Avon buys Liz Earle
Avon Products has acquired Isle of Wight-based skincare and beauty brand Liz Earle Cosmetics for an undisclosed sum. The acquired business will continue to be run independently by its cofounders Liz Earle and Kim Buckland.
In a statement, Avon said it plans to develop a direct-sales arm for Liz Earle to extend its reach via the party-plan model.

Crave enters into CVA
Maternity apparel cataloguer Crave has come to a voluntary arrangement with its suppliers, continuing to work with them on the same terms. It is, however, no longer working with Screen Pages, and has moved its website from Screen Pages’ web server.

Sales and profits up at Next
Revenues at the direct division of apparel and decor retailer Next rose 7 percent to £873.2 million in the year ended January 2010. Profits for the division are also up, from £157.6 million last year, to £183.6 million—a rise of 16.5 percent. Overall pretax profit at the retailer increased 18 percent to £505 million.

…but down at Freemans Grattan
Cataloguer Freemans Grattan Holdings saw revenues decline by more than a third from approximately £368 million (€410 million) last year, to £235 million (€262 million) in the year to 28th February 2010. Total sales at Germany-based parent company Otto Group were up 1.5 percent to €10.14 billion (£9.10 billion).

…and at Screwfix too
Tools cataloguer/retailer Screwfix suffered a 4.3 percent decline in annual sales to £471 million for the year to 31st January 2010. However, total UK and Ireland sales for parent company Kingfisher, which also owns the B&Q retail chain, rose 1.2 percent to £4.4 billion, and profits for the division were up 64.5 percent to £217 million.

Findel uncovers accounting discrepancies
Multititle mailer Findel may have to reduce last year’s pretax profit by £5 million and benchmark profit by £5 million, after finding a number of accounting entries within its education division that are not “properly substantiated”. As a consequence, net assets are expected to reduce by £14 million as at 3 April 2009.

Twelve ways to reduce cart abandonment
Minimising cart abandonment is an ongoing process. Online merchants need to continually review their checkout process to ensure it isn’t too complicated, too long, and that it doesn’t ask for too much unnecessary information from the customer. For best-practice tips and advice on how to combat checkout failure, click here.

The April issue of Catalogue e-business hits desks after the Easter break. Here’s a taste of what you can expect:

• Special focus on email marketing, with advice on using trigger marketing, making the best use of transactional emails, and measuring campaign success.
• Bonus supplement on software and systems including Ernie Schell's annual order management systems roundup as well as articles on content management and ecommerce systems.
• Plus the latest news, a website review, Q&A with…, and much more.

The only way to guarantee you receive a copy is to subscribe. To have the print edition of Catalogue e-business magazine delivered to you, or for more information, contact Jill Sweet on 01271 866221 or subs@catalog-biz.com.

To advertise, contact the Catalogue e-business sales team on 01271 866112 or at sales@catalog-biz.com.