With its 500 strong store chain taking 7.9 per cent less in the year to January 2019, online sales took the lead in the summer and rose by 14.7 per cent to £1.92bn. CEO Lord Wolfson commented: “The internet has been very good for consumers. It is a fact of life for those of us who are established high street retailers that one way or another, less clothing, homeware, electrical goods and food are going to be sold on the high street and more online.”
He added: “No one knows what the high street will look like in ten years, but one thing is certain – the people walking down it will be wearing clothes. And hundreds of thousands of people will be employed in the design, manufacture, distribution, marketing and fulfilment of that product.”
Next has championed the use of its stores for a free click and collect as well as returns service in a bid to increase store sales. Indeed the chain is deploying its shop employees to repackage returned goods and get them back into live stock and says about ten per cent the customers coming into its stores to collect or return items go on to spend on other items whilst there.
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