Asos international sales rocket
Total retail sales at fashion etailer Asos were up 38 percent to £206 million for the 12 months to 31st March 2010. UK retail sales rose 23 percent in the period, whilst international sales doubled and now account for 28 percent of total retail sales. Profit is expected to be in line with market expectations.
Since year-end, sales have continued their upward trajectory—for the 19 days to 19th April, overall sales surged 56 percent with international sales particularly strong in the period, up 148 percent.

Disappointing spring season at Flying Brands
Flying Brands says a disappointing performance in its gardening division means meeting profit expectations for the year will be a “considerable challenge”. Poor weather hampered the division, which includes the Gardening Direct catalogue; sales were down 4.8 percent to £8 million for the period from 2nd January to 2nd April. Orders at Flying Flowers also continued to decline from £3.1 million in the equivalent period last year, to £2.3 million this year. This, according to a statement, is in line with expectations. For the business as a whole, like-for-like order intake during the period was down 11.6 percent from £12.7 million to £11.3 million.

Game CEO Lisa Morgan quits
Lisa Morgan has stepped down from the position of chief executive of Game Group, the video and PC games retailer. Nonexecutive director Chris Bell is appointed interim CEO. Game’s UK chief operating officer, Terry Scicluna, has also announced his intentions to leave the business. Responsibility for the UK operating activities will now be handled by Martyn Gibbs, who was appointed Game Group’s UK and Eire managing director last month.

Thorntons Direct grows sales
Confectioner Thorntons reported that overall sales for the third quarter to 17th April rose 3.1 percent to £60.3 million. According to a company statement, the company’s direct-sales arm made “good progress” and grew by 32.4 percent to £2.5 million—both the consumer and corporate business made a positive contribution. Profit for the year is expected to beat last year’s by 19 percent, rising to £7.5 million from £6.3 million.

More than a billion items delivered by Tesco.com last year
Tesco’s online business, including its Tesco.com groceries website and the nonfood Tesco Direct business, grew sales by 14 percent and profits by 26 percent to £136 million in the 52 weeks ended 27th February. Tesco Direct, which has not yet reached profitability, delivered a sales growth of 28 percent. Overall, the online business generates sales of £2.1 billion and employs 20,000 people. Last year its online grocery business delivered more than a billion items.

Debenhams grows multichannel sales
Debenhams’ relaunched website contributed to an 85.9 percent jump in multichannel sales; it delivered £50.6 million in the half-year to 27th February. The first six months of the year also saw Debenhams extend international delivery seven destinations, which is “generating incremental business even though the service has yet to be marketed,” according to a company statement.

Don’t let the ash cloud damage your brand
As British air space reopens after almost a week of disruptions due to the ash cloud emanating from the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull, now comes the task of clearing the backlog of international mail held up in transit. So what should you do if your overseas orders are stuck at the airport? Visit catalog-biz.com to read consultant David Ballard’s advice to mitigate customer unrest in the meantime.

Four steps to improving b-to-b website performance
Knowing your customer is essential. The business-to-business sector is arguably still in the early stages of web analytics usage and could learn from the online success experienced in the consumer sector. Click here for tips on how to improve business-to-business website performance.