Maritime-themed gifts cataloguer Nauticalia has
expanded beyond its nautical heritage to launch
Classicalia, which caters for customers with
interests in classic cars, travel, country sports, engineering,
history, and gardening. To launch its new brand, the company will
insert more than 3 million Classicalia catalogues into the
weekend newspapers during the next few weeks.
Online giant Amazon.com has seen its global
sales increase 39 percent to $7.56 billion (£4.81 billion)
in the third quarter. Operating income was also up, rising 7
percent to $268 million (£170.3 million), compared with $251
million (£159.6 million) in third quarter 2009. The growth
was supported by sales of the Kindle e-reader; in the 12 weeks
following the introduction of the new generation of Kindles,
customers ordered more devices on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk
than any other product.
Its international sales, which represent the UK, German,
Japanese, French and Chinese sites, were $3.43 billion
(£2.18 billion), up 32 percent from third quarter
2009.
Profits at Dabs.com, the BT-owned IT products
etailer, fell from £4.7 million last year to £884,000
in the year ending March 2010 as “competition drove down
prices in the entertainment and home technology sector,”
reports TheBusinessDesk. Sales at Dabs also
plummeted, falling 23 percent to £148.9 million in the year
to the end of March. According to the article, Dabs
“responded to the fall in sales and profits by streamlining
the business, a move which saw staff levels cut by 16 percent
from 293 to 247”.
Following a 17 percent increase in sales of beauty products in
the first half of 2010 compared with the same period last year,
QVC is launching a 24-hour-a-day TV channel
selling just beauty products.
Shop Direct Group, the company behind
Littlewoods, has hired a former Royal Marine
Commando to provide leadership training for its senior
management. The Liverpool Echo has more details about Shop
Direct’s two-day course, which included conference-based
activities and a day out in the mountains of North Wales.
US stationery firm Office Depot, which operates
Viking Direct in the UK, has settled Securities
and Exchange Commission charges that its executives violated
rules about informing analysts and institutional investors that
its earnings would fall short of forecasts. Office Depot agreed
to pay $1 million and Stephen Odland, chief executive and
Patricia McKay, its former chief financial officer, agreed to pay
$50,000 each, reports the Financial Times.
Multichannel sales at Debenhams grew strongly in
the year ended 28th August, with Debenhams
Direct sales rocketing 88.4 percent to £103.8
million during the year.
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