talkingtrends
Monday February 4 2019 THE NATIONAL MOTORCYCLE MUSEUM, BIRMINGHAM
Mary Portas reveals ‘What
Britain Bought in 2018’ Retail consultant Mary Portas looks back at some of the biggest shopping hits, misses and surprises faced by retailers last year
global audience of 1.9 billion and everyone wanted to cash in on the wedding of the year. Iceland released their version of the wedding cake, sales of British food rose and Tesco predicted scone sales of 1.5 million.”
Delivered food And, she added: “There’s one foodie habit that we can’t seem to get enough of. While big restaurant chains are struggling (hit by food costs, rising rents and more competition), each of us now spends over £1,000 a year on takeaways.” The programme said that in April 2018 it was announced that the takeaway delivery food market (firms such as Just Eat, Deliveroo and Uber Eat) had nearly doubled in the past decade from £2.4 million to £4.2 million. According to Deliveroo ceo and co-founder Will
Shu: “Of the under-30 category, about 28% of them order food delivery all the time. That same proportion of people who cooked at home once a week has dropped from 94% to 89%.” Mary noted: “What will remain to be seen is whether what’s good for our busy 21st century lifestyles, and demand for choice, is good for our waistlines.”
O
n January 2, Channel 4 aired a show hosted by Mary Portas called ‘What Britain Bought in 2018’, in which the
retail consultant presented a study of the stand-out products and trends over the past 12 months.
Veganism She kicked off her review with a comment on the rise of veganism. “Gone are the days when we could just rely on Jane Fonda’s aerobics videos for our New Year resolutions,” she said. “Now, 168,000 people started 2018 with Veganuary. But it didn’t stop there. Veganism became the biggest food trend of the year. Tesco doubled its vegan food range in 2018, Britain’s largest vegan restaurant [Erpingham House] opened in Norwich (in an old steak house) and even ‘The Great British Bake Off’ went vegan. “Only two years ago there were about half a million vegans. There are now 3.5 million vegans in the UK. Veganism is kind of cool - and nowhere is it cooler than on social media. Last year #vegan reached 17 million Instagram posts.”
Plastic issues She continued: “But it wasn’t just fresh new vegans
38 |
housewareslive.net
feeling worthy at the start of the year. In a tumultuous 12 months around the world, 2018 was also a year when we tried to instil some calm and kindness into our world, where ethics and wellbeing and just ‘doing the right thing’ influenced what we bought.
“But our attitudes were put into perspective when
we ended 2017 with a heartfelt and moving wake- up call from a national treasure. [David] Attenborough’s dire warning and those troubling images from the BBC’s [nature documentary series] ‘Blue Planet II’ highlighted the issues of plastic in our oceans - and there were over 1.5 million #plastic posts on Instagram. “By February, single-use plastic was the
environmental bogeyman that had been under our noses the whole time. And big businesses also rushed to distance themselves from the plastic pariah, with many pledging to go fully reusable, recyclable or compostable over the next seven years.”
Royalty inspired merchandise Mary then reflected on Spring 2018, claiming that the biggest impact on spending in the season “was the first royal baby of the year – or was it the first royal wedding? Harry and Meghan had an estimated
•
HousewaresLive.net
Big screen TVs By June, “Brexit was back in the news and we all needed a bit of optimism,” Mary said. “Just in time, the sun came out and the [World Cup] football [tournament] kicked off. We got knocked out - but it did give TV sales an extra boost.” Laurence Mitchell, director of electricals & home
technology at John Lewis & Partners, confirmed this. He said: “Every four years, we see a huge spike in TVs and people moving towards these big cinematic experiences [screens]. In 2010, the most popular size of TV was the 32in; now it’s 55in.”
High street Mary then turned her attention to high street trading in general. “A bump in big TVs was a blip though, in a bad year for high street retailers,” she said. “At the end of June, the 169-year-old House of Fraser announced 31 store closures to avoid administration. But this was just one of many big brands that closed and some outlets vanished altogether (such as Maplin and Toys ‘R’ Us). In total, 1,500 shops and 38,000 jobs were affected.”
Christmas Eve boxes On a lighter note, Mary highlighted the growing appeal of the Christmas Eve box. Inspired by
•
twitter.com/Housewaresnews January/February 2019
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56
