Food
In the financial year 2019, Spar International achieved a worldwide turnover of 37.1 billion euros, a growth of 4.35%. The number of stores increased by 208. During the corona crisis, the proximity stores proved their strength more than ever.
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Fashion
American department store chain Nordstrom suffered a 40?% turnover decrease in the quarter ending 2 May, but the company says it believes in a bright future after Covid-19. After all, many competitors fare even worse.
Abercrombie & Fitch saw its losses grow by an astonishing 1180?% in the previous quarter, while turnover dropped by a third due to the Covid-19 crisis.
Ralph Lauren is the next in line to take a corona hit: in the last quarter (January to March), turnover took a worldwide double-figure drop. For the full year (April to March) results went down as well.
General
Dutch Hema has decided to delay publication of its full-year results for the second time, as accountants struggle to declare the chain viable.
Alibaba saw its turnover climb 35?% in the past fiscal year, beating its own forecasts by a landslide. The coronavirus crisis pushed the platform's total sales over a trillion dollars, a record.
The collapse of wholesale sales have cut Urban Outfitters' turnover back by almost a third in this year's first quarter. A healthy profit made way for a nine-figure loss, forcing yet another company to cut management wages and bonuses.
Despite a growth in food sales, Marks & Spencer saw its profits drop 21.2 % last year. The coronavirus crisis makes tough measures necessary, but also opens opportunities.
Walmart saw its online sales increase 74?% during the coronavirus crisis, resulting in comparable sales growth of 10?%. Still, the American retail giant has decided to shut down its online branch Jet.com.
Non-food discount retailer Action reached the five billion euro turnover mark last year. Owner 3i now estimates the discounter's value at 10.25 billion euros and calls the coronavirus crisis just a "short-term disruption".
Electronics
As Ceconomy (the owner of the MediaMarkt and Saturn chains) was forced to close its stores for a while due to the corona crisis, it suffered huge quarterly losses and had to ask for state aid in Germany.
Cosmetics
German Henkel saw its sales decline slightly because of the coronavirus crisis, as hair salons and automobile manufacturers were forced to close. The soap and washing powder category did perform well, so much so that the Persil manufacturer increased its soap supply by 30?%.
Puma has seen its profits fall by nearly 62?% in the first quarter, while its revenue only fell by 1.3?%. E-commerce managed to save part of the sports brand's performance, but it looks like worse is yet to come.
Swedish retailer H&M has seen sales fall by as much as 57?% in local currency since the beginning of March, as online sales growth was impressive - but insufficient to compensate for closed stores. Inventories, meanwhile, continue to build up.
Even Zalando is suffering from the corona crisis: although the fashion webshop still expects a double-digit growth, its expectations are now much lower than at the beginning of the year.
As expected, AB InBev was hit hard by the corona crisis in the first quarter. However, this only seems to be the beginning of more misery for the brewer, as the April figures show that the damage will be much greater in the second quarter.
