Woolworths’ Big Red Book is no more: The company will axe the catalogue after Christmas as part of its cost-savings effort following a record £99.7 million half-year loss. Woolworths isn’t abandoning direct marketing, however: It will continue to market via smaller cataloguers, flyers and its website in addition to its stores.

Lingerie cataloguer/retailer Bodas entered administration on 10th September, according to Companies House. Leonard Curtis was appointed administrators. Bodas is continuing to operate as normal.

NBTY Europe, the parent company of vitamins retailer/cataloguer Holland & Barrett, has acquired the 345-store Julian Graves health-food chain. NBTY, which also owns GNC, is believed to have paid Icelandic holding company Baugur between £10 million and £20 million for the retailer. 

Computer etailer Dabs.com is making redundant 20 of its 240 employees. Said a spokesperson, “Like many other businesses, Dabs.com is working in a market that is very different from last year. It wants to grow its business by being more competitive and efficient and is making a number of changes to help achieve this. Unfortunately, these changes will mean some employees will be leaving the business.”

Pretax profits at furnishing and fashion merchant Laura Ashley were £4.5 million for the 26 weeks to 26th July, up 13 percent from the first half of last year. Total half-year sales for the retailer/cataloguer rose 5.5 percent, to £120.2 million, with web sales exceeding traditional mail order sales for the first time. Overall, direct sales rose 8.6 percent from the same period last year.

Half-year sales at Kingfisher’s three UK brands—DIY and tools merchants B&Q, Screwfix and Trade Depot--were “broadly flat” compared with last year’s, but profits rose 9.1 percent. Overall Kingfisher’s sales rose 2.5 percent, to £5.13 billion, while like-for-like sales fell 2.6 percent. Total pretax profit fell 3.7 percent, to £206 million. In other Kingfisher news, Screwfix launched a spin-off catalogue, Plumbfix, targeting professional plumbers. And the company is considering moving its tax domicile offshore, to reduce its taxes.

Sales of online vouchers at Park Group—whose brands include www.HighStreetVouchers.com — have more than doubled during the past year. Overall, Park Group, which also owns the Park Christmas Savings Club, reports that its sales are meeting expectations. It expects to relaunch several of its websites during the run-up to Christmas. In addition, Park has bought the Enterprise Marketing Management suite from Aprimo to enable it to run more marketing campaigns concurrently.

Asda, which was due to roll out its Asda Direct catalogue in October, has delayed the launch until later this year. The 644-page debut catalogue is expected to be available in time for the Christmas peak, however. The Asda Direct offer will launch with 700,000 products, expected to rise to a million SKUs by 2010. It will focus on Asda’s general merchandise, including homewares, leisure items, gifts and toys, but will not include the George clothing range.

Giftware/Graphic Designer

Giftware/Graphic Designer looking for additional assignments and new challenges.
Many years experience in the Giftware industry originating ideas, writing captions, creating designs, producing finished products etc. Products have sold through well known Retailers, Mail Order Companies and Online Shops.

For further information email: karen@ecmod.com

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