Burberry is expected to unveil a welcome return to sales growth this week, buoyed by a surge in Chinese shoppers on the back of its collaboration and campaign with pop star Kris Wu.

However, the retailer has taken action to address the sales slump by naming Wu, who was the frontman for South Korean-Chinese supergroup EXO, as its brand ambassador. A separate clothing collaboration with Wu has also spurred demand across Asia.
Analysts at Barclays said the Wu campaign has boosted Burberry’s sales and awareness with shoppers on Chinese social media channel WeChat. Barclays’ Julian Easthope predicts a 2pc lift in like-for-like sales over the quarter.

He added: “The weather has also been more conducive to trench-coat and outerwear sales this year. With 2pc of growth from new space and 21pc of foreign exchange we estimate third-quarter sales of ?752m – up 25pc.”

Burberry has said its annual profits could be boosted by ?125m from the weaker pound. It has also said former Smith & Nephew boss Julie Brown will start on Wednesday in the new combined role of chief operating and financial officer, replacing John Smith and Carol Fairweather.

Investors will also be watching out this week for festive updates from Halfords, Pets at Home, N Brown and Bonmarche after last week’s deluge of upbeat retailers’ results.

Counterfeit bags and other objects seized by French customs on the fourth national day of counterfeit destruction in Paris in 2016. PATRICK KOVARIK/AFP/Getty Images
As such, brands are taking action against the websites leveraging their names. As early as 2008, Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey won $63 million against eBay over the sale of counterfeits. Alexander Wang was awarded a “symbolic” $90 million in August 2016 in a suit against at least 459 different “cybersquatting” domain names claiming to sell Alexander Wang products.

Now, Alibaba’s decision to team up with brands like Louis Vuitton is a statement of unity, putting the sellers like Taobao on the same team as the luxury companies, a move industry insiders have encouraged for months. As WWD notes, Alibaba has already demonstrated its commitment by taking action against Taobao merchants selling counterfeit Swarovski watches; now, aligned with the brands themselves, it’s got even more ammo to crack down.

“The most powerful weapon against counterfeiting today is data and analytics, and the only way we can win this war is to unite,” Jessie Zheng, chief platform governance officer of Alibaba Group, told WWD.

Now let’s see if the new alliance can improve the shopping experience.