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Amazon to buy The Book Depository
Following its acquisition of DVD-rental website Lovefilm in January, Amazon has announced it is to buy UK-based online bookseller The Book Depository. In a statement to customers, the Book Depository says it will continue trading independently. In the six months to December 2010, the company reported sales of £60 million and expects to reach £120 million in sales by the end of its financial year. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. 

Al-Fayed snaps up Cocosa
Mohamed Al-Fayed, the former owner of Harrods, has bought private-sales website Cocosa from Bauer Media for an undisclosed sum.

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ECMOD Direct Commerce Awards raise £7,101 for charity
The ECMOD Direct Commerce Awards were held on 6th April at the Lancaster London Hotel to celebrate business excellence in the direct commerce sector. A charity prize draw and silent auction were held as part of the evening with donations coming from ECMOD clients and supporters. Not only were there some very happy prize winners on the night and delighted bidders, but the grand total raised was an amazing £7,101! Sian Harris, Plymouth, North Devon and Tamar Valley Fundraising Manager for Macmillan Cancer Support, was presented with a cheque today for £3,801, "We are extremely grateful for ECMOD’s effort, the fantastic amount they raised and for choosing Macmillan". A further £3300 has been donated to Action Medical Research as requested by this year’s host, Sky News presenter Dermot Murnaghan, who once again generously donated his fee for the evening. Thanks again to all the companies who provided the gifts and prizes!

New website caters for American love of Irish gifts
Lulu O’Sullivan, the internet entrepreneur behind GiftsDirect.com has launched a new gifts website. Siopa.com specialises in Irish-made crafts and goods, principally targeted at the 40-million-strong Irish-American audience in the US. Siopa.com shares the same MNP order and warehouse management platform as its big sister Gifts Direct, enabling the management teams to oversee two separate businesses from the same location.

American retailers cross the Atlantic
US retailer Crate & Barrel has joined Macy’s and Williams-Sonoma in opening up its website to international customers using specialist supplier FiftyOne. Crate & Barrel now ships to more than 90 countries, supporting billing in more than 40 currencies. FiftyOne will help apparel retailer J Crew launch in the UK later this summer.

ECMOD Show – registration now open!
The ECMOD Direct Commerce Show is synonymous with high level educational, information sharing, networking and supplier sourcing for businesses engaged in catalogue, online and multi-channel retailing. Taking place on 30th November & 1st December, and with a new home of the Business Design Centre, London, this year’s exhibition & conference is set to be the most vibrant one to date. It’s quick and easy to register to visit for free…just click here.

As part of the Show, the ECMOD Supplier Awards will be held in the Gallery Hall on 30th November. Some 500 executives will attend to support those who have contributed the most to their businesses over the past 12 months. You can nominate your best suppliers for free here.

Derby House restructures
Derby House has a new managing director. Nigel Cliffe joined the equestrian equipment business in May from Mothercare, where he was marketing director. His arrival is part of a wider restructuring at the firm, which will see it close seven of its eight stores in order to focus on its web and catalogue business.

Seasalt invests in new warehousing facility
Cornwall-based apparel brand Seasalt has invested in a £1 million purpose-built warehousing facility, funded by Clydesdale Bank. The new 25,000 sq ft building replaces six smaller units and creates 20 new jobs.

Discounting drives growth in expense of margin at N Brown
In the 18 weeks ended 2nd July, total group revenue at multititle mailer N Brown Group rose 5.1 percent. However, the growth came in expense of gross margin, which declined by 0.2 percent due to more aggressive promotional discounting.

Argos launches £4 million ad campaign
General merchandise retailer Argos is launching a £4 million advertising campaign to promote its click and collect service. The campaign will include digital, social, TV advertising, video-on-demand commercials, radio and outdoor ads.

Next sells contact centre to Capita
Next plc has sold its contact centre business Ventura to Capita Group for £65 million. Ventura has around 8,000 employees, mainly in Yorkshire, Cardiff, Milton Keynes and Pune, India, who will transfer to Capita.

The Handpicked Collection adds advisor
Sir Richard Greenbury, the chairman and chief executive of Marks & Spencer from 1988 to 1999, has joined gifts cataloguer The Handpicked Collection in an advisory capacity.

New boss at Whittard of Chelsea
Former Molton Brown chief executive Sara Halton has joined tea and coffee specialist Whittard of Chelsea as managing director. Until now, Mike Taylor has been serving as managing director of Whittard and Past Times—both owned by EPIC Private Equity. Following its acquisition by EPIC in 2009, Whittard has delivered a 10 percent like-for-like sales growth in 2010, with like-for-likes up 5 percent in the fiscal year to date.



June Catalogue Log
Talk about extremes. In June, we recorded the highest ever percentage of catalogues offering a sale or discount on the cover, while also logging one of the lowest numbers of covers promising free delivery. For more stats and trends, visit catalog-biz.com

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