Including Fiona Lambert, the boss of Asda’s George fashion brand, set to leave the business.
The Source rounds up some of the key retail stories of the week.
New figures from the Office of National Statistics have shown that retail sales values dipped 1% year on year in December. They also fell 1.4% against November. Sales volumes, however, did rise 2.6% year on year, although they were down 1% on November due to Black Friday. Online sales were up 8.2% year on year in December, although again down 5.2% on November.
Fiona Lambert, the boss of Asda’s George fashion brand, is to leave the business, says Retail Week. After helping to launch the brand, Fiona joined Next in 1999, before returning to Asda in June 2007 as vp of George and George Home. More recently she took on the role of vp for own brand development and design.
Fashion retailer Next has confirmed plans to transform the Plaza shopping centre on Oxford Street into a flagship store. The outlet will include womenswear, menswear, kidswear and a home department, while Next is also hoping to have a Lipsy concession and in-store café. It is aiming to have the store open by the end of 2017.
Marks & Spencer is continuing with its overseas expansion, launching its first dedicated websites outside of Europe in Australia and New Zealand.
Halfords saw its cycling business grow 1.1% on a like for like basis during the 15 weeks to January 15. However, despite the positive Christmas quarter, like for like cycling sales were down 1.4% year to date. The retailer also revealed it enjoyed a record day for online sales during Black Friday weekend, while it had its highest ever day for total sales on December 23.
Amazon is apparently looking to acquire Ocado as it readies to bring its fresh grocery initiative to the UK.
