Marks & Spencer is making a return to France
with a programme of store openings and an online retail presence.
Marks & Spencer’s first transactional international website will
launch towards the end of 2011, in French and trading in euros.
The retailer will also open a store at the Champs-Elys�es in the
heart of Paris. It had initially exited the French market in
2011.
Home shopping group FGH (Freemans
Grattan Holdings) has launched
Curvissa, a new clothing brand selling plus-size
women’s apparel. The brand trades online at curvissa.co.uk and
targets women aged 30 to 55 years. The launch is supported by PR
and social-media activity. The company’s other brands include
Kaleidoscope, Grattan and
Bon Prix.
Greeting-cards etailer Moonpig is believed to
have received approaches for the business. The Telegraph writes that it is considering bids
from private equity firms as well as trade buyers.
Amazon customers can now use their login
credentials to check out at other retail websites. The online
behemoth has launched Checkout by Amazon, which appears to be
similar to Google Checkout or Paypal. The service allows UK
customers to shop through websites offering Checkout by Amazon
using their Amazon accounts and preferred delivery address.
Feather & Black, which launched a Kids furniture
catalogue in 2010, has further expanded its children’s range with
the launch of nightwear.
Fashion retailer Jaeger has opened up its online
shop to seven new markets including Norway, Greece, Poland,
Lithuania, Hong Kong, Mauritius, and Singapore. The site now
delivers to 36 countries and customers can shop using pounds,
euros or US dollars.
Total group sales at Laura Ashley rose 6.2
percent to £285 million in the 52 weeks to 29th January
2011. In the UK, retail sales were up 5.3 percent to £256.6
million, with like-for-likes up 5.6 percent during the period.
Pretax profit, excluding exceptional gains, almost doubled to
£19.3 million, compared with £10.1 million last year.
The company’s ecommerce channel now accounts for 12.5 percent of
UK retail sales, that’s up from 9 percent last year.
Mothercare‘s overseas performance is boosting
the company’s overall sales. In a trading statement for the full
year, the company said UK sales were flat but group sales were up
3.6 percent largely thanks to a rapid growth in its international
business. It now has 894 overseas stores, including 62 in India,
and is looking to open “at least 150 new overseas
stores” in the current financial year. The Independent has more on Mothercare’s and
Laura Ashley’s international expansion plans.
Electricals retailer Dixons warned that profit
for the year would be £85 million-around £20 million
lower than expected. The Telegraph writes that following the
announcement, shares in the company fell more than 18 percent,
and “are now trading below the level of the emergency
14p-a-share cash call carried out in 2009”.
The house where the Party Pieces business was
set up by Michael and Carole Middleton is up for auction with a
tag of £460,000, reports the Telegraph.
Horticulture Week reports that Peter
McDermott, director of Ideal Shopping
Direct-owned Lead the Good Life, is
leaving the business. The company is due to release its financial
results for fiscal 2010 next week.
Tesco has moved into yet another product
line-used cars. Andrew Higginson, chief executive of retailing
services at Tesco, told the Guardian that by “supplying directly to
customers, there is no middle man, no expensive showroom and no
salespeople on commission”. The article also says that
Tesco will buy the cars from rental firms and corporate fleet
suppliers and they will typically have had one previous owner.
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