Tracing Real Body Models | An alternative to the stereotypical fashion figure templates High-street retailers benefiting from globalisation International marketing expert Anne Marie Doherty examines the globalised nature of the high street LIKE many UK cities, Cardiff boasts a significant presence of international retailers from Aldi to Zara. Despite the recession doom and gloom, Peacocks, headed by its chief executive Richard Kirk, recently announced an increase in quarterly sales of 8.3%, having boosted its margins to improve gross profits by 15.5% during the period. This is indeed impressive, particularly in an increasingly squeezed value fashion market. Like Tesco, Peacocks has significant operations outside of the UK. However, other familiar retailers originate outside the UK such as Aldi and Lidl from Germany, Ikea and H&M from Sweden, Zara from Spain and Benetton from Italy. These companies have come to characterise our major high streets and consumption patterns, and undoubtedly have an increasingly important influence on our lives and spending habits.
36 Wide Personalised Hobby and Craft labels by Labels4KidsEtsy Fall in high-street activity raises fears of triple-dip recession | Heather Stewart and Larry Elliott | Business Clothing and footwear shops have shown the biggest drop in sales this month. Photograph: David Sillitoe for the Guardian George Osborne will discover on Thursday, whether the UK slid into an unprecedented triple-dip recession in the first quarter of 2013, after the Treasury underlined the severity of the current downturn by extending the emergency Funding for Lending scheme until 2015. Official figures will show whether the economy contracted for a second successive quarter at the start of the year – two consecutive quarters of decline is the standard definition of a recession. City economists are, on average, expecting a marginal expansion, of 0.1%. "The basic picture is stagnation, and the exact number is guesswork around that," said Vicky Redwood, of Capital Economics. Labour was keen to point out that, even if today's number is positive, economic output remains well below its pre-crisis peak.
Clothing Labels…..by the 100′s Finally. Finally. Finally. I finally focused in on one of my trillion little “mental notes” and bought some clothing labels. I remember when I used to sell booties and little boy ties in my etsy shop, wow, almost 2 years ago……and I always thought it would be fabulous to have labels for the items I sold. But darn it, I just never got around to it. Whew. But now that I have my clothing labels sitting by the sewing machine, I wonder why it took me so long. Part of the delay was looking for a label that I liked, at a good price. So I found a little shop on etsy.com, called World Wide Label, found here. The customer service was perfect, the lady I worked with emailed back and forth with me several times to get the color and sizing just how I wanted it, and my little package arrived from Hong Kong, exactly within the time frame described. I was so excited to receive my little international package…..and ripped her right open. Look at all of those perfect little labels………ready to be put to work.
Highlights from the Mobile Marketing and Commerce Report Econsultancy recently published the Mobile Marketing and Commerce Report 2013 which surveyed more than 500 companies on their commitment to mobile as part of their marketing strategy. The rise of mobile has been long-predicted so I thought it worthwhile to check out the findings of the report. The full report is available here, but if you don’t have time to read it here are some key highlights from the survey, with a focus on some international comparisons. Ecommerce revenue accounts for 29% of total revenues The UK leads the way with 31% of revenue generated through ecommerce channels, slightly ahead of the rest of Europe at 30%. Mobile commerce accounts for 10% of ecommerce revenues Asia-Pacific countries lead the way with 13% of ecommerce revenue being generated by mobile, followed by the UK at 11% with Australia and the rest of Europe at 8%. Companies in Asia are most likely to have a mobile strategy Marketing spend and revenue… Mobile assisted shopping is increasing
Women's Jeans // Beth | Nurmi Webstore Nurmi jeans are designed and made to last for a long time as an essential part of your wardrobe. The jeans are made with respect for the environment and people around us so they don’t just look good – they are also good from inside. // Color: indigo blue // Material: 55% hemp, 45% organic cotton // Which size to choose? // Material The denim is 55% hemp and 45% organic cotton. The strong and durable hemp is naturally ecological in many ways. Organic cotton is cultivated without using synthetic fertilizers or pesticides. The fabrics used in the pocket pouches are surplus materials from Finnish textile industry. // Dyeing of fabric The dyeing process on the hemp denim begins with dyeing the yarn before it is woven. No Chlorine bleached is used. // Production The cutting, sewing and finishing is made in a small town in Eastern Finland, Keitele. The ecological and ethical aspects are taken well into consideration. // Finishing No other finishing applied than light water wash. // Care & washing
Mobile Apps – Changing the Face of Retail Industry The impact of mobile is BIG on the retail industry. Armed with SmartPhones, modern day shoppers carry ready information of products in their palms. The immense development in the world of mobile computing has forced the consumer goods industry (in particular, the retail sector) to respond by coming to terms with the changed shopping scenario. Mobile shopping apps are helping the retail industry to not only manage their customers successfully by keeping them well-informed but also to keep them happy by providing extras through their smart mobile apps. Mobile Apps in Retail Many retailers (online and in-store as well) have understood the true potential of mobile apps when it comes to ensuring loyalty among their customers and enhancing POS (point of sale) opportunities. We are going to list some of the most important ways of using retail mobile apps development to help provide today’s shoppers an enriching retail shopping experience. 1. 2. 3. 4.
About Us | History and time line of ASOS ASOS is a global online fashion and beauty retailer selling over 65,000 branded and own-label products to fashion forward twenty-somethings through our website, asos.com. We ship, for free, to 234 countries and territories from our 1.1 million square foot global distribution centre in the UK. We tailor the mix of own-label, global and local brands sold through each of our nine local language websites: UK, US, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Australia, Russia and China. ASOS's websites attract 29.5 million unique visitors* a month (31 December 2012: 23.7 million) and as at 31 December 2013 had 14.8 million registered users (31 December 2012: 10.5 million) and 7.9 million active customers** (31 December 2012: 5.6 million) For more information please see www.asosplc.com What the fashion press are saying about us: “The online wonder store is ablaze with hot designers.” “In just nine years ASOS.com has gone from niche get the look website to massive internet phenomenon.” Brief History March 2014
Full year results - Next Plc I am pleased to report that NEXT has had another solid year. In a difficult and competitive year both sales and profits have grown to record levels. Earnings per share have risen by 14.7% to 146.1p, enhanced by the beneficial effect of share buybacks over the past two years. In the seven years since January 2000 we have returned £2 billion to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks, which is more than the market value of the whole company at that time. In order to deliver our primary financial goal of long term sustainable growth in earnings per share our emphasis in the year ahead will be to improve the performance of our existing operations. In his report, Simon Wolfson lays out some of the steps which are being taken to ensure the vitality of the NEXT Brand. I would like to thank our staff, suppliers and in particular our management team, who have led us through a challenging period. John BartonChairman The following table summarises our shop fit programme for the year ahead.
Risks & uncertainties - Next Plc Annual Report 2013 The Board has a policy of continuous identification and review of key business risks and oversees the development of processes to ensure that these risks are managed appropriately. Executive directors and operational management are delegated with the task of implementing these processes and reporting to the Board on their outcomes. The key risks identified by the Board are summarised below: Business strategy development & implementation If the Board adopts the wrong business strategy or does not implement its strategies effectively, the business may suffer. Liquidity & credit risk The Group has adequate medium and long term financing in place to support its business operations. NEXT is exposed to credit risk in respect of its Directory and other business customers. Management team The success of NEXT relies on the continued service of its senior management and technical personnel and on its ability to continue to attract, motivate and retain highly qualified employees. Retail store network