In a trading statement released today, confectionery retailer
Thorntons confirmed that sales declined 2.7
per cent to £62.4 million in the 16 weeks to 28th April as a
result of its store closure programme. Excluding the closures,
sales were broadly flat on this time last year. The silver lining
in the statement came from Thorntons’ direct division, where
sales rose 2.2 per cent to £2.5 million in the period, buoyed
by a successful Easter.
YGM Trading, the Hong Kong based company that
owns the licence for the Aquascutum brand in
Asia has entered into exclusive talks with Aquascutum’s
administrators to negotiate an acquisition of the business and
its assets.
Marking its first step into direct sales in the UK and Ireland,
Wonderbra has launched a transactional website
on the Venda platform. The new site, wonderbra.eu, replaces a
nontransactional brochure site wonderbra.co.uk. The store carries
the brand’s full range of products and a “Get
Inspired” section of the site which hosts video content and
includes social media sharing functions. In addition, the site
also includes a stockist finder to allow consumers to locate
products on their local high street or through other online
retailers.
The North Face has been slapped with a £2.8
million fine by the Fair Trade Commission as a result of price
fixing. The Telegraph writes that North Face denies all
charges made against it and is considering an appeal.
John Lewis has added PayPal as a payment method
on its UK and international website johnlewis.com, as well as on
the mobile-optimised version of the site.
Next has added Joules to its
range of designers online. On sale is a range of men’s and
women’s gilets, wellies and rugby shirts as well as women’s
summer dresses, shorts, polo shirts and more. By shopping through
Next, Joules fans can have their order delivered the next day if
ordered online before 9pm.
Lord Wolfson the chief executive of Next has sold £3.8
million worth of shares to pay towards his wedding and new house,
reports the Telegraph.
Computer giant IBM is to acquire digital
analytics software provider Tealeaf for an
undisclosed sum.
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