Zara will expand its live shopping broadcasts to the UK, Europe and the United States this year, testing a format that is already wildly popular in China but one with which Western shoppers are less familiar. The fast-fashion brand, whose parent Inditex reports quarterly results on Wednesday, is investing in new ways to engage shoppers as analysts expect sales to grow less strongly after an extraordinary post-pandemic surge. Five-hour long live shopping shows in China, broadcast weekly on Douyin, TikTok's Chinese sister site, have helped boost Zara's sales since they launched in November, according to retail analytics firm EDITED.
Earnings preview of key companies reporting this week and what to look out for.
RBC Capital Markets has taken a fresh look at the retail fashion sector in Europe, and decided to upgrade its investment stance on H&M, while downgrading Inditex (BME:ITX). H&M Hennes&Mauritz (ST:HMb) has seen a recent improvement in trends, primarily driven by womens and kidswear, the bank said, and is stepping up investment in existing stores (with around 250 stores globally this year are being refurbished) to provide a better in store experience for customers. “We see further gross margin upside for H&M driven by a more favorable buying environment and inventory control, foreign exchange, lower raw material costs and freight rises being less than feared,” the bank said, in a note dated May 17.