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…?
?WHSmith shares update on new Toys R Us concessions.
The next round of Toys R Us openings from WHSmith will start next weekend, with Bexleyheath, Eastbourne and Southampton the first new stores to open their doors.
WHSmith?has announced plans to continue its partnership with?Toys R Us?across UK high streets and has revealed the first of the locations set to open between now and Christmas.
Having exclusively opened the first Toys R Us shop-in-shop in the UK in 2023, WHSmith has continued to open new Toys R Us outlets throughout 2024, growing to 39 different locations today. In the coming months, WHSmith will now open a further 37 new Toys R Us stores, resulting in 76 shop-in-shops in total across UK high streets.
The next round of Toys R Us openings from WHSmith will start on Saturday 28th September, with Bexleyheath, Eastbourne and Southampton as the first new stores to open their doors. WHSmith will then continue to open an average of three Toys R Us shop-in-shops every week in the build-up to Christmas. The new stores will bring a wide range of the latest toys and games to more families and customers, giving them more reasons to visit and shop with WHSmith during a key time of the year for high street retailers.
Sean Toal, Managing Director WHSmith High Street, said: “Nearly 40 years ago Toys R Us first came to the UK, and we take great pride in being the steward of this much-loved brand in the UK. We’ve had queues around the block for many openings in the last year which shows just how much people are loving seeing Toys R Us back again. But our job isn’t done yet, and I’m pleased to be bringing the magic of Toys R Us to even more customers over the coming months ready for Christmas.”
WHSmith’s plans to open a further 37 Toys R Us stores also demonstrates the retailer’s growing commitment to bringing a leading selection of toys and games to the high street, with 15% of the retailer’s high street stores set to feature a Toys R Us shop-in-shop after the upcoming openings.
Ahead of the festive season, Michelle Phillips, WHSmith and Toys R Us Toys & Games Buying manager, has shared some of the top toys and games to watch out for this Christmas: “We’re expecting Squishmallows to top the list of our best-selling toys this Christmas because we know they are really popular – and we can’t forget our very own Geoffrey the Giraffe who will be stocked in every Toys R Us store.”
The new locations announced so far for Toys R Us concessions include:
Bath
Leicester Gallowtree Gate
Bexleyheath
Newark
Cardiff
Newbury
Carlisle
Plymouth
Chipping Norton
Scarborough
Coventry
Southampton
Dumfries
Southport
Dunfermline
St Annes
Eastbourne
Truro
Fareham
Weymouth
Havant
Yeovil
Kings Lynn
?Next says it may close stores if ￡30m equal pay claim is upheld.
Next said it may close stores if it loses an appeal against a landmark equal pay claim.
The fashion and homeware retailer made the comments after shop workers at Next last month?won a six-year legal fight for equal pay. Next is planning to challenge the decision and could have to pay more than ￡30m in compensation if it is unsuccessful.
An employment tribunal found that its retail sales staff – who are overwhelmingly female – should be paid the same hourly rate as those working in Next’s warehouses, who are mostly men.
领英推荐
“Inevitably, some of our stores will no longer be viable if this ruling is upheld on appeal,” the retailer said in its report to City analysts.
Simon Wolfson, the chief executive of Next, said: “This is certainly not a threat. We are pointing out the reality of store openings and closures. It is about the costs of the business going up relative to sales.”
Next has 466 stores across the UK.
Announcing half year results on Thursday, Wolfson said there was no evidence that shoppers were spending more freely and the recent surge in sales was about sunshine. “When the weather flipped, the sales flipped,” he said.
Next has said international tastes in fashion are “converging” as tech platforms expose consumers to global trends, boosting the retailer’s overseas sales and helping it close in on ￡1bn in annual profits for the first time.
The retailer forecast its annual profits would be ￡15m more than previously expected, at ￡995m – up from the ￡918m recorded in 2023 – after overseas sales rose by 23% in the six months to July, offsetting a near 1% decline in sales of Next-branded clothing in the UK.
The company said the “global reach” of tech platforms including Netflix, YouTube and TikTok were “exposing people to international fashion trends in a way they never have been before”, and improving international delivery networks were also encouraging “consumers to try clothes from other countries, and retailers to adapt their ranges that cater for overseas tastes”.
It said: “It appears that international tastes in clothing are converging more rapidly.”
Wolfson said the business was “at the start of a new phase” with more than half of its sales and profits now online and rapid growth in sales of non-Next brands, some of which the group now owns.
Non-Next brands account for 17% of overseas sales and the group said it had been experimenting with expanding wholly owned labels including Cath Kidston, after it bought the brand name out of administration last year, and Love & Roses.
The group has signed a partnership deal in India with the local operator Myntra to develop online and retail stores and will expand a deal with the US department store chain Nordstrom, where it sells childrenswear, as well as a new US partner and also expects to find similar partners in Japan, China and Australia.
Next also plans to improve the way it works with shipment hubs in the Middle East and Europe to help better serve shoppers in those territories.
The plans were announced as Next revealed full-price sales rose by 4.4% in the six-month period, boosting total group sales by 8% and pre-tax profit by 7.2% to ￡452m.
Next said full-price sales of its brand over the six weeks after that period had “materially exceeded our expectations” and were up by 6.9% as better weather helped increase trade. Sales in the second half of the year are now expected to rise by 3.7%, up from 2.5%.
If Next were to hit ￡1bn of profits for the first time, it would join only a handful of UK retailers that have done so, including Tesco – and Marks & Spencer in a previous era. The upgrade to its profit expectations lifted Next’s shares by 5.5% to an all-time high of ￡109.10 in early trading.
?Amazon goes green with new recyclable packaging for UK deliveries.
Amazon has introduced a new recyclable paper envelope to its UK customers as part of its ongoing efforts to reduce packaging waste.
The online giant’s?new design, created in collaboration with packaging experts?Mondi, features a lightweight, shock-proof lining made entirely from paper, eliminating the need for plastic bubble wrap.
This innovation allows the envelopes to be recycled at home, offering an eco-friendly alternative to traditional packaging.
Amazon said the new envelope, which has already started arriving on doorsteps, is designed to protect deliveries without sacrificing safety or functionality.
The lightweight packaging reduces the average shipment weight by 44g compared to equivalent-sized cardboard boxes and optimises space, eliminating the need for additional protective materials like paper dunnage.
The online giant said customers want?rightsized, recyclable packaging that minimises waste and ensures damage-free delivery.
“When this is not an option, we optimise the type, material, and weight of our packaging to increase circularity, avoid waste, and reduce carbon emissions — without sacrificing safety or functionality,” it said.
It called its latest design “simple and effective, and designed to keep products securely in place, while at the same time absorbing stress put on the package during its journey to customers’ homes”.
Amazon European head of sustainable packaging Thais Blumer said: “Amazon stopped using traditional bubble-wrap padded envelopes in Europe several years ago, which presented a challenge to develop light, flexible and fully recyclable paper packaging that provides the same protection.
“Achieving both low weight and maximum protection with a 100% recyclable paper envelope was not an easy task, but these envelopes are easy to pack, simple for customers to recycle at home, and enable damage-free deliveries.”
?Debenhams sets sights on international expansion.
Debenhams, the former high street mainstay-turned online department store owned by Boohoo Group, is gearing up for a significant international expansion with plans to launch new websites in Ireland and Australia before the Christmas shopping season.?
The move comes as the digital marketplace reaches a milestone of 10,000 brands on its platform, signalling a robust growth trajectory since its acquisition by Boohoo in 2021. Dan Finley, chief executive officer of Debenhams, expressed enthusiasm about the upcoming launches. "We are excited to bring back Debenhams to Ireland in the coming months. There have been lots of demands with the consumers and with our partner base," Finley told Drapers. He added, "In Australia, we have had Debenhams stores there historically, and we think there is a great opportunity to bring our new Debenhams business back to the Australian market this year." The international websites will feature "hundreds of local and international brands", catering to the diverse tastes of global consumers.
Following these launches, Debenhams plans to introduce a Nasty Gal marketplace in the United States, leveraging the Boohoo Group's family of brands to expand its reach further afield. In addition to the international expansion, Debenhams is set to introduce a fulfilment service later this year.
UK brand partners will have the option to store and dispatch stock from Boohoo Group's automated distribution centre in Sheffield, offering customers the convenience of next-day delivery. Finley outlined his vision for Debenhams, stating, "For hundreds of years, Debenhams has been the great department store, and we want to be the digital department store going forward." He drew an ambitious comparison, adding, "The vision for Debenhams is for it to be to retail what Spotify is to the music industry."
The company's growth strategy also includes enhancing the customer experience through innovative technologies. Finley mentioned the upcoming launch of an AI room builder and highlighted existing features such as virtual advisors and virtual try-on services. As part of its evolving leadership team, Debenhams recently appointed Sarah Gilchrist to the newly created role of chief customer officer. Gilchrist joins from JD Sports Fashion, where she most recently served as group digital marketing director.
?
?