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Boden says Bonjour!
Apparel cataloguer/retailer Boden is opening a French-language website in the third quarter of 2011. The Boden.fr site will be the fifth international website for the company, which is active in the UK, US, Germany and Austria. Boden will set up a French-speaking customer service team to handle sales and support enquiries and will expand its marketing team to raise awareness of the new website with planned PR, direct mail and digital marketing campaigns.
Balderton invests in Achica
According to reports, Balderton Capital, whose investments include WorldStores and MyWardrobe, has taken a stake in secret-sales website Achica.
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Other News...
Sales rise as customers respond positively to new Fat Face range
Fat Face, the apparel retailer/cataloguer, recorded a 13 percent sales increase in the year to 28th May. Sales rose to £152.7 million following an overhaul of the company’s product range. Earnings were also up, by 28 percent, to £24.8 million, thanks to tighter cost control.
Williams-Sonoma preps for UK entry
American retailer Williams-Sonoma, which recently entered the UK ecommerce space with websites for its Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, West Elm and Williams-Sonoma brands, is considering opening UK stores. The retailer, which has 560 bricks-and-mortar stores in the US and Canada, has appointed UK retail property agent Harper Dennis Hobbs to secure its first store, scheduled to launch in early 2012.
ECMOD Direct Commerce Show 2011 - Have you registered yet?
This year's show is on 30th November & 1st December at the Business Design Centre in Islington, London. Both the Conference and Exhibition attract an international audience of key decision makers from the direct commerce sector making this an extremely valuable event for everyone's business calendar. You can now register online for FREE here or call Jenny Squire on 01271 866112 for further information.
Flying Brands in the red
Flying Brands, the owner of Flying Flowers and Gardening Direct, recorded a pretax loss of £210,000 in the first half of 2011, compared with a profit of £1.39 million in the same period 2010. Sales slipped to £15.8 million from £15.9 million last year. As a result, the company has had to renegotiate its banking arrangements, including the covenants on its main loan and securing a short-term overdraft facility.
Profits up at Hamleys
Hamleys, the toy retailer, saw EBITDA grow 21 percent in the year to 26th March—to £5.6 million. The company said total sales fell 1.5 percent following the transfer of operations in Denmark to a franchise model. Trading in the current financial year, however, is robust, with Hamleys recording a 14.5 percent rise in like-for-like sales in the UK and Ireland for the 17 weeks to 23rd July. In June, Hamleys completed a refinancing with RBS, leaving it with a serviceable debt of less than EBITDA.
Sales at Next in line with expectations
Sales at homeware and apparel retailer Next’s direct division rose 15.1 percent in the first half of the year, offsetting a 1.7 drop in retail sales. Total Next brand sales for the 26 weeks to 30th July rose 3.2 percent. The figures were in line with management expectations.
Sir Tom Hunter takes a stake in Sports Direct
Sir Tom Hunter, the Scottish entrepreneur, has bought £1 million worth of shares in sportswear retailer Sports Direct. The deal comes just under a month since Sports Direct took a controlling stake in Sir Tom’s fashion business USC and in luxury goods retailer Cruise.
Supplier of the Year Awards – Get your nominations in!
The ECMOD Supplier of the Year Awards, in association with Data Driven Business Week and supported by Rising Media, CatEx Direct Commerce Association and Direct Commerce Magazine, will be held on Wednesday 30th November at the Business Design Centre in Islington as part of the ECMOD Direct Commerce Show. Unlike other awards, these expressly call for nominations from client companies for the suppliers that have contributed the most to their businesses over the past 12 months. Download your nomination form here and get voting! You can book your tickets by downloading the booking form or call Jenny on 01271 866112.
CatEx DCA Advisory Board elections launch
CatEx Direct Commerce Association has officially launched its 2011 Advisory Board Elections. There are three client-side vacancies on the board as a number of the current members are reaching the end of their two year term. Client-side members of CatEx DCA are now being invited to either put themselves forward as candidates or nominate others to stand for election, before next week’s deadline of Friday 12th August. For further details about the election, please click here.
July Catalogue Log
Up until now, catalogue volume had been mostly in line with 2010, but July’s crop took a nosedive. We tracked just 64 catalogues last month, compared with 91 in July 2010. For insight into why this might have happened, and other facts and figures on July’s haul of catalogues, click here.
Coming up in Direct Commerce
The July/August issue landed on desks in July and the next issue will be published 9th September. Subscribers can look forward to:
A feature on m-commerce: advice on developing a mobile strategy, tips on facilitating mobile payments, and m-commerce best practice.
PLUS—a feature on print production, including how to spec a catalogue and choosing the right printer for the job.
To advertise, contact the Direct Commerce sales team on 01271 866112 or at sales@catalog-biz.com.
And don’t forget—we now offer TWO subscription options:
1. Subscription to print edition, with full online access, £65 in the UK, £75 overseas
2. Online-only subscription, £45 for all subscribers.
For more info, or to subscribe, contact Jill Sweet on 01271 866112 or at subs@catalog-biz.com
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Click here to nominate your suppliers
Senior Graphic Designer
Based in Warminster
Salary range approx £28-£35k
ASPACE, the multichannel retailer of quality children's furniture and accessories, are looking for a creative talent to generate excellent visual imagery and to meet the exacting standards demanded by our brand values. Please get in touch if you are an experienced catalogue designer, ideally with web design experience, who can combine creative and commercial judgement. Must be ready and willing to champion our visual brand values within the business. Excellent InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator and Dreamweaver skills necessary. Experience of pre-press and print processes would be a benefit.
To apply, please email your CV to gavin.armstrong@aspace.co.uk
Jobs
Each week we offer companies or individuals the opportunity to advertise their situations vacant. When you are in the market to recruit skilled permanent and interim personnel you need to be sure that your requirement reaches the cream of experienced candidates. With CataloguesCatalogues you can most definitely achieve that, as many reader businesses will attest, at unbelievably low rates. Click here for the latest rates or call us on 01271 866112.
Are you looking for a new challenge? Advertise in CataloguesCatalogues Talent Shop and you will reach the desktops of thousands of potential employers in the catalogue and home shopping sector. The service is completely free of charge and includes a free confidential reply email address if required.
To place your own advert in Talent Shop, email your 30 word profile to info@ecmod.com and it will appear in the next available issue.
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