The first half for Next, spanning the 26 weeks to 26 July 2014, saw sales grow by 10.7 per cent, with Directory sales which encompass online up by 16.2 per cent. With sales ahead of the full growth guidance the fashion to home-wares multichannel business gave in April, it is raising its profit guidance. These results are in strong contrast to those of its High Street competitors with the direct catalogue and online business performing exceptionally well. According to Conlumino, the biggest opportunity for growth at Next is in its Home format and nearly a third of planned space expansion for the year is dedicated to this. It also commented that “compared to its nearest rival Marks & Spencer, it is a food sector shy of being a fully fledged department store.”
Next also scores highly in its exploitation of social media and achieved a 7,000 blogger network with a #ChangingRoomSelfie competition over the summer. This encouraged bloggers to snap and share their favourite Next outfits from a Next changing room and through this is winning a new younger generation of customers.
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