Sales at Shop Direct Group are up 7.4
per cent to £1.7 billion in the year ended 30th April. The
parent company of Littlewoods, Woolworths, and
Very.co.uk reports that during the year online
sales rose 31 per cent and now account for 49 per cent of total
sales. Trading in the first 20 weeks of the new financial year
was up just 1 per cent against the same period last year, but
online sales grew 29 per cent to represent 56 per cent of total
sales.
In a news piece headlined “Cameron’s mother in law
weathers crunch”, The Times writes that furniture and
homewares cataloguer/retailer Oka grew
turnover by 18.8 per cent in 2008 to £14.6 million. It also
reduced losses from £1.3m in 2007 to £409,841 last
year.
In its latest financial statement releasing figures for the
26 weeks to 28th June, TV-shopping company Ideal Shopping
Direct reported that sales were broadly flat at
£47.4 million (£47.5 million in 2008). Loss before tax
for the period also remained the same at £1.2 million.
However, underlying loss from operations reduced to £900,000
compared with £1.2 million in 2008. The company says it’s
optimistic that it can return to profitability after addressing
the “poor customer experience” shoppers had with the
company. It is now focusing on improving the product range and
its marketing and “vigorously pursuing a true multichannel
sales offering”.
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