International online sales at apparel and homewares
retailer/cataloguer Next rocketed during the first-half of the
year, “much faster than anticipated”, said Next’s
chief executive Lord Wolfson in a statement. He now expects
full-year online sales outside the UK to reach £32 million
($49 million), up from £10 million last year.
Sales were particularly strong in Germany, USA, Ireland,
Australia and Poland. Next now plans to set up online stores for
Russia, China and Japan within the next six months, fulfilling
all orders from the UK. Even more important than launching more
sites in their native language and local currency, says Lord
Wolfson, is improving international delivery times. Next has set
out a timetable for improving its delivery promise. For example,
Next currently offers free delivery to Australia with a timeframe
of seven to 10 days. Within a year, Next says it will delivery to
Australia in just four days.
Overall, Next reported sales of £1.57 billion in the first
half of the year-a rise of 3.6 percent on the same period in
2010. Pretax profits were up 8.5 percent to £228 million in
the six months ended July 2011. Sales in Next’s online and mail
order arm Next Directory were up 15.1 percent to £486.7
million, with profit up 11.3 percent to £112.8
million.
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