Half-year pretax profits at Next are down 12.4
per cent, to £173.5 million. Like-for-like full-price sales
from Next retail stores were down 6 per cent but on the plus side,
Next Directory catalogue and online sales rose 2.2 per cent, to
£379.9 million. The number of active Directory customers
rose 1.5 per cent, with the web accounting for 60 per cent of
orders. Total sales fell 2.4 per cent, to £1,501 million.
Best known for its home furnishings offering,
retailer/cataloguer John Lewis is investing roughly
£1.3 million in a campaign to promote its fashion ranges,
reports Women’s Wear Daily. Top model Karen Elson
will front the campaign, with adverts appearing in UK newspaper
supplements this weekend and in the November issues of Elle,
InStyle and Vogue.
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