Next (clothing)

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NEXT Group PLC

Type	Public (LSE: NXT)
Founded	15th Sept 1982
Headquarters	Leicester, England, UK
Industry	Clothing Retail
Products	Clothing, accessories
Revenue	£3,329 million (2007)
Operating income	£537 million (2007)
Net income	£354 million (2007)
Employees	57,454 (2006)
Website	www.next.co.uk

Next on Oxford Street

Next plc is a British clothes retailer, with its headquarters in Enderby, Leicester, England. It is one of the United Kingdom's largest clothing retailers, number three behind Marks & Spencer and Philip Green's retail empire of Bhs and Arcadia Group. The company which has employed some of the biggest names in the fashion world including Alessandra Ambrosio, Noémie Lenoir, Yasmin Le Bon, Gabriel Aubry and Paul Sculfor has over 400 stores throughout the UK and the Republic of Ireland, and 50 franchise branches in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. These are located at a mixture of high streets, shopping centres and retail parks.

1 History
2 Logos and Marketing
3 Subsidiaries of Next
4 Stores
5 Franchise
6 Next Sales
7 References
8 External links

[edit] History

Next was founded in 15th Sept 1982 when J Hepworth & Son, a tailor in Leeds, bought Kendall & Sons Ltd, a Leicester based rainwear and ladies fashion company from Combined English Stores, to redevelop as a womenswear chain of shops called NEXT (Next PLC in turn took over Combined English Stores in 1987). Terence Conran, owner of the chain, chose the retailer George Davies to head the new store. The first store was opened on 12th February 1982, and by 1984 all 80 of Kendall's stores had been converted to Next.

The same year (1984), the Hepworth's stores began to be converted to Next for Men. Later Next began to develop mini department stores selling women's, men's and children's clothes as well as furniture under one roof. Some stores had included cafes although these were phased out in the early 1990s. In 1986 Next moved its head office from Leeds to Leicester and in the same year had purchased the catalogue company Grattan. This was later sold to Otto Versand in 1991 when Next encountered financial problems related to a recession. Some branches were sold to other retailers to avoid administration.

Stand alone furniture shops called NEXT Home were opened in 2003. Next also sells around 21% of its merchandise through the Next Directory, a home shopping catalogue launched in 1988. All Next stores only sell their own brand label although recently some small scale branded products have been seen such as trainers from Gola and Morphy Richards electrical goods. More recently the company has begun to tap into the growing market for trendy men's underwear by stocking the latest styles of Calvin Klein underwear. The Next Directory now sells a large variety of electrical goods both through the catalogue and online in addition to a new 'brands' section. The Next website has recently seen the addition of a large brand section with names such as Firetrap, Levi's and Rock and Republic. Currently the largest branch of Next is the branch in the Manchester Arndale Centre that opened in October 2005.

Next produces an internal magazine called 'The Faith Restorer' magazine. This includes news related to new store openings, recent events (such as staff parties), good customer service and the famous 'What not to say' column that reports on recent complaints and advises employees on how to avoid them in the future.

[edit] Logos and Marketing

Next logo used from 1991

Next Directory logo

Until circa 1991 Next used a lower case Courier-style typeface in black against a white background for its logo. This was replaced by the capitalised NEXT logo in a Roman-serif style type face that is still widely used in stores and corporate marketing. There have been some variations of this such as the logo with each letter of NEXT in an individual square and in some stores in 2005/6 had the Next logo in a varying blue & black bacground with "X's" printed on them, as opposed to the black background. In addition, some variations in typeface occurred during the logo's use - including similar fonts that had serifs positioned obove the "T" crossbar, similar to Garamond and others that had more in common with Times New Roman.

As of 2007 a brand new logo showing a lower case Akzidenz Grotesk^{[citation needed]} next logo has been introduced, although the previous logo in use since 1991 continues to be used throughout marketing, directories and carrier bags for now until all consumables that carry the old design have been exhausted.

For a long period in recent years Next has marketed only to advertise an impending sale usually through brief television spots and newspaper advertising and in and out of stores. However recently billboard advertising featuring Alessandra Ambrosio and later in 2007 Yasmin Le Bon have advertised the stores womenswear. [1]

In September 2007, to celebrate its 25th anniversary, Next launched its first television campaign in 12 years named 'Ali's Party' with the song 'Suddenly I See'. It stars Brazilian supermodel Alessandra Ambrosio. The campaign is aimed towards young working women.^[1] All extra casts are Next employees, otherwise nicknamed 'nextras'. A second advert, also featuring Ambrosio, was screened during November 2007, using the Louis Armstrong song 'Cool Yule.'^{[citation needed]} Throughout the period when the adverts were being aired the songs were regularly played instore. The third advert in the series has been filmed in Brazil and again features Alessandra Ambrosio and Paul Sculfor. The song used in the latest advertisement is mas que nada sung by Ava Leigh. It is currently available for download on itunes.

[edit] Subsidiaries of Next

Other than the core Next retail chain and the directory Next also own subsidiaries including:

There are a number of stores owned by Next known as Next Clearance which sell previous seasons stock at a lower price than the core Next stores, they also have introduced some clothing just for next clearance.
In late September 2006 Next opened a handful of new stores called Lime. These stores sell cheaper priced stock under the name of Lime. The first branches opened in Derby, Nottingham, Newbury, Douglas in the Isle of Man, Wigan and Llandudno. In November 2007 Lime Opened in MetroCentre, Gateshead which is one of the largest shopping centres in Europe. The Lime stores replace existing Next outlets which have since moved to larger premises nearby. Lime-branded items are also now stocked at larger Next Clearance stores. Lime was setup primarily as competition for low cost competitors such as Primark, Peacocks, Matalan and the clothing operations of supermarkets such as Tesco, ASDA and Sainsbury's. [2]

It was decided by the company to cease trading of the Lime brand in early 2008. Stores with long leases will be converted in temporary childrenswear or home stores. For example, the Lime Store in the MetroCentre, Gateshead is opening as childrenswear store. Staff have been redeployed to other stores within the company

Next own the call centre operator of Ventura. [3]
Next own the sourcing company of Next Sourcing Limited.

[edit] Stores

Next have over 400 stores located around the world. They are in locations such as the United Kingdom, Denmark, France, Iceland and Ireland as well as in other parts of the world such as Dubai, India and soon to open in Hong Kong. The stores range in size and goods. While most stores feature mainly fashion, some also include homewares and furniture as well, classing the store as a department store in some cases. The chains largest store is located within the Manchester Arndale centre. It is featured over 4 floors and is 82,000 sq ft (7,600 m²) in size. However the company plan to open their flagship store in Leicester, when the renovation and extension work to the Shires shopping centre is complete. The Lakeside Shopping Centre Store in Grays Essex converted the roof to add 3 floors to the store.

Currently the second largest Next store is located in Church Street, Liverpool. The biggest Clearance store is located in Oxford.

[edit] Franchise

All non UK and Ireland stores with the exception of Copenhagen, Denmark are Franchises. One of the largest franchises is in Japan, operated by Xebio. There are currently 27 stores in Japan.

[edit] Next Sales

Next discount sales are very popular events usually occurring four times a year, two at the end of seasons and two mid-season. Queuing for the sales starts early with people arriving at times as early as 2 am to wait for the store to open at 5 am. Sales involve most of the store staff and extra temporary staff are usually hired as well to cope with demand, where generally every permanent staff member is put onto the rota to work during the sale, and must then provide a valid reason if they cannot work. Generally discounts start at 50%, especially during the end-of-season sales, with the discounts rising after the official sale has ended and when the company wishes to sell off all remaining stock.