Top Stories...
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N Brown buys Figleaves
N Brown Group, the multibrand cataloguer best known for plus-size titles like Simply Be and older-skewing catalogues including JD Williams and Shoe Tailor, has bought lingerie etailer Figleaves for £11.5 million. In a company statement, N Brown said the acquisition will broaden its appeal to a “younger and a more ‘premium’ demographic group”.
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Retailers prepare for VAT hike
Although it has yet to be formally announced by the government, many retailers have already started to prepare for a rise in VAT. In a poll of 675 UK retail decision-makers, marketing agency More2 found that 68 percent of respondents were planning to up their prices when VAT increases. A mere 10 percent said they would absorb the cost. To offset the higher cost, just 9 percent of the retailers polled said they would cut their marketing budgets, though 7 percent said they would have to make redundancies. Demonstrating a rather laissez-faire attitude, more than one in five of all respondents didn’t yet have a plan in place of how to deal with a potential rise.
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Other news...
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Introducing Mr Porter
Luxury-fashion etailer Net-a-Porter is expanding into menswear with the imminent launch of Mr Porter. The site, set to go live in January 2011, will offer a selection of global designer labels as well as niche specialist brands alongside Net-a-Porter’s editorial content and style advice.
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Anne Walker receives MBE
Congratulations to Anne Walker, founder and managing director of dancewear cataloguer International Dance Supplies, who was awarded an MBE for services to business at the Queen’s Honours List announced at the weekend. Walker, who is a member of the Catalogue Exchange Advisory Board, founded her company some thirty years ago, using a £50 loan to buy an industrial sewing machine. IDS now employs more than sixty staff and serves dance teachers and specialist shops in the UK and overseas.
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Coremetrics to join IBM stable
IT giant IBM is to buy web analytics firm Coremetrics for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition will enable IBM to build its presence in the software-as-a-service sector. As part of the deal, Coremetrics’ 230 employees will be integrated into IBM.
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Ideal performs strongly
TV-shopping business Ideal Shopping Direct says trading for the 21 weeks to 30th May has been “strong”, with its recently acquired Lead The Good Life business up 17.9 percent on the same period last year. Excluding LTGL, group sales increased by 10.5 percent. On the back of this performance, Ideal is expecting to report “a substantial profit” in the first half of 2010.
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Sales up but pretax profit down at Park
At Park Group, the savings-club catalogue business, sales for the fiscal year ended 31st March 2010 were up 5 percent to £263.2 million. Operating profit increased 38 percent to £4.3 million, but pretax profit fell 14.5 percent to £5.3 million from £6.2 million last year due to interest rates being at an all-time low.
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Argos and Homebase experience sales declines
Total sales at Argos declined 5.2 percent to £889 million in the 13 weeks to 29th May. At sister company Homebase, sales dipped 1.4 percent to £459 million.
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Blackwells adds niche websites
Bookseller Blackwells has gone live with two new websites focusing on a couple of its core departments. New sites for its Ancient Classics and Rare Books departments were created to emulate the experience customers get when visiting the retailer’s flagship Oxford Broad Street store.
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CATALOGUE EXCHANGE EVENT DIARY
The next event on the CatEx calendar is a Customer Service Forum, which takes place at the European headquarters of Lands' End in Oakham in Leicestershire, on Wednesday 21st July. It will be hosted by Advisory Board vice-chairman Tim Curtis and his team. It will focus on all areas of customer service, share ideas around best practice and look at how the firm responds to its customers. The cost to attend the day is £77+vat for CatEx members and £177+vat for non-members. To book a place, click here. Don't forget, this year's Catalogue Exchange/ECMOD Supplier of the Year Awards take place on Wednesday 6th October! Visit www.catalogueexchange.co.uk for details of all our events..
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ECMOD 2010
The annual ECMOD Exhibition and Conference is just a few months away now. Stands and sponsorship opportunities are being snapped up quickly this year. The event, which takes place on October 6th and 7th at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London, is celebrating its twentieth anniversary. It is Europe's leading conference and exhibition for catalogue, online and multi-channel sellers. Call the ECMOD team now to discuss stand availability and sponsorship opportunities on 01271 866112, or visit www.ecmod360.co.uk.
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Don't get caught in the spam net
Email marketing is a cost effective, targeted, and measurable way of communicating with customers and driving revenue. Getting the content and design right is crucial. But ensuring that the email campaign actually arrives in the consumers’ inbox must be a key concern for marketers. For advice on how to ensure your email ends up at its destination, click here.
Visibility in reverse
On the high street or on the internet, returns are a fact of retail life. No matter what or how you sell, people will want to return things. By making the returns process simple and turning it into a straightforward, pleasant transaction rather than a chore, retailers not only keep customers but encourage them to spread positive word-of-mouth about their business--a truly positive bottom line. Click here to find out why it’s important to have a returns management strategy that works for you and your customers, and how you should go about creating one.
Here, there, and everywhere
Because Catalogue e-business covers multichannel commerce, it only seems right that you should be able to access us via multiple channels.
In addition to the monthly print magazine (the June issue is out now), there’s the Catalogue e-business website at www.catalog-biz.com.
We also have
To subscribe to our print edition, contact Jill Sweet on 01271 866221 or at subs@catalog-biz.com.
To advertise, contact the Catalogue e-business sales team on 01271 866112 or at sales@catalog-biz.com.
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Advertise your latest vacancies in CataloguesCatalogues. Use this one stop medium to recruit best sector candidates. Click here for the latest rates or call us on 01271 866112.
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For permanent, interim and consultancy roles in head office catalogue, home shopping, online and/or retail businesses, take a look at Expert Register
Looking for a new challenge?
We invite you to register with us for permanent or interim roles – the only proviso being that you must have significant experience in head office catalogue, home shopping, online and/or retail businesses - please forward your CV in complete confidence to info@expertregister.net or call Karen on 01271 864944 today.
For more details, please visit our website, expertregister.net.
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Are you looking for a new challenge?Advertise in CataloguesCatalogues Talent Shop and you will reach the desktops of thousands of potential employers in the catalogue and home shopping sector. The service is completely free of charge and includes a free confidential reply email address if required.
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Award winning Internet & Direct Marketing specialist
with years of experience in Mail Order is looking for a new challenge.
Hands-on expertise in Internet & IT technologies, graphics & design skills…
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To find out more about the above adverts, or to place your own in Talent Shop, email your 30 word profile to info@ecmod.com and it will appear in the next available issue.
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