning, we've seen three different shades of of
• 9:50
  consumer sentiment. Heritage footwear brand walking
• 9:53
  tall despite tariffs, a beauty retailer proving premium still
• 9:57
  has pool, and a Brewer feeling the chill of more cautious
• 10:01
  spending. Together, they paint a nuanced
• 10:04
  picture. Europe shoppers aren't shutting
• 10:06
  their wallets entirely, but they're picking their moments
• 10:09
  and their brands more carefully than ever.
• 10:12
  And with that, thank you for tuning into this week's episode
• 10:15
  of Five Things Friday EU Edition.
• 10:17
  And as Alex said, we shall see you in two weeks.
• 10:21
  Have a lovely summer break.