Many of Covid’s Biggest Retail Winners Don’t Sell Online
The global recession triggered by the pandemic has accelerated the shift to discount chains, despite little e-commerce, or none at all.
B&M Bargains in the U.K. has seen sales soar during the coronavirus pandemic, even though it doesn’t have an e-commerce business.
Photographer: Simon Dawson/BloombergWhen B&M European Value Retail SA entered Britain’s benchmark stock index this month—following the departure of Marks & Spencer Group Plc last year—it signaled a new era in retail.
A relatively little known discounter that makes money by flogging household goods at knockdown prices, B&M now has a valuation more than double that of M&S, a struggling British institution and an original member of the FTSE 100 when the index was introduced more than three decades ago. B&M’s rapid growth during a time of lockdowns and social distancing is all the more surprising because it relies on brick-and-mortar stores. It’s in a unique class of retailers that are still luring shoppers, despite Amazon driving an online boom.