Hello and welcome back to Five Things Friday, UK edition with my fabulous co-host Simone. Hey Simone, how are you doing? I'm good. How are you? I'm really good. So, like last week, let me give you an overview, although you know this, secret sneak peek to what we're going to discuss on the show. So, this week we have the fabulous Charlotte Tilbury and a beautiful pop-up that they've done that Simone will cover. Then we'll talk a little bit about a online home shop, which is an online e-commerce store that I found which is super interesting. Then we'll take a look at what's happening at Morrisons with some innovation that they've released. Moving over to Argos and the wonderful Argos catalog. Then closing off with some retail figures from the ONS. Coming into the home straight to close off with what? Primark and some new brand opening on Regent Street with some cheeky interactions. Simone, how about we start with you?
Yes. So, something that caught my eye this week for anybody in London is Charlotte Tilbury's the Unreal Glow Club pop-up. Would we expect anything less from Charlotte Tilbury? Absolutely not. They've literally taken over Covent Garden with this Ibiza-themed pop-up. It's to celebrate the launch of their new highlighter and it's I mean, it's more like a summer festival than a product launch. But my favorite part of this is they've actually gamified the experience. So, visitors can come, they can collect their stamps, which is to replicate passport stamps, which I love. And they can make their way around each activation, unlocking exclusive merchandises and prizes and lots of different treats along the way. And I think if you actually just click through them, oh we've already clicked through them. But yeah, look, there's a there's a DJ there, there's Polaroid photo moments, there's games. I think I saw something like if you There we go. You can There you go.
put your ring over the hoop and you'll get a a prize. And it's funny, they actually did something fairly similar, but more on a smaller scale near the Westfield. And the girls in my team came into the office after being on their lunch, and they said, "Look, we've just won this Charlotte Tilbury lip gloss." And I think they had to It was mini golf. And if you got it in the hole, then you get a lip gloss. And they were just couldn't stop talking about it. So, it's just another example of, you know, the product might be the hero, but it's the experience of really that gets people through the door, you know, something super interactive like that it is what people will remember. And yeah, loved it. Yeah, me too. I've seen them on Instagram and TikTok. And this is Pop Ups London on Instagram. So, if you want to see more Pop Ups in London, please go and follow them. Coming over to me, It starts today and it ends on Sunday for anybody that does want to go.
Oh, wow. Okay. So, it's only on for I thought I thought it was maybe a week or something, but No, just until Sunday. Man, they've done a fantastic job of getting everyone getting this out. I don't know if this is weird or not, but online home shop has posted their mid sort of year results. I think they're mid-year, I'll have to check. But basically, they they have grow They're a Manchester based, as you can see, value-driven, almost pound shop, but they've got items of furniture that go up to 10 10 pounds. But they've they've gone up to 100 million pounds in revenue with 15.1 million pounds in profit, which is a gross sales increase of 68% year-on-year. And operating profit, so profit rose from 5 million, I think this must be final annual turnover, from 5 million to 15.3 million. And they've just invested in a 327,000 square foot fulfillment center in Trafford Park. Is this the shape of things to come? I know we've had Temu and, you know, the the sort of the the war of the Chinese online brands coming over. But it's interesting to see a Manchester-based uh home shopping company posting such amazing results, which sort of lends itself to what I wanted to talk next. I I'll come to Argos next, which was the ONS results.
And I don't know if this is the sort of shape of things to come, but the ONS released the retail figures, and I'll just go through some of the what I I mentioned this before. Retail sales volume only increased by 1% in June. Well, they're okay. That's better than nothing, right? Online spending rose 14.4% year-on-year. E-commerce represented 29.4% of all UK retail spending. And this has been the highest level since April 2021, since lockdown, basically. Which is so it's posting that strategic question, is it the temporary with temporary weather-driven demand, or is this the start of another period of structural e-commerce growth? Because I for you know, forever when I'm talking saying, "Oh, yeah, but e-commerce is only 30%." That tells you that from a channel perspective, we can only expect it to be less. So, it's raising some interesting questions, and I know this is your world, Simone, in terms of e-com. So, I don't know what you have I know you're only hearing this for the first time.
Yeah, I mean I hope it's the latter. I hope it's the the start of the the e-com boom for my answer. I have to say I do think the what the weather does have a big part to play as well, but I I'd like to think it's a mix of the two. I really wish. All right. I remember the Argos catalog, which is this thousand-page monster, which has been reinvented. I mean, I'm I'm sure it was reinvented for the digital age ages ago. But, Argos has reinvented a traditional catalog with personalized digital experience. Your catalog creates a curated product edits, recommendations, and lookbooks. And I used to love looking at the hi-fi equipment, all the technology. And so, having that all autonomous now and being brought together in a Pinterest-style lookbook is what you can expect from the Argos catalog. And it moves sort of, if you like, basic product search beyond go in and look into inspiration and discovery, which is, again, you and I have talked about this millions of times. How do you How do you create inspiration? How do you do discovery online? And Argos, obviously, have done this taken the challenge and created this app and the or experience. The broader shift for retail technology is sort of moving to helping customers decide what to buy, not simply where to find it, right? And we talk about curation. And I think, you know, how often are we going to just keep going to chat GPT and saying, "Whatever, summer dress, barbecue, whatever." Maybe in some of those channels, with some of those brands, we want them or we want them to take responsibility for discovery and inspiration.
Interesting. We'll see. And do I have three No, that was it. So, that's my final one. Over to you. I have to say I love that because there's something, I mean, you're talking about being old in the Argos catalog. My childhood was the Argos catalog. And there's something really old about that. That's why it was. But there's something really nostalgic about it as well. I'll be intrigued to see to see how they get on with that. But the final one is is one that's a bit scandalous. Moving on. So, Skims opened up its new flag street flag flag street flagship store on Regent Street. There you go, my words, model doll. Which obviously feels like such a natural step for the brand. You know, they've gone from being this celebrity-led chic wear label, obviously Kim Kardashian, to one of the biggest names in modern basics. So, I was super keen So, I was super happy to see them opening up. But what really caught my eye is what is on the screen there, which is one of the most scandalous but hilarious bits of opportunistic marketing that I've seen in a while. So, Primark have spotted the moment and and they've really run with it, pulling up beside the store with obviously you can see here this giant billboard half a time selling their very similarly looking um shaping body suits, which are 9 lb.
It feels like the lawyers are getting ready, right? You can imagine the lawyers putting his jacket on right now. me of the Aldi and M&S Cuthbert and Colin the Caterpillar care. I feel a lawsuit coming. Well, obviously look that that they're showing the budget-friendly alternative. It might be scandalous, but it's really smart and it's ballsy and like look, you've got to admire the timing, you know. Primark Primark knew that thousands of shoppers would be heading to to Regent Street for the launch of this. So, they're like, why not shop with those uh much cheaper alternative. They've put it out there, right? Yeah, no, absolutely. Whether you're team Skims or team Primark 9 lb bargain, it's just it's for me it's a really good example of a retailer capitalizing on a on a competitor's big moment. It might be naughty, but it it was smart. I I did enjoy it.
I think this lends itself into a cultural moment cuz I read the comments and uh the comments were all, you know, very British, good on you, get in there, a little bit cheeky, we love them. And I think, you know, in terms of the UK, what what we love is a little bit of tongue-in-cheek. We love that innuendo. But, you know, when I was reading the text it says these Kims and obviously what they've gone and I assume these ladies are all called Kim or or that's what it says anyway, these Kims prefer Primark. So, you know, it's interesting. Have they pushed it too far? Is this too scandalous? Who knows? Who would have thought a retail podcast could be so exciting? [laughter] Anyway, with that bombshell, Simone, thank you so much. Until September. We are doing NRF, the official, if you like, podcast partner. We'll be at NRF Europe doing our normal thing, interviewing people. If you haven't got your tickets yet, get them. I don't know I'm Simone and I have discussed if she's going to be with me or not, if she's going to jump on the Eurostar, so we don't need to talk about that now. But, anyway, I look forward to speaking to you very soon. Simone, have a lovely week.
And you. Bye.
