aining rapid momentum around the country. The tour learnt the UK’s health and beauty sector is currently topping the growth charts, followed by clothing, however, grocery has become one of the slowest growing sectors, with supermarkets giants such as Tesco among the hardest hit. In London, UK pharmacy chain, Boots, spoke of how it’s gearing for change following a merger with US pharmacy giant, Walgreens; Planet Retail senior advisory analyst, Beth Miles, delved into the trends driving the ever changing UK retail market; and Jessi Baker from tech start up, Provenance, delivered her predictions on what will be next to disrupt the marketplace as the internet did. Store standouts in London included Lush’s new experiential concept store, Burberry’s flagship on Regent St, and the Apple Watch pop up at Selfridges. In Berlin, the third city on this year’s intensive 18 day tour, the group listened to Australia’s ambassador to Germany, David Ritchie; was given a presentation by the head of Europe’s largest department store, KaDeWe; and book, film, and music retailer, Dussmann department store, proved to the tour print is not quite dead yet, with a 7000sqm, five storey store generating €35 million per year. The group also toured popular shopping districts Kurustendamm, Tauentzienstrasse, Bikini Berlin, and the newly opened Mall of Berlin. This year’s participants will now head to the capital of The Netherlands, Amsterdam, with brands such as Unilever, Denham, and G-Star Raw to speak to the group, followed by the final stop of the tour − Tokyo. More in depth coverage of this year’s Westfield World Retail Study Tour will be in Inside Retail Magazine’s June/July 2015 issue. This story first appeared in Inside Retail PREMIUM issue 2045. To subscribe, click here. Lush, London KaDeWe, Berlin Bikini Berlin, Berlin