News Alexon grows
Catalogues are helping apparel retailer Alexon extend its multichannel reach. The company entered the catalogue market in March via wholesale partners and a joint venture with multicatalogue group Scotts & Co, with the aim of reaching a more mature customer on a low-risk, low-cost basis. The trial launch incorporated ranges from its Eastex, Dash and Alexon collections and was presented to customers via a 44-page catalogue called Prelude. Although sales are small, they exceeded
initial expectations, says Yvonne Mulvany, director of new business development at Alexon. She explains that Alexon initially contacted Scotts & Co last October with a view to form a joint venture as the companies have complementary customer profiles. The first catalogue was mailed in March, with subsequent mailings in April and June. Mulvany says the project is a true
Funding: three direct sellers secure loans
Direct merchants active in three different product sectors have secured business loans to fund future growth. In June, Exeter-based toys and homewares
retailer Toys and Interiors received a “five- figure” funding package from Lloyds TSB Commercial. The five-year-old business, set up by husband and wife Steve and Lisa Thomas, sells children’s toys and homewares via
Toysandinteriors.co.uk. Following the investment, it launched two new sites,
Redtoybox.co.uk and
Polkadotcottage.co.uk, in order to better target each product sector. To ensure improved efficiencies, the company also invested in a new stock management system. As
a result of the expansion, the business is now targeting turnover of £800,000, an increase of 23 percent on 2010’s figure of £650,000. Also receiving bank funding is Cornwall-
based apparel retailer Seasalt. Founded in 1981 as a retail outlet in Penzance selling government surplus clothing, Seasalt has evolved into a business with more than 200 staff, 12 shops, 300 stockists and an online business. In June, the company invested in a £1 million purpose-built warehousing facility, funded by Clydesdale Bank. The new 25,000 sq ft building replaces six smaller units and creates 20 new jobs. Chesterfield-based gardening supplies
cataloguer Two Wests & Elliott secured a £50,000 loan from UK Steel Enterprise in July to help grow the business. The funds have allowed owner-manager Peter Bennett to buy out a minority shareholder in the business, who had been in place since Bennett purchased the business from Bradshaws in 2007. The funds were provided by Tata Steel,
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which provides loan and equity finance to traditional steel-making areas as part of its social responsibility policies. Following the investment, the company, which employs 12 staff and turns over approximately £2 million a year, plans to relaunch its website before the end of the year.
Direct Commerce Catalogue e-business
www.catalog-biz.com catalogue business
joint venture with both companies having input. “We have the brands and the product knowledge and Scotts know direct mail,” explains Mulvany, adding that she sat in on everything from model selection, to attending the photo shoot and deciding on catalogue pagination.
Following encouraging results that saw
average order values dramatically ahead and returns in-line with expectations, Alexon will now grow the catalogue as a sales channel for the business’s classic brands. It mailed the autumn catalogue in late August. To further accelerate its multichannel strategy and support its online business— which more than doubled in the 22 weeks to 2nd July—Alexon has begun a systems overhaul starting with the installation of a new warehousing system. Alexon also says it’s looking at new
financing options to allow it to invest in its turnaround strategy.
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