This week's retail news 'you may have missed'.....
At mdj2, we’re passionate about retail and always looking to share our news, views and insights. With so much information out there, we wanted to share just a small selection of retail news headlines from last week that we found interesting…??
Next’s acquisition of Joules ‘an excellent outcome’
Industry sources and retail analysts are in agreement that Next’s acquisition of Joules will help the brand live on but in a more efficient way.
Earlier today (1 December),?Next announced that it has bought Joules out of administration for ￡34m, in partnership with the brand's founder Tom Joule.
Next will own 74% of a newly formed company with the remaining 26% owned by Joule.
It will keep around 100 of the current 124 Joules stores in the UK and Ireland, while 19 stores will be closed by the administrator today, resulting in 133 redundancies. The company will continue to be based in its ￡7m Market Harborough home.?
Industry sources told Drapers that the partnership is an “excellent outcome for all concerned”.
One industry source close to Joules said: “I’m really pleased with the partnership. Tom brings the passion and the DNA and Next has the money and efficiency.?
Next has said that most Joules staff will stay with the business.?Jonathon Brown, who was appointed CEO of Joules in August, will remain in his role.
As part of the acquisition deal, Next will also provide warehousing and distribution services for Joules's retail, franchise, wholesale and concession businesses, all of which will continue to be operated by Joules.?It is anticipated Joules will go live on Next's Total Platform in early 2024.
John Lewis ￡500m funding deal to build 1,000 rental homes
John Lewis Partnership has sealed a ￡500m joint venture deal with investor abrdn to fund and build 1,000 rental homes at three sites.
The sites include building over redeveloped Waitrose stores in Bromley and West Ealing in Greater London, as well as replacing a vacant John Lewis warehouse in Mill Lane, Reading.
John Lewis has committed to deliver 10,000 homes in the next 10 years – 5,000 of these will come from schemes on the Partnership’s own property portfolio.
It said it has already identified around 20 sites that it will extend or redevelop with build to rent schemes, and then become the landlord once housing is built.
John Lewis said the build-to-rent residential property market in the UK is forecast to double in size, with 30,000 new homes completed annually by 2026, according to research by the property firm Savills.
In London alone there is a shortfall of 75,000 rental properties.
Robot grocery delivery service launches in Leeds
Supermarket grocery delivery robots are set to become a familiar sight on the streets of a Leeds suburb.
Leeds City Council has partnered with the Co-op and Starship Technologies to offer the service to 20,000 residents in the Adel and Tinshill areas.
The expansion to Yorkshire comes after the roving robots were introduced in other areas, including Milton Keynes.
The scheme would help reduce the number of short journeys made by car, officials said.
According to the firm, the robots are a more "sustainable and affordable way to get groceries delivered to your door", with an average delivery for a robot consuming as little energy as boiling a kettle to make just one cup of tea.
The robots are also lightweight and travel at human walking pace - no faster than 4mph (6km/h).
Starship, which plans to dress the six-wheeled robots as reindeer over the festive season, first launched the scheme in Milton Keynes and has been steadily expanding ever since.
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M&S acquires Thread to better deliver customer experience
Marks & Spencer has acquired the intellectual property, including the source code and algorithms developed by personalised fashion marketplace?Thread?to accelerate its personalisation capabilities.
In a statement, M&S said that the acquisition will allow it to integrate “cutting-edge proprietary tech” into the M&S website as it looks to accelerate personalisation and deliver a unique customer experience. The personalisation capabilities will stretch across all clothing products available on M&S.com, including the retailer’s third-party brand partners.
The move comes as M&S states it has generated substantial value through its customer data, personalising offers and product recommendations in recent years, and it is expected that 20-25 percent of all digital interactions will be personalised this year.
Outfit recommendations have proved to be valuable for the retailer and it estimates that the ‘frequently bought together’ recommendations are worth an incremental 20 million pounds in revenue over the last 12 months. A figure it expects will increase to more than 100 million pounds of annualised incremental revenue for the business in the coming years.
Hobbycraft launches personalisation stations in store
Arts and crafts retailer Hobbycraft will launch personalisation pop up stations across 31 stores in the UK this weekend.
The service will be available from just ￡5, and customers will have the chance to choose their blank Hobbycraft item to personalise from a choice of 1000s of products including blank canvas bags, hanging decorations, wooden crates, mini Mache letters, or mugs.
Customers will be able to then purchase the blank item(s) and necessary personalisation code at the till.
Katherine Paterson, Customer Director at Hobbycraft comments: “Personalised gifts mean so much more to the recipient, and this new service gives a helping hand to personalising your gift, without shoppers needing to do it themselves. Not only will it show that you have put special thought into choosing their gift, but it also shows your loved ones that you have gone that extra mile.”
Wickes to invest ￡3.5m in early pay rise for staff
Wickes is bringing forward its annual pay review to support staff during the cost-of-living crisis.
The home improvement retailer is to give all hourly paid workers a 9.7% increase in line with the national minimum wage from January 1, 2023, rather than April.
The second pay rise this year, non-hourly staff will also get a salary boost of 5% from the beginning of next year.
The rise represents an additional ￡3.5m investment by?Wickes?into salaries for 2023.
Wickes chief executive David Wood said: “During these difficult times we want to provide meaningful support to our colleagues, which is why we’ve taken the decision to invest ￡3.5m in salaries by bringing forward everyone’s pay increase from April to January, helping at the time of year when finances feel the pinch the most.”
Last week Retail Week revealed that Wickes was to embark on a new?“disciplined” store-opening programme?to address white space within its store footprint and conurbations where it feels it lacks a presence.
The business unveiled plans to open four to five new stores a year for the next six years, taking its?total from 230 to 260.
https://www.retail-week.com/people/exclusive-wickes-to-invest-35m-in-early-pay-rise-for-staff/7042792.article??(Subscription required)
John Lewis and Waitrose to dim lights and cut temperatures to save energy
John Lewis is to turn down the temperature in its department stores and Waitrose supermarkets will dim their lights in an attempt to bring runaway energy bills under control.
The staff-owned John Lewis Partnership, which includes?Waitrose, said its energy bill is threatening to go nearly ￡20m over budget.
Under the plan, Waitrose shops will operate on “half lighting” for the first two hours of trading from Monday to Friday. The group also hopes to save on energy costs by cutting the temperatures in its buildings.
Internal communications seen by the Guardian showed that “without intervention”, the department stores-to-supermarkets group faces “￡18m energy cost overspending against our original predictions” for the financial year to the end of January.