Half year sales at Next, to July 28th, rose from £1.51bn to £1.53bn with profits up from £178.9m to £198.2m, considerably ahead of analysts’ expectations. Simon Wolfson has said he is cautious about the outlook for The Directory for the rest of the year due to Next’s tightened credit controls and the impact of interest rate rises.

Male Order – Nick Wheeler’s book launches

Male Order: The Charles Tyrwhitt Story by Nick Wheeler and Trevor Clawson debuts in November. Tagged “a valuable lesson in how to build a business” with a cover price of £17.99 (+£2.95 P+P), advance orders are being taken. Please call Jenny on 01271 866112.

Thorntons Direct, which recently re-launched its website, saw online sales increase by 60 per cent in the final quarter of its full year to June 30th. Total online sales for the year were £6.8 million.

Sainsbury has created a new role to spearhead its online sales development. Tanya Lawler joins from Cap Gemini to take up the role. She was previously commercial director for Argos.

Online fashion retailer Net-a-Porter has recruited Alison Loehnis to the newly created position of VP sales & marketing. She joins from LVMH brand Thomas Pink.

Virgin Megastores has sold to a team headed by its managing director Simon Douglas and finance director Steve Peckham. It will be rebranded Zavvi and the 125 stores will be rebranded along with its website by November.

Tesco which is understood to be restructuring its Tesco Direct business is launching its largest catalogue to date this week.

Pindar Graphics has extended its online services capabilities by acquiring Farnham based Acorn E-Commerce. Acorn’s clients include Mankind and Gardening Express.

The latest companies to confirm their involvement at ECMOD are The Software Bureau, 3M. With just twelve stands remaining, one Seminar Theatre slot and limited promotional opportunities, this year is set to be the biggest and best yet! Be sure to secure your involvement and reach all your potential customers in the catalogue, home shopping and multi-channel sector…Contact Miles (miles@ecmod.com) or Casey (casey@ecmod.com): +44 (0) 1271 866112.