H&M 11% Sales Development In February

H&M Recently published their sales development figures for February and first quarter figures for 2014. Sales values for February including VAT increased by 11% in terms of local currencies compared with February of last year.

First quarter figures (December 2013 to February 2014) show that sales increased by 12% including VAT in local currencies compared with the same quarter last year. When the figures are converted into Swedish Krone sales increased by 13% and totalled SEK 37,524m including VAT.

The total number of stores increased by 374 from 2818 in February 2013 to 3192 in February 2014.

Inflation Down To 4.2%

The latest bulletin from the ONS on consumer inflation says that annual inflation has fallen to 4.2% in June 2011 from 4.5% in May. The government target is 2%. Recreaton and culture provided the main downward pressure for the decrease. In particular games, toys and hobbies were the main contributor along with pressure from audio visual equipment price discounting. Upward pressure came from a variety of food products.

The CPI fell by 0.1% between May and June 2011 due mainly to downward pressure from recreation and culture particularly computer games, photographic equipment, data processing equipment, recording equipment and books and also from clothing and footwear as some summer sales began in women's fashion. Upward pressure came from food and drink mainly bread and cereals, meat and milk, cheese and eggs. Mineral waters, soft drinks and juices helped to offset the increase. The RPI stands at 5% in June.

Product News - Fashion & Gifts

The House of Fraser is a good place for Rare Fashion.

At the website of the House of Fraser you can browse a range that includes exclusive brands such as Linea and Kenneth Cole and fashion renowned brands such as Hugo Boss, Armani and Diesel.

The House of Fraser is one of Britain’s leading premium department stores and has thousands of products from clothing for men, women and children to homeware and electricals. Seasonal gifts are also available - Lindt Easter egg, £8.99

Hardcloud strive to bring the best online selection of clothing and accessories from a music, skate and surf perspective. The web site is easy to use and they stock the best brands. Urban Retro also stock T-shirts and other branded clothing. They also specialise in toys, lifestyle and art products, mugs and magazines. Venture Sport sells all the leading brands of outdoor equipment and clothing. It is one of the largest retailers of outdoor equipment. They say 98% of orders are sent within 24 hours.

The Gift Experience has a comprehensive selection of gifts and experience days for special occasions, birthday and anniversary celebrations, you can obtain gifts for men and women all year round.

Creative Businesses in the UK

The number of businesses in the creative industries in the UK grew from 125,300 in 2007 to 157,400 in 2008. The sub-sector with the largest number of new businesses was the software, computer games and electronic publishing category which increased by 18,200 additional businesses from 56,800 in 2007 to 75,000 in 2008. Advertising, music and the visual and performing arts also had significant increases in numbers of businesses.

The increase in the number of creative businesses did not bring an similar increase in the number of people employed in the creative industries. In fact there was a significant fall in their number. The software, computer games and electronic publishing category increased their numbers by 40,700 to 681,600. The largest percentage increase was in architecture at 8%, from 120,700 to 130,100, a difference of 9,400. There were also increases in the numbers of people employed in the advertising (1%), art and antiques (6%), music and the visual and performing arts (4%) categories but these were offset by decreases in crafts (-7%), design and designer fashion (-18%), video, film and photography (-3%), publishing and radio and TV (-3%). There was an overall decrease of 7,000 in the number of people employed in the creative industries in the UK in 2008.