Can anything stop Inditex? Not at the moment it seems. The Zara owner said this morning that its profits rose by 20% in the nine-months to the end of October and that the Christmas shopping season has got off to a good start. You bet it has. Sales from November 1 to December 3 have risen 15%…
“Please let Mulberry’s turnaround work,” I thought to myself as I opened the notification of its latest half-year report this morning. You see, despite the brand’s attempts to compete with the Pradas and Guccis and squeeze ever-higher amounts of money out of its customers in recent years, like many people in the UK, I do…
Poor working conditions. Inability to meet demand. Slow trend response. They’re all consequences of the move to low-cost manufacturing in factories many thousands miles from brands’ creative centres… until now, that is. Fashion has finally got what the car industry has known for decades – robots can make a difference, a BIG difference. A German…
Alibaba’s getting serious about the quality of the goods on its platforms and wants to attract more high-end brands. How’s it going to do it? The poacher is turning gamekeeper. The e-commerce giant frequently criticised for allowing counterfeit or low quality goods onto its sites is teaming up with four third-party inspection agencies to boost…
I took a trip down Oxford Street, South Molton Street and Regent Street in London yesterday, fully intending to photograph as many windows as possible. Unfortunately, I was sidetracked by Gap’s “all jeans for £20” one-day-only offer. When you’re weighed down by two pairs of Real Straight 26 waist/short and eight pairs of men’s Slim,…
A survey of fashion retailers in the UK last year saw 50% of them saying that maintaining customer loyalty is their biggest challenge. That’s no surprise really. A loyal customer is a very cost-effective customer as retailers don’t have to spend a lot of money to lure them in (although sensible retailers will definitely invest in…
It may not be the world’s most mature e-commerce market but it’s set to grow 10-fold in the next five years. Which market am I talking about? India, of course. A new report says it’ll be worth $100bn in five years and perhaps $250bn in a decade, as internet penetration increases, more consumers get smartphones…
Design awards are big news, especially when they’re created by some of the industry’s top names. Don’t forget 1954 when both Yves Saint Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld won the International Wool Secretariat’s prize – and look what happened to both of them. Anyway, yesterday in London, Hannah Jinkins became the latest name to be tipped…
If the parcel that’s currently sat under your Christmas tree is shoe box shaped, I think I might know what’s in there. Apparently, ‘UGGs’ and ‘UGG’ have secured two of the top 10 spots in Experian’s most searched terms following Black Friday, Deckers, the UGG brand’s owner said yesterday.
So, the dust has settled on Black Friday and Cyber Monday and we can finally see what impact they had on shopping. In the UK, it was … well, very little. Really? After all that fuss, crashed websites and reports of surging sales? Yes, according to a report from Visa and Markit that showed little…
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