Insight Flash: CE transaction data explores UK-based retailer B&M’s acquisition of competitor Wilko
Following Wilko’s fall into administration, B&M, a UK-based discount retailer, announced on 5 September that it would acquire 51 former Wilko stores. But does this make strategic sense? Cross-shop data from Consumer Edge, which can be helpful when seeking to understand which companies are likely to benefit most in the event of a competitor bankruptcy, would appear to suggest so.
B&M and Wilko Cross-Shopping
The chart below depicts the percentage of B&M shoppers cross-shopping at Wilko, making it evident that a sizeable portion (~15%) of B&M shoppers find Wilko’s value-focused proposition and locations appealing. What’s notable is that the percentage of B&M shoppers cross-shopping at Wilko has exhibited a steady decline in recent years, perhaps because of Wilko’s lack of focus on the store experience post-Covid. Data from CE also suggests that almost 1 in 3 Wilko shoppers cross-shopped at B&M.
This relatively high cross-shop percentage is in spite of the fact that the retailers operate in different parts of the UK. B&M tends to operate in the north, while Wilko has more exposure to the south.
Wilko and B&M Regional Delta by UK Geography
Figure 2 shows the regional delta between Wilko and B&M’s spend as a percentage of total spend. Wilko spend as a percentage of total is 7ppt higher than B&M in London, 5ppt higher in South East England and 5ppt higher in the East Midlands. The difference is down to the geographic exposure of the two retailers. If the 51 newly acquired stores are in southern parts of the UK, could this prove fruitful?
Consumer Edge is the leading provider of alternative data for consumer spending behavior, and the only provider of global revenue signals. Our data offers insights into not only UK insights but hundreds of industries, subindustries, tickers, and symbols across the globe. If you’d like to benefit from using Transact EUR or US or other products for other industry data year-round to track trends and dynamics like these, reach out to insights@staging.consumer-edge.com.
