Karen S.

Have you ever wondered what the journey to becoming a Merchandise Manager at Next entails? Andy Mackay (Merchandise Manager for Womenswear) spoke on the Life at Next podcast previously about how he started at Next's Preston 304 store and how he was, in his words, "a little bit annoying." It clearly worked! 👏 A selection of insightful takeaways and questions to be asking that could be key to success whilst working in Product at Next: 🌟 "Can you make it better?" 🌟 "Deliver the trends." 🌟 "Are we being brave enough?" 🌟 "Always look at 3 seasons at a time." 🌟 "Make your mark, make an impact." 🌟 "Empowered to make decisions from a very early stage." 🌟 "We all need to be on the same hymn sheet." 🌟 "Fabric, is it as good as it possibly can be?" 🌟 "Healthy conflict is good. It is how better product is created." Take a listen or watch yourself here: https://lnkd.in/egYBVsKz ❓Do you have any other top tips on successfully working within Product❓ #lifeatnext

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I’ve thought long and hard about posting this but decided it’s the right thing to do. I was recently informed about the day rate for Ecom stylists for a large London based studio. Between £120 and £150 per day. Let’s break that down. £120 per day - minus 19% tax , minus travel 1-3 travel card £9.60, and let’s say £10 for lunch, that’s an overall earning of £77.60. Let’s assume the hours are 9am - 6pm - 8 hours including lunch. £77.60 divided by 8 hours is £9.60 per hour. The London living wage per hour is £13.15. The sad truth about these figures is that depite the dramatic rise in the cost of living (food, rent, utilities, childcare are they highest they’ve ever been) the day rates in the creative industries remain the same or lower than TEN years ago. The industry is quite literally imploding itself, creatives simply cannot afford to survive. The incomings can never keep up with the outgoings, creating a constant deficit. If experienced creatives cannot survive what hope does the next wave have? Be great to open the lines of communication on this, from all professional’s, and have an honest conversation about that state of the industry as it stands, perhaps even creating some postive from this. #freelance #creatives #stylists #photographers #dayrates #costofliving

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UK takes another step towards end of recession "Gross domestic product (GDP) grew 0.1% in February, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), despite retail being impacted by record-breaking wet weather. The UK made the incremental step towards a recession-free economy in the face of early 2024 being the fourth wettest start to the year since records began. The 0.1% climb matched City economists’ forecasts after growth in January was revised up from 0.2% to 0.3%. The ONS said: "The largest negative contribution to services growth in February 2024 came from wholesale and retail trade." However, there was 0.2% growth across all consumer-facing services, including retail trade, in the three months to February this year compared with the three months to November 2023." by Katie Ross at TheIndustry.fashion & TheIndustry.beauty Office for National Statistics Liz McKeown #retailnews #gdp #recessionfree

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Drapers asks top buyers what is on their order books from the spring/summer 25 catwalks: today, Sev Halit, buying manager at END. Read her top picks here. #fashion #fashionnews #retail #retailnews #End #catwalks

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Great to see this article by Kati Chitrakorn in the #financialtimes considering that this company #johnsmedley gave my students a great case to solve in class #luxurymarketing #business #school #mba NYU Stern School of Business

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BRITISH HOME STORES ( BHS ) It was the age of outsourcing... and it most certainly is back again. Everything from NHS services, to IT, to strategic fashion trend forecasting! It was the days before Sir Philip Green owned BHS. It was a business that competed with M&S, Burton Group (Arcadia), Debenhams, and House of Fraser. It was known for its lighting (!) and other home decorations, women's, men's, kids', and lingerie. Perceived to be more accessible than M&S, not as fashionable as Burton Group brands, and very well priced. BDALondon was invited to join the in-house design managers to act as strategic partners and provide global insight into trends in colour, fabric, styling and range building across all trading departments. The in-house design managers acted as a conduit, facilitating workshops to develop innovative product developments that were market-right, value-appropriate, brand-focused, and delivered to customer expectations. We worked closely with all buying and merchandise teams. It was a partnership that lasted many years and delivered on corporate strategy, B&M needs, and brand authenticity... and it delivered in the most cost-effective way. Outsourcing does deliver access to expert knowledge, gets things done quicker and reduces cost. But remember find a strategic partner you can trust. #innovation #trendforecasting #productstrategy #brandauthenticity #outsourcing #strategicpartnership #bdalondon

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John Lewis acquires new Fashion Director Rachel Morgans, pervious head buyer of ASOS. Is John Lewis & Partners opening its door to a new a consumer audience? John Lewis and ASOS are not brand names you would expect to see in the same sentence. Both brands seem to represent different ends of a fashion and consumer spectrum. Where John Lewis caters for the 'whole family', offering heritage that feels mature and defined, ASOS is a fashion zeitgeist that is trend led and faster paced being the go-to option shopping space for Gen Z and Millennials. We’ve seen a lot of brands do so well because they’ve tapped into a niche and built a community and culture that engages and retains a loyal customer base. It’s safe to bet that the department brand could be making a move to re-shift their fashion offerings or target audience and I am always a big fan of shaking things up and having some fun. I’m really interested to see if, and how, this new acquisition will affect the brands legacy, and the high street economy. Who knows, your next OOTD could be John Lewis from head-to-toe! #retailnews #audience #highstreet #heritage #brandlove

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Retail sales fell 1.2% in June, while textile, clothing and footwear sales fell by 1.6%, according to figures by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Read more here. #fashion #fashionnews #retail #retailnews #retailsales

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A quick trip down retail memory lane… Limited Too has officially come back after almost 15 years in retirement. The spinoff Limited Too was created for Tween girls in 1987. In 2008, it was renamed Justice and eventually acquired by Ascena Retail Group in 2009. In 2020, Bluestar Alliance bought Justice from bankruptcy proceedings. They also manage Limited Too along with B. Riley Financial. Justice is now exclusively sold through Walmart and its Justice website. The Limited Too collection is in all Kohl's stores and online featuring 74 different Y2K inspired items just in time for back-to-school shopping. The styles are cute and age appropriate. Quality is nice. My question is WHY? Why now? Does the name mean anything? Is Kohl’s just looking to add another brand to its umbrella? Kohl’s also announced a partnership with Aéropostale and an expanded Madden Girl assortment. Are they hoping to pull on the strings of nostalgia with Millennial parents wanting to shop for their daughters? I want this to work because in a sea of clothes trying to make tween girls look like they are in their 20s, this Limited Too assortment feels relevant and age appropriate. BUT… It’s already going out the door at 25% off with no special placement on the Kohl’s homepage. Kohl’s scream it to the roof tops – come check this out!! Do you think Kohl’s will do the Limited Too brand justice (pun intended)? #retail #apparel #tween #clothes #y2k #tween #nostalgia #backtoschool

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The womenswear market is predicted to grow 14% to £38.4bn in 2028, up from £32.2bn in 2023. The fact is, that the female demographic has continued to mystify marketers and there’s really no reason for it. That's where we come in! Our latest New Future Value Report dives into: ➙ Valuable research from our partners at Mintel about the needs, concerns and interests of the female demographic ➙ Case studies on those in the women's athleisure wear market getting it right ➙ How you can optimise, accelerate and innovate your next womenswear campaign Download the full 'What Women Want' report here: https://lnkd.in/eAetN_wX #NewFutureValue #WhatWomenWant #MarketingAgency #DigitalMarketing

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On the subject of customer loyalty in fashion retail… Question: How long does loyalty even last these days? Reply: Difficult to have loyalty when there is a frenzy of continuous change of creative directors. Thoughts? ——- #careers #fashionretail #leadership #customerloyalty #coaching

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According to 'Retail Touchpoints', investing in skilled visual merchandisers can deliver a return on investment of up to 300%. It's not a matter of if your retail business can afford to invest in merchandising, it's that you can't afford not to. Is this 𝒔𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 any ideas for your shop? Hit us up. https://lnkd.in/g3S32Cw9 #merchandising #visualmerchandising #retail #retaildesign

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The UK consumer price index (CPI) rose by 2 per cent in the 12 months to June 2024, the same rate as in the 12 months to May, the Office for National Statistics said. On a monthly basis, CPI rose by 0.1 per cent in June. Prices in the clothing and footwear sector rose by 1.6 per cent in the year to June compared with a rise of 3 per cent in the year to May. #Fibre2Fashion #f2f #apparel #textile #fashion #textileindustry #f2fnews Read more here: https://lnkd.in/d5Pdykn9

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Fast fashion has been in the news again this week, as Shein lists on the Stock Exchange. The Chinese company is the epitome of fast – every day a staggering 6,000 new items appear on the site, where well over half a million items are available to buy, with prices starting from just a few pounds. The company uses social media exhaustively, with sophisticated algorithms meaning consumers are targeted well, with ambassadors across the globe promoting its products. The cheap prices companies like Shein charge constantly undercut other brands. The whole fast fashion model relies on the exploitation of human labour, to create and deliver on-trend products, copied from other brands then promoted and sold to consumers at an unprecedented rate. And it’s not just fashion, as all sorts of products are copied and sold cheaply. It’s even happened to us. eBAy has been flooded with cheap imitation CRIMPiTs made in China. They are created from cheaper plastic, in unregulated conditions and they are not foodsafe, so potentially dangerous to health. There’s a reason our CRIMPiT products cost a little more – we took the time and spent the money in ensuring they are safe to use, made with food grade plastic here in the UK and distributed reliably. We're a registered member of Made in Britain. Our Injection moulder and box supplier are with 30 miles of our HQ in the North West. Our CRIMPiTs are made from the highest quality food grade plastic, so free from BPA and other nasties. We are spending a lot of time responding to these fakes and thankfully our community of CRIMPiT lovers the Crimpiteers are quick to call them out. It's an easy mistake for people to make – most of the eBay sellers have even stolen images from our website and copied our Made in the UK claims. So we’ve got advice here on our website, we’ve set up a bespoke email address to advise people how to get a refund from eBay. That way, CRIMPiT is enjoyed properly. And we’ve gone a small way to combating fast, fake fashion. But there’s a long way to go. Don’t buy cheap, people! Not only are you potentially buying dangerous products you are also damaging small UK businesses in the process!

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