News roundup–OKA, Boohoo, Ocado


News roundup–OKA, Boohoo, Ocado

OKA Direct, the home interiors brand owned by
prime minister David Cameron’s mother-in-law Lady Annabel Astor,
has agreed a global licensing deal with LF
Products to expand its business into Asia.

Online fashion retailer Boohoo.com has opened up
its website to customers in New Zealand, with prices in New
Zealand dollars and free shipping. Joint chief executive Carol
Kane said the decision to launch a site in New Zealand was part
of Boohoo’s “ambitious growth plans” and a need to
stay up to date with the “rate in which global eCommerce is
changing”. The launch of Boohoo follows data from Neilson
NZ that shows the number of online shoppers in New Zealand has
reached 1.6 million, 49 per cent of the adult population.

Net-a-Porter is recruiting market managers in
France and Germany to drive international growth. The
luxury-apparel etailer is seeking native French and German
speakers to focus on the development of the Net-a-Porter brands
in France, Switzerland, Germany and Austria. Responsibilities
will include final sign-off on German and French-translated
editorial content, excluding product editorial, as well as
maintaining the brand positioning and tone of voice across all of
Net-a-Porter’s marketing content.

Online grocer Ocado warned that the Olympics are
going to have a negative effect on deliveries next month. The
company delivered revenues of £308 million in the first half
of the year-a rise of 11.4 per cent on the same period last year.
Profit before tax was flat at £200,000 while operating
profit dipped to £1.7 million, from 2.4 million in the first
six months of 2011. Chief executive Tim Steiner told the City
that it is difficult to forecast performance in the next quarter
as “we have already seen some disruption from the Jubilee
events and there is uncertainty as to the effect of the
forthcoming Olympic Games”.

In related news, Ocado named Duncan Tatton-Brown
as chief financial officer, effective 1st September. Tatton-Brown
was previously chief financial officer of Fitness First
Group and prior to that held the post of group finance
director of B&Q parent Kingfisher
plc.

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