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Management buyout at Cosyfeet
Foot Shop Ltd, the company behind the Cosyfeet and Walktall brands, has undergone a management buyout. David Price, owner and founder of the business has sold the company to members of Foot Shop's executive board, including Andrew Peirce, managing director; Jackie Bemmer, finance director; Jim Lockyer, Walktall brand director and web director, and Nick Brine, operations director. 

Slingsby will miss turnover targets this year
Industrial equipment cataloguer Slingsby will not meet its trading expectations this year after a “marked slowdown in activity levels” during late April and May. Turnover for the full year to 31st December was £16.7 million, pretax profit was £1.1 million.

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Other News...

Record turnover projected at BeautyBay
Celebrating its 12th birthday next month, online beauty products retailer BeautyBay.com is forecasting record turnover for 2011 of £10 million. The Manchester-based firm has seen year-on-year growth of almost 80 percent thanks to a recent redesign of its website, investment in larger offices and warehouse space and adoption of new online technologies and innovations.

Kesa looking to sell loss-making Comet
Total revenue at electricals retailer Comet was £1.54 billion in the year to 30th April - representing a like-for-like decline of 7.7 percent. It made a retail loss of £8.9 million during the year, compared with a profit of £11.5 million last year. As part of plans to return it to profitability, during the year Comet introduced a new website platform and now plans to make enhancements to it, including intelligent product recommendations, personalisation, bespoke product pages and quick checkout facilities. Parent company Kesa says that although restructuring and turnaround plans have begun at Comet, the company is still considering divesting the loss-making division. 

Republic goes live with click and collect and mobile site
Apparel retailer Republic has launched a new click and collect initiative allowing customers to shop online and pick the item up at their nearest store. The service was developed with its ecommerce partner Venda, who earlier in the month launched a mobile website for Republic in partnership with m-commerce specialist Digby.

ECMOD Supplier of the Year Awards – nominations open
The ECMOD Direct Commerce Supplier of the Year Awards have proved hugely successful in recent years, seeing client companies nominating the suppliers that have contributed most to their businesses over the past 12 months. With several new categories this year, thanks to the support of Data Driven Business Week, winners will receive their trophies on 30th November at the Gallery Hall, Business Design Centre, London, in the company of 500+ sector executives. To see the list of categories and to download your nomination form please visit the ECMOD website or call Amy on 01271 866112 e: amy@ecmod.com.

Maplin sale off the table
Discussions have ended about the sale of electronics retailer Maplin, with private-equity owner Montagu expected to keep hold of the business for at least another year. 

Notonthehighstreet introduces group gifting
Here’s a nifty new idea from gifts marketer Notonthehighstreet.com: it has introduced a “group gifting” functionality on its website. Billed as “a new way to give gifts together”, an organiser selects a gift from Notonthehighstreet’s range and invites friends via Facebook or email to chip in and pay for it. Only once the gift is fully funded is any money taken, ensuring that the organiser is never left to foot the bill if someone doesn’t contribute.

Kookai launches UK site ahead of Euro rollout
As part of its European multichannel strategy, apparel retailer Kookai has selected Session Digital to develop its ecommerce website. The UK website, built on the Magento platform, has already gone live. Using a central product database, Kookai will roll out its French site in the coming months. More European sites are expected before the end of 2011.




Email marketing gets personal
Among the barrage of marketing emails consumers receive today, you can be sure that those with generic content are most quickly diverted to the trash. As one of the key touchpoints in the customer lifecycle--website, bricks-and-mortar store, call centre, catalogue, being a few others--email marketing is an important element of any ecommerce personalisation strategy. Personalising your email campaigns will enable you to provide relevant, timely and meaningful content that fosters trust while promoting customer engagement and loyalty. For a few tips to bear in mind when embarking on a personalisation strategy for your email marketing programme, visit catalog-biz.com. 
 
To subscribe to our print edition, contact Jill Sweet on 01271 866221 or at subs@catalog-biz.com. To advertise, contact the Direct Commerce sales team on 01271 866112 or at sales@catalog-biz.com.

And don’t forget…In addition to the monthly print magazine, there’s the Direct Commerce website at www.catalog-biz.com and you can catch up with us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/direct_commerce too.  


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