Lauren Bradley

Victoria Ward has written an interesting article here about the difference between a Merchandise Strategy and a Merchandise Plan and why retailers need both to succeed https://lnkd.in/eR5dPH9U

60

12 Comments

As a retail expert I discussed whether John Lewis & Partners can reverse its fortunes with Drapers news editor Elizabeth Howlett: There's a long road ahead, however, with current turnaround efforts expected to take until 2027/28 to bear fruit. John Lewis's interim results, released on 14 September 2023, painted a bleak financial picture for the retailer as operating profit declined by 6% year on year to £277.1m for the 26 weeks ended 29 July. Its losses narrowed by 14% year on year to £57.3m in the period. “The question is whether John Lewis is going the same direction as Allders, Arcadia Group, Debenhams and House of Fraser,” said Andrew Pepper, partner at business advisory RESOLVE.  (I was Administrator of Allders and advised the lenders on House of Fraser. I see lots of similarities.) “They will look at their property portfolio and look at their most successful premises and their least and explore if there is a way to right size its portfolio to be smaller on footprint, but more profitable.”   Pepper also pointed out that strong staff loyalty has some disadvantages. The partnership currently has a score of 3.8 out of 5 on open company review platform Glassdoor, with 70% of the 4,451 anonymous reviews from current and former employees recommending the company to others, with many citing good wages and employee benefits. While this has been a huge benefit to John Lewis over the years, as it has likely meant lower staff turnover and a good employer brand reputation, it could also mean larger redundancy packages. “John Lewis [and Waitrose] is a lovely place to work, so they likely had good redundancy terms and had people who had worked there for 20 years. Unlike other retailers, the movement of staff through [John Lewis] likely isn't that much,” explained Pepper. “By implication that means you have lots of people working there for 10-20 years, and the [redundancy] cost will be disproportionately higher.” Read more via Drapers, below. https://lnkd.in/eD5JPxHx #ForwardWithReSolve #privateequity #debtfinancing #thebodyshop #restructuring #administration Turnaround Management Association (TMA UK) Institute of Directors (IoD) R3 Association of Business Recovery Professionals Richard Obank Retail Trust #turnaround UK Government Investments (UKGI) Foot Anstey LLP M&G plc Barings BlackRock Russell Jarvis Evelyn Partners Philip Kirkpatrick Kirkland & Ellis Close Brothers Arbuthnot Latham Bank Leumi בנק לאומי UK PNC Metro Bank (UK) Santander HSBC RESOLVE Maddox Legal Limited CMS UK Shawbrook Bank ABN AMRO Commercial Finance Praetura Commercial Finance Arnold Vos Retail Realisation Rothschild & Co #venturecapital Bantry Bay Andrew Buchanan Buchanan #retail British Land Mike Thompson MBE @CVC Capital Partners #ForwardWithReSolve #retailnews #turnaround

16

2 Comments

Asos plunges to £120m loss as sales nosedive amid turnaround plan Asos losses widened to £120m in its half year as sales plummeted amid its turnaround plan. Adjusted pre-tax losses fell by almost a third over the half to 3 March, as group sales were down 18%. Despite this, Asos reiterated its full-year guidance of a revenues fall of between 5 to 15% alongside positive adjusted EBITDA. The online retailer said it was ahead of plan with its stock reduction process, as it continued to push ahead with its turnaround plan. Asos offloaded 83% of its autumn collection, making it a 17% improvement from the same time last year. #asos #online #retailer #ecommerce #stock #sales #plan

3

Great week spent with teams across global fashion looking at 2025 and how we address key challenges in the fashion industry using the latest technology. 📈 Leveraging customer insights is vital to understand primary customer problems 👫 Expertise and perspectives are key in turning opportunities into tangible results 🥇Setting goals, sizing solutions and systematically addressing the challenges are important for success. Roll on 2025!! #dreamteam #sustainablefashion #strategy

47

Peter Ruis, executive director at John Lewis & Partners, kicked off Drapers Inner Circle Summit 2024 with a fireside chat about the next phase of the retailer's transformation. "Burberry is nothing without its check and John Lewis is nothing without "Never knowingly undersold". It’s about staying true to your brand." Find out more below. #JohnLewis #fashionretail #DrapersInnerCircleSummit

7

For all the latest fashion retail people moves bookmark this page Find your perfect fashion role at Drapers Jobs Click on the headlines below for more #retailnews #fashionnews #fashion

1

🎯 Driving E-commerce Metrics that Matter 🎯 Our advanced sizing technology is making a significant difference in the e-commerce experience for our footwear retail partners worldwide. Here are some impressive results we're already seeing: 📈 5-10% increase in overall conversion rates 🔍 30% conversion rate for shoppers who use our scanning tool ⭐ Over 80% Net Promoter Score 👇 Curious about implementing this solution for your e-commerce platform? Drop a comment below or DM us to schedule a demo! #RetailTechnology #EcommerceOptimization #FootwearTech #CustomerExperience

38

Matalan has announced that it will lock the prices of its school uniforms for consumers ahead of the back-to-school season. Read the full story below. #matalan #fashion #schooluniforms #retail #retailnews

3

How much money can you make in Buying and Merchandising? 🫶 This is an updated version of my post in 2022 to reflect the current average salaries in Buying & Merchandising within retailers in the North! It can be really hard to find salaries for roles in the Fashion Industry and of course different brands may pay different salaries but this is a rough guide of salaries across retailers in the North for Buying and Merchandising roles including the different job titles for each level 🙌 Sometimes the salaries increase as National Minimum and National Living Wage also increase but as it stands, this is what brands in the North are roughly paying for Buying and Merchandising positions🤍 #buyingandmerchandising #buying #merchandising #salaries #fashionjobs

48

Yesterday Claire, our Global Retail Director and I hosted a small group of UK&I shop managers at a customer service development session. We spent the first half of the day exploring retailers that are nailing aspects of the customer experience. Hamleys of London to show the positive impact product demonstrations have on the customers journey. the LEGO Group to show the influence furniture and shop design can have on customer flow and dwell time. And we may be biased but of course we couldn’t not visit our London anchor shop on Oxford St 🌟 There was a beautiful mixture of staff led interactions as well as self led exploration. To the customer who was styling their hair using our styling products, I can’t wait to hear what you think of them😍 After lunch we debriefed and thought about what experience do LUSH customers want when they visit one of our shops. Appreciating that a customer in Oxford St might be expecting something different to those in Manchester. How are we creating a sense of awe and wonder in our shops? How do staff facilitate their customers’ expectations? How is the layout set up to positively impact their experience? Are we facilitating enough spaces in our shops to encourage customers to explore our products? Are our staff set up to enhance the experience further? So many great discussion points were had. Very excited to hear how you all take this back to your shops and the impact you see! This wasn’t a classic, classroom style training session, at Lush we love to utilise different formats to keep things interesting. What’s your favourite format for training and development? #customerservice #retail #customerexperience

72

10 Comments

Frasers Group confirmed today (24 June) that it has agreed to buy luxury etailer Coggles from THG, amid an announcement of a multi-year partnership between the two businesses. Read more here. #fashion #fashionnews #retail #retailnews #THG #FrasersGroup #Coggles

47

3 Comments

Here are some interesting stories from the world of retail for Sunday, June 30: 🏥 Sebastian James is quitting as chief executive of Boots UK as its American owners, Walgreens Boots Alliance, abort a sale of the business for the second time in two years. James is set to leave in November. 💊 On Friday, RITE AID was cleared to exit bankruptcy after a court approved a restructuring plan that avoids liquidation by handing control of a slimmed-down business to key creditors. 🇺🇸 The US Farm Bureau reports a 5% increase in the cost of a Fourth of July cookout in 2024, with an average expense of $71.22 for 10 people, compared to $67.73 last year. 🧵 Marks and Spencer has partnered with repair and tailoring business SOJO to launch a clothes repair service through its website. The service will allow customers to send in their clothes for repairs, with prices starting from £5. 🥦 The biggest problems affecting grocery retailers are theft and fraud. 85% of food retailers cite increasing theft and fraud as the biggest problems negatively affecting business, according to an FMI survey. 🐶 The pet industry is booming. Across the world, the market is projected to swell to almost $500bn by the end of the decade. In the US alone, it is expected to attract more than $150bn in spending this year. 🧱 Lego products, especially the pricier sets that range from over $100 to $1,000 or more, are being targeted for theft both by individual shoplifters and larger organized retail crime rings because they are easy to resell. 🍑 Luxury fruits, which have a long history in parts of Asia, are gaining popularity in the United States, as new varieties are being grown and imported, including those developed over several years. 🏅 Unsponsored athletes are commanding attention at the US Track & Field Olympic Trials this year, decked out in all-black, logo-less gear. The 35 athletes are supported by apparel company Bandit Running’s Unsponsored Project. 📱 In May, Apple's iPhone shipments in China saw a nearly 40% increase from the previous year, largely due to significant price cuts on their Tmall site and strong promotional efforts. 🍺 Tilray Brands is set to launch a new brand of premium non-alcoholic beverages. The Runner's High Brewing brand is aimed at consumers who want the taste of beer without the alcohol. 🇮🇹 Italian department store chain COIN SPA is working with advisers at KPMG to address its debt issues. Coin has faced pressure from the retail industry slowdown and has imminent debt maturities. 🧴 Adore Beauty is set to acquire beauty brand iKOU for A$25m. The purchase will bring iKOU's range of organic skincare, bath and body products, home fragrance, herbal tea, and spa lifestyle accessories to Adore Beauty's platform. #retail #retailnews #economy #DailyRetailNews

47

2 Comments

UK total retail sales rose 2% in September, compared with 2.7% in September 2023, British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG figures have shown. #BRC #BritishRetailConsortium #fashionnews #retailnews #retailsales

2

Which fashion retailers are charging for returns today? As part of our recent Delivery & Returns report, we analysed the returns propositions of the UK's top 100 fashion retailers and found that 24% of retailers are now charging for returns. This is a significant increase from just a few years back and each month another major retailer announces paid returns. One of the trendsetters, ASOS, becoming a recent example. As the trend continues to grow, will all fashion retailers eventually charge for returns? The answer to that looks to depend more than anything on segment. We found if you categorise retailers by segment, an obvious trend emerges: % of retailers charging for returns Mass Market = 56% Premium = 32% Affordable Luxury = 4% Luxury = 4% Soon Mass Market and Premium retailers will be in the minority if they're not charging for returns. Whereas Affordable Luxury and Luxury retailers have almost completely rejected charging for returns so far. (Link to the full report in comments) #ecommerce #returns #delivery #futureofretail

44

5 Comments

DANCING LEOPARD CLOTHING LIMITED is turning its attention to wholesale expansion as it continues its mission to fuel ecommerce growth. CEO Jade Hildreth reveals why Spain and Ireland are the key territories the womenswear etailer is eyeing up. Read more below. #wholesale #womenswear #ecommerce #fashionnews #retailnews

4