NEWS
Shopping centres come up trumps on Black Friday
According to retail experts Springboard, footfall in UK retail destinations rose by +3.2% in the last week of November from the week before, with rises in consumer activity across all three key destination types. However, shopping centres were the most popular destination with a rise in footfall of +5.2% versus +2.3% in high streets and +2.7% in retail parks. Shopping centres were the clear winner on Black Friday with a rise in footfall of +16.8%, followed by high streets (+11.3%) and then retail parks
(+7.1%). However, despite the uplift in footfall the gap from 2019 was-14.1% below the 2019 level over the week and -17.5% below 2019 on Black Friday.
By Saturday footfall across all UK destinations levelled out with a rise of just +0.6% from the week before, although in shopping centres footfall rose by +3.8%. Sunday provided a further boost for retailers with a rise in footfall of +5.9% overall (+7% in shopping centres, +6.2% in high streets and +4.1% in retail parks).
Not unexpectedly, large
Victoria Plum appoints Helen Skelton as first-ever brand ambassador
city centres were hugely appealing for consumers over the Black Friday week, with increases of +4.9% in Central London and +4.3% in cities outside London, and +13.3% and +17.8% on Black Friday itself. However, towns that are attractive to visitors and offer festive attractions such as coastal towns and historic towns also benefited, with rises of +5.4% and +7.3% over the week and +13.6% and +18.6% on Black Friday. Diane Wehrle, Insights Director at Springboard, said: “Footfall rose in all three destination
types, but shopping centres fared particularly well, which is a result we would expect to see as shopping centres comprise a critical mass of larger retailers, the vast majority of which
actively participate in the event. However, notably footfall still remained significantly lower than pre-pandemic levels, indicating consistent nervousness around spending in the current climate.”
Selco Builders Warehouse selects RELEX Solutions to unify supply chain operations
Selco Builders Warehouse will partner with RELEX Solutions, provider of unified supply chain and retail planning solutions, to optimise its supply chain and space planning operations. A nationwide leader in the supply of building materials, Selco provides a wide assortment of over 12,000 SKUs, including building materials, flooring and tiling, decorator tools and outdoor landscaping and fencing materials.
Online bathroom retailer Victoria Plum has revealed TV and radio presenter Helen Skelton as its first ever brand ambassador.
The deal is the first celebrity brand partnership for the Doncaster-headquartered company which has an annual turnover of £103m and employs around 400 people.
Helen is known for hosting popular BBC TV shows Blue Peter and Countryfile and is currently starring in Strictly Come Dancing. Her brand ambassador role will see Helen get involved in a range of activity including community and sustainability projects, content marketing, social media and events.
Speaking about the partnership, Helen said: “Making home improvements is something I’ve long had a personal interest in which means I understand the hopes and expectations of Victoria Plum’s customers. “I also know it’s a progressive business that’s dedicated to providing a great customer experience and delivering a beautiful end result.
“It feels right for me to partner
with Victoria Plum because I like the people, products and the way they successfully go about
4 DIY WEEK NOVEMBER 2022
To find out more about the company visit
www.victoriaplum.com
helping make customers achieve their dream bathrooms.” Established in 2001, Victoria Plum offers more than 13,000 bathroom products and has a 275,000 sq ft distribution centre in Doncaster, along with its own logistics fleet. Uniquely for a UK online bathroom retailer the company offers a design and installation service. Victoria Plum chief executive, Paul McClenaghan, said: “We have been considering appointing a brand ambassador for some time and Helen was always top of our list.
“Her down-to-earth nature,
relatability and warm personality fits perfectly with Victoria Plum’s values and makes her the ideal person to partner with. “We have lots of exciting plans with Helen and we can’t wait to get started on implementing them.”
The brand ambassadorship forms part of Victoria Plum’s ongoing business transformation since the business was acquired by Leeds-headquartered private equity firm Endless three years ago.
Selco needed a solution that would automate processes and effectively leverage the power of AI for data-driven planning. With RELEX, Selco has unified their planning across the business with in-store forecasting and
“RELEX’s unified solution provides full visibility for accurate supply chain and space planning, giving us the flexibility, we need to adapt to the differing levels of demand we see from our customers.” “At RELEX, we are immensely
replenishment, allocation, space planning and planogram development.
“The building materials trade is a fast-paced, demand-driven industry, and RELEX provides an advanced level of automation that ensures we can fulfil the needs of our customers,” said Ian Kennedy, Operations Director at Selco Builders Warehouse.
Staines & Bright’s wins Home Hardware’s Cookshop Window Dressing Competition
We are delighted to announce that Staines & Bright’s Home Hardware (Tiptree) has won Home Hardware’s Cookshop Window Dressing Competition for the second year running. Malletts Home Hardware (Truro) received the runner’s
up prize. The competition was introduced to support the 40-page Cookshop Catalogue and to inspire retailers to create eye-catching window displays. The results speak for themselves.
All Home Hardware retailers
Back with a Bang: Together TV returns to full Freeview capacity and a new free DIY Challenge
Social purpose broadcaster, Together TV is back on Freeview, with over 20m households once again having access to the channel’s warming blend of feel-good and motivating programming. A new ‘DIY Challenge’ - in partnership with UK Men’s Sheds
Association - is being launched, hosted by fan favourite and DIY show presenter, Dave Wellman, known from ‘New Home DIY’ Following the popularity, success and social impact of the Sunflower Challenge - run by the channel in the spring with over 100,000 participants
were invited to participate in the competition and the overall standard of entry was exceptionally high. The competition was judged by an independent panel. Home Hardware would like to thank all members who participated in the competition.
growing sunflowers so far - this next ‘Challenge’ will encourage viewers to make three show- stopping DIY projects to ‘channel your inner maker’ by boosting their skills, sense of community and wellbeing during tough and isolating winter months. Together TV is now available on
Freeview 83 and a +1 channel has also been launched on Freeview 92. The channel is also on Sky 170, Virgin 269, Freesat 164.
www.diyweek.net
proud of our partnership with Selco,” said Paul Cowley, Sales Director at RELEX Solutions. “Our experience with builders’ merchants was evident throughout the sales process with positive references from existing customers and capabilities in load building for direct-to-store orders. We are extremely excited about helping Selco achieve their planning goals and expanding our partnerships in the building, trade and DIY space.”
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