Majestic Wines grew sales and profits in the 26
weeks ended 26th September. Pretax profit was up 20 percent to
£8.8 million, while sales increased 8.7 percent to
£127.8 million. Online sales were also up 8.7 percent on
last year, representing 9 percent of total UK retail sales.
The Christmas John Lewis ad aired on TV screens
this weekend and the department store says it’s had a flying
start to the season, reports the Telegraph. According to the article, the
chain took £76.3 million in the seven days to 12th
November.
Having surveyed its 57 member companies, trade body the Direct
Selling Association (DSA), which represents companies including
Avon, Amway, Oriflame and Pampered
Chef, found that on average, men now make up nearly a
quarter (24 percent) of their direct sales force. The Telegraph has more on the rise of the
Avon Man.
Retailers including Carphone Warehouse,
Thorntons and TheHut.com have
signed up to Simply Tap, a new instant mobile checkout service.
Simply Tap allows customers to use the service to order products
they see by tapping a code into their mobile phone. In order to
make a purchase at any number of participating retailers,
customers go through a one-off registration process to capture
payment information and delivery address.
The outgoing chief executive of apparel retailer River
Island was given a £15 million pay package for just
four months’ work last year, writes the Telegraph.
The Telegraph profiles Lord Wolfson, the chief
executive of retailer Next about his time at the
retailer and his business’s “lack of retail razzle
dazzle”.
“Pull yourselves together” seems to be the advice
from Charles Tyrwhitt boss Nick Wheeler to
fellow retailers. The 46-year-old founder of the businesswear
catalogue told the
Mail on Sunday, “Access to finance has been terrible
for businesses in recent years–the banks are taking a very
narrow approach to lending. But retailers that offer very good
quality, good service and good value should still thrive.”
He believes too many businesses are blaming the weather or the
recession rather than focusing on getting the basics right.
Speaking of the recession, some gloomy news for a Monday morning:
“insolvencies and corporate failures among UK retailers
could rise nearer to levels at the end of 2008”, reports
the
Financial Times. The article explains that the bleak outlook
for the high street comes as “consumers slash discretionary
spending across the board as they are hit by inflation on
everyday items such as food and petrol, and cut back because of
concerns over the sluggish state of the economy.”
Microsoft is shifting future product development of its ecommerce
platform Commerce Server to Ascentium. This will see Microsoft
cease to produce future versions of Commerce Server, but it will
continue to be part of Microsoft’s official price list until July
2012. It is understood that the digital agency, an existing
Microsoft partner, will take over intellectual property rights,
future product development, marketing, and support of Commerce
Server from Microsoft.
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