Apparel retailer/cataloguer Fat Face reports
that sales rose 4.3 percent to £135.4 million in the year to
29th May 2010. Operating profit was also up to £6.3 million.
EBITDA, however, fell 22 percent from £25 million in 2009 to
£19.4 million, reflecting the costs of opening 24 new stores
during the year. In a statement, chairman Alan Giles said the
business had begun a “radical programme of change” to revitalise
product ranges following weaknesses that “offset the benefits of
our growing store portfolio”.
Third-quarter revenue in the UK/Europe retail division of
French Connection, which accounts for 55 percent
of total sales, fell by 7.7 percent overall and 6.1 percent on a
like-for-like basis. The company said that online sales and its
menswear ranges showed strong growth, but womenswear at its mail
order catalogue Toast “was softer than
last year”.
US apparel brand Forever 21 has opened its UK
online store. To celebrate the launch, the company is offering
free standard delivery to customers who spend £50 or more in
one transaction. In addition to the UK, Forever 21 also now
delivers to 15 European countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech
Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland,
Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and
Sweden.
Amazon is bringing Black Friday to the UK. Black
Friday–the day retailers are said to finally move “into
the black”–falls the day after Thanksgiving in the US and
marks the start of the Christmas shopping season. It has become
synonymous with big discounts and mega deals and last year it was
reported that US consumers spent more than $10 billion on Black
Friday alone. Now Amazon.co.uk says it wants to import the
tradition to Britain with more than 200 time-limited deals on
selected products.
Marianne Culver, head of global supplier management at
Premier Farnell‘s Element14
brand, tells Electronics Weekly that the company is
looking to scale up its print catalogue. The articles notes this
is in contrast to RS Components, which is
cutting back on print to focus on online sales.
Supermarket Asda is planning to create up to
7,500 jobs next year through a store-opening programme, the
expansion of its Netto conversions, and through developing its
home shopping operations.
Australian consumer electronics retailer Kogan
has launched an ecommerce site in the UK, initially selling TVs
and GPS devices, with plans to move into more categories in the
near future.
Fancy a shoe subscription? It’s a snip at £8,000. The
Daily Mail reports on Net-a-Porter’s ultimate gift card.
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