Sales up at Asos
Online apparel retailer Asos reported a revenue rise of 35 percent to £223 million in the year ended 31st March. Profit before tax is also up, by 44 percent, to £20.3 million. UK sales grew 20 percent to 160.0 million in the period, whilst international rocketed 95 percent to £63 million.

Co-operative Xest buys rival
Co-operative Xest, a catalogue selling mobility products and other daily living aids, has strengthened its presence in the sector following the acquisition of competitor BenefitsNow for an undisclosed sum. For the full story visit: catalog-biz.com

Zara sets the date
Inditex, the owner of fashion chain Zara, has announced the date for the launch of the brand’s ecommerce website. Zara will debut online in Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, and the UK on 2nd September.

Sir Terry Leahy to retire from Tesco
Tesco’s chief executive Sir Terry Leahy will retire next year after 14 years with Britain’s number-one supermarket. He will be succeeded by Phil Clarke who is currently responsible for Tesco’s international operations in Asia and Europe as well as group IT.

Ocado invites customers to buy shares
Online grocer Ocado is inviting its customers to join the company’s flotation by buying shares in the business. It is understood that individuals will be able to invest between £1,000 and £12,000 in the company at the same price as established City investors.

Karstadt receives bid
Max Azria, the designer, retailer, and distributor of women's apparel and accessories and owner of fashion business BCBG, has formed a partnership with billionaire's son Nicolas Berggruen in order to bid for collapsed German department store Karstadt. In a statement, Azria said that "BCBG and Berggruen are committed to helping to restore the lustre of the revered Karstadt brand”.

Charles Tyrwhitt and JoJo Maman Bebe expand retail presence
Shirt cataloguer Charles Tyrwhitt is to raise its profile on the high street with plans to expand the number of stores from 12 to 50 by 2018. It has outlined Glasgow, Edinburgh, Bristol, Cardiff, Bath, Guildford, and Tunbridge Wells as potential targets. Also opening stores is maternity wear and nursery products cataloguer/retailer JoJo Maman Bébé, which sees its 27th store open next week in Winchester, followed by a store in Edinburgh by the end of the month.

Laura Ashley sees sales increase
Homewares and apparel retailer/cataloguer Laura Ashley announced that in the first 17 weeks of its current financial year, total UK retail sales increased by 6.2 percent on a year-on-year basis. Online sales grew 74 percent during the period, and combined online and mail order sales increased by 42 percent.

May Catalogue Log
Doing more with less is fast becoming a mantra for many cataloguers. In some cases that means reducing catalogue circulation, frequency, or pagination, but in other cases it means experimenting with different formats, offers, or promotions. This may explain why in May 2010, although we received and logged half the number of catalogues as we did the previous month, 61 percent of catalogues carried some sort of promotion on the cover. For more insight into the trends we picked up on, click here.