Miscellaneous
The latest news
Brass to join M&S as operations director, delivering new vision for retail ops
Deep into its well-publicised transformation strategy, UK retailer Marks & Spencer has appointed Alastair Brass as retail operations director, effective April.
Fashion
Body Shop, Avon and Aesop all outperform for Natura in Q4
The Body Shop, Avon and Aesop owner Natura & Co reported a sales surge and net profits up 200% in Q4, with the Brazilian giant saying it's continuing to outperform the wider market.
Beauty
Frasers calls business rates relief "near worthless", reviews portfolio
In a typically blunt statement, Frasers Group has blasted Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s Budget as doing virtually nothing for hard-pressed retailers on business rates. And it seems some of its stores are at risk as a result.
Fashion
L'Oreal responds to push for natural ingredients in make-up
L'Oreal aims to derive nearly all its ingredients from renewable plant sources and abundant minerals by 2030 as demand for organic and environmentally-friendly cosmetics grows.
Beauty
UK footfall climbed in February, hints at huge pent-up demand
UK footfall climbed steadily during February and while the year-on-year decline compared to a year ago remained huge (-61%), it was better than the -65.6% seen in January.
Fashion
Caledonia Park designer village refurb reaches major milestone
Heralded as becoming “Scotland’s premier designer village” the Caledonia Park redevelopment in Gretna has completed a “significant” first phase, according to the project’s investor RPMI Railpen.
Fashion
UK in top three for cross-border e-shopping popularity
Britain’s size is immaterial when it comes to e-commerce. The UK is the third most shopped market for international online purchases, only behind China and the US, according to a report.
Fashion
London-based Vogacloset sells majority stake for Middle East growth
UK-based fashion e-tail platform Vogacloset is selling a 51% stake to Fawaz Abdulaziz Alhokair Co, the leading franchise retailer in Saudi Arabia, and Arabian Centres Company.
Fashion
Landsec names data expert as new non-exec director
Data and analytics expert Manjiry Tamhane has joined property giant Landsec as an independent non-executive director.
Fashion
More calls for retail tax changes, support for female-focused businesses in budget
Ahead of Wednesday’s key budget, the government has received calls to cut retail taxes and provide extra support for women in business.
Fashion
UK shopper footfall still rising ahead of lockdown easing
UK shoppers are continuing to flood back to stores, even though most remain closed at present, and this bodes well for non-essential stores reopening next month.
Fashion
Debenhams shuts Scottish stores, won't return for liquidation sales post-lockdown
Debenhams is closing its 15 Scottish stores immediately with 647 job losses as a result, its administrator said in an update on the process to wind down the remaining parts of the business that Boohoo didn't buy.
Fashion
John Lewis is opening concessions in sister brand Waitrose
John Lewis Partnership has been quietly opening John Lewis department store concessions in its Waitrose supermarkets. And while only a few have opened so far, it's reportedly planning to speed up this process.
Fashion
Selfridges sales were rising but pandemic meant huge challenges for retailer
Selfridges had already flagged the fact that its sales rose and its net profits fell in the year to February 2020, but it has now officially filed its annual results and the full extent of that performance can be seen.
Luxury
£5bn funding due in Budget to get stores up and running again
This week’s UK Budget is set to include £5 billion of funding for grants (known as restart grants) to struggling businesses, including shops and salons.
Fashion
Margaret Zhang named editor-in-chief of Vogue China
The 27-year-old Chinese-Australian fashion influencer has been appointed as editor-in-chief of Vogue China, becoming the youngest person to hold the position at any of the magazine’s international editions.
Fashion