Mothercare acquires Blooming Marvellous
Maternity and nursery specialist Mothercare has bought the brand and trademark of maternitywear cataloguer/retailer Blooming Marvellous. In a statement, Mothercare said it plans to introduce the Blooming Marvellous range across its network of stores “in due course”. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Losses narrow at Shop Direct
Shop Direct Group, the parent company of Littlewoods, Very and Empire Stores, saw its pretax losses narrow by 81 percent from £141 million in 2009, to £21 million in the year to 30th April. Sales were flat at £1.7 billion, but EBITDA rose 38 percent to £132 million.

Monsoon Accessorize hires Kristine Kirby
Kristine Kirby, formerly home shopping director at apparel retailer Fat Face and ecommerce and systems director at fashion boutique Lipsy, has joined Monsoon Accessorize as ecommerce and multichannel marketing director.

Holland & Barrett owner to be acquired by Carlyle Group
NBTY, the US-based manufacturer and marketer of nutritional supplements and owner of Holland & Barrett, Julian Graves and GNC in the UK; Vitamin World in the US and DeTuinen in the Netherlands amongst others, is to be sold to global investment firm Carlyle Group for $3.8 billion (£2.49 billion). The transaction, which is expected to close by the end of 2010, is still subject to stockholder approval.

Koodos owner secures funding
E-Trader, the owner of recently relaunched private-sales website Koodos, has secured a £2 million investment from existing backer MMC Ventures to support the growth of the business.

Kitbag signs deal with Manchester City FC
Sportswear etailer Kitbag has signed a deal with Manchester City Football Club to become its official retail partner. The five-year deal sees Kitbag operate and run the club’s retail services across all channels, including the existing store at the City of Manchester Stadium, Citystore in the Arndale Centre and the online business. Kitbag will also have the club’s backing to open branded stores in other parts of the UK and around the world.

Best practice for a happy birthday email
In a bid to enhance customer engagement, more marketers are starting to use the data at their disposal to implement personalised marketing campaigns based on triggers. Of these campaigns, sending emails triggered by a birthday or anniversary can be put into action quickly and with minimal fuss—provided marketers have collected the relevant information at sign up. To help online retailers get the most from their birthday and anniversary-related emails, here are some best-practice tips.