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Shop Direct is Very USA
As it gears up to enter the most important trading period of the year, Shop Direct is broadening its reach outside of the UK. The home shopping giant, which operates Littlewoods and Isme among others, is taking its young fashion title Very into the USA and 47 other countries starting next month. The news comes as Shop Direct announced that losses narrowed from £21 million in 2009-10 to £7.8 million in the year ended June 2011. Sales during the year rose 5.5 percent to £1.94 billion. 

Argos to launch in China
Home Retail is to launch Argos into China via a joint venture with home appliance manufacturer Haier Group. The partnership will see Home Retail and Haier develop an Argos-branded multichannel retail business targeted at the Shanghai region. Launching in 2012, the long-term aim is to rollout a multichannel offer to regions throughout China using Argos's retail expertise coupled with Haier's distribution capabilities in the country. Back in the UK, pretax profits at Home Retail Group, which also owns Homebase, plunged 70 percent to £28 million in the first 26 weeks of the year. Sales declined 6 percent to £2.57 billion during the period as consumer confidence continued to weaken.

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Book your place at the ECMOD conference
This year’s ECMOD show at the Business Design Centre in Islington will be packed to the rafters with industry heavyweights and global leaders. Speaking at these must-attend sessions will be representatives from companies including Dwell, the homeware and furniture emporium; email marketing specialist Redeye, and social network powerhouse Facebook, to name a few. With this year’s event offering coverage of the widest range of topics to date, no matter what the size of your business, or how you are looking to progress, the ECMOD Conference has something for you. To find out more, and to book your place, visit www.ecmod360.co.uk/conference.

UK growth slows at Asos
In the first half of 2011, retail sales at Asos increased 60 percent to £211 million, despite only inching up 8 percent in the UK. Compensating for the slow growth at home, international sales soared, rising 150 percent year-on-year to £122 million. During the period, Asos launched three new international websites, for Australia, Spain and Italy.

Hammacher Schlemmer moves into the UK
It’s only been going 163 years in the US, but Hammacher Schlemmer is launching a catalogue and website for a UK audience. The catalogue, mailed this month, features a selection of products, including a stainless steel wallet and faceless watch. A UK website has gone live at www.hammacher.co.uk.

Profits grow at Jack Wills
Preppy apparel retailer Jack Wills saw profits surge 57 percent to £10.5 million and sales soar 41 percent to £91.5 million in the year to 31st January 2011, according to published reports.

Discover Leisure collapses into administration
Caravan retailer Discover Leisure has fallen into administration following the suspension of its shares last week. According to reports, some 240 people have been made redundant across the business’s five sites in York, Darlington, Birtley, Delamere, and Chorley.

Record results at Harrods
Harrods has broken past the £1 billion sales barrier for the first time, in the year to 2nd January. According to reports, profits are up 39 percent to £108.3 million.

EU laws ban “pre-ticked” boxes online
New EU rules have come into force banning the use of “pre-ticked” boxes on websites. This means that when consumers shop for goods online, any additional services offered at the checkout, through “pre-ticked” boxes—such as insurance, for instance—will be banned. Another change is that traders who have been charging consumers more for paying by credit card—or other means of payment—than what it actually costs them to offer such payment methods, will no longer be allowed to do so.
 






Making the most of mobile
A recent survey revealed that despite its popularity, a significant portion of mobile consumers’ expectations are not being met as the result of poor mobile and application performance. Today’s mobile users demand exceptional web experiences and highly satisfying, convenient, on-the-go mobile site speeds regardless of whether they’re accessing from their iPhones, Blackberrys, Samsung Galaxys and so on—but that’s not what they’re getting. In this article, we look at how you can avoid making the most common m-commerce mistakes. Read more here…

Cross-Atlantic Insight
Cross-Atlantic Insight is a free fortnightly enewsletter from the editor of Direct Commerce magazine. Each issue keeps you abreast of what your colleagues and competitors are doing overseas, providing you with the knowledge you need to better compete at home and internationally. To read the latest issue, click here. To add your name to the list to ensure you receive our future communications, click here.

To advertise, contact the Direct Commerce sales team on 01271 866112 or at sales@catalog-biz.com. To subscribe, contact Jill Sweet on 01271 866112 or at subs@catalog-biz.com.

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