In an update on pre-Christmas trading, Aurora
Fashions, which operates fashion retailers
Coast, Oasis and Warehouse,
says total sales in the five weeks ending New Year’s Eve were up
13.5 per cent on the same period last year. Like-for-likes were up
13 per cent and gross profit increased by 9.2 per cent.
Adding to its troubles, electricals chain Comet
is being sued by computing giant Microsoft for
allegedly selling counterfeit goods. Microsoft confirmed it has
issued proceedings against Comet for creating and selling more
than 94,000 sets of counterfeit Windows Vista and Windows XP
recovery disks, which it then sold to customers who purchased
Windows-loaded PCs and laptops. Microsoft claimed Comet’s actions
were “unfair to customers”. In a statement in respect
of Microsoft’s litigation, Comet said it “firmly
believes” it acted in the best interests of customers and
in its view, the production of recovery disks did not infringe
Microsoft’s intellectual property.
Womenswear and maternity brand Isabella Oliver
saw sales in December increase 120 per cent year-on-year. Without
disclosing financials, founder Geoff van Sonsbeeck says he’s
projecting a 35 per cent growth in 2012 with “solid
profits”.
Whoops! La Redoute is in hot water after a photo
of a naked man appeared in the background of an advertising photo
published on the children’s section of its French website. The
photo has now gone viral and can be seen on the Mirror‘s website, among others. The paper
reports on the story, adding that “La Redoute issued a
statement on its Facebook page apologising for any offence caused
and vowed that such a mistake would not happen
again”.
CatEx DCA board member Matthew Pepper has left cooperative data
specialist Abacus to join Sub2
as director. Sub2 is a new online business that combines offline
and online data to help online retailers make real-time decisions
on what content and offers to serve individuals who visit their
websites. It was founded by Chris Morris, formerly at
Abacus Direct and Transactis
and Tony Lawes, who together with Morris, cofounded data insight
firm Transactis.
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