Leading brands are now approaching loyalty as a digital transformation initiative, with retailers including Victoria’s Secret, Under Armour and JD Sports all having launched or redesigned their loyalty programmes in recent months. But loyalty programme initiatives are a heavy lift that need strong sponsorship across the C-Suite, with even the CEO regularly joining meetings to stay on top of new loyalty tech. The growing interest in loyalty programmes is no surprise given that customer retention and digital transformation are company leaders’ top two priorities. Promotion and loyalty solution T ..read more

Wilko owner Chris Dawson has revealed plans to open up to 40 new UK stores next year as he looks to restore the discount chain to its former glory. The Range owner, who  bought Wilko out of administration in October, told Retail Gazette he is targeting “shopping centres and only very busy high streets” for the new stores. “I would say 30 to 40 in the first year,” Dawson said. “Then it’ll be the same, if not more, the following years till we fill the place up.” He said the retailer had several stores “up and down the country” lined up to open before Easter. Dawson also believes that Wilko ..read more

Lidl has ditched ‘use by’ dates on its own brand milk and yoghurt ranges as it aims to help customers reduce food waste at home. The discounter is the latest retailer to make the move with both Sainsbury’s and Aldi scrapping ‘use by’ dates on milk in recent months in favour of letting customers use their judgement. Lidl’s updated milk packaging has already started to filter into its England and Wales stores, while the change will be made to yoghurt labels from early 2024. The discounter’s head of buying Richard Inglis said: “At Lidl, we know that a lot of perfectly good milk and yoghurt is bei ..read more

DIY giant Kingfisher will launch a retail media offer with B&Q set to go live this month as the business predicts revenue from advertisers will reach 3% of group online sales. The DIY behemoth is working with CitrusAd to deliver the proposition, which will allow third-party brands to advertise across the ecommerce websites and apps of all its banners. It anticipates that many of its suppliers could become advertisers. It already works with Epsilon-owned CitrusAd in France to deliver its retail media proposition. It will now roll this out across the UK, Ireland, Poland, Spain, Portugal and ..read more

Watches of Switzerland half-year profits have plummeted 20% as consumers continue to pull back on spending for luxury products amid the high inflationary environment. Statutory pre-tax profits for the luxury watch retailer dropped to £67m in the 26 weeks to 29 October 2023, down from £83m last year, although it pointed out its adjusted EBIT of £73m was ahead of previous guidance. It comes as Watches of Switzerland’s sales for the period remained flat at £761m, with 5% growth – or 11% on a constant currency basis – in its US revenue helping to offset 4% fall in UK and Europe. Subscribe to Retai ..read more

The Range and Wilko owner CDS Superstores is to shut its more than 200 stores on Boxing Day to give workers a “well-earned break”. The retail group said it was doing so after an “incredible growth year” for the business. It has grown The Range’s store portfolio to 215 shops and brought Wilko back both to UK high streets and online after it acquired the brand out of administration. Subscribe to Retail Gazette for free Sign up here to get the latest news straight into your inbox each morning  However, the retail group is planning to open for extended hours in the run up to Christm ..read more

JD Sports’ Dutch subsidiary Sports Unlimited Retail has been declared bankrupt. Sports Unlimited, which is a subsidiary of Iberian Sports Retail (ISRG) that JD Sports owns, has 52 stores across the Netherlands under the Sprinter, Aktiesport and Perry Spors brands.  The control of the stores will now move to a bankruptcy trustee as appointed by the district court of Amsterdam. A spokesperson for Sports Unlimited said: “We appreciate this is a difficult time for Sports Unlimited Retail colleagues in the Netherlands and we are doing our utmost to support them in conjunction with ISRG and the ..read more

Next boss Lord Wolfson has called for an overhaul of the UK’s planning rules after he warned current regulations were “holding back industry and society”. The chief executive said trying to build new stores in places where people shopped was a “constant battle” and “that is replicated across the whole industry”. He told The Times: “If you ask any type of business, whether it be energy infrastructure, warehousing, distribution or call centres, to name their biggest concerns, planning is going to be top on their list of issues. “The time it takes to get permission, the cost of getting it and the ..read more

THG’s activist shareholder has ramped up its campaign calling for the company to affirm its break-up plans. Kelso Group has written to the company’s board requesting a stock market statement containing its proposals relating to the de-merger of its three divisions. THG, which floated on the stock exchange in 2020 with a valuation of £5bn, operates a beauty business, a nutrition arm and an ecommerce services platform, Ingenuity. However, its share price has since plummeted and the group is now worth around £1bn. Subscribe to Retail Gazette for free Sign up here to get the latest news ..read more

Frasers Group has posted an 8% jump in its half-year pre-tax profits as its elevation strategy “continues to drive strong trading performance”. The FTSE-100 listed firm saw its profits rise to £310.2m for the six months to 29 October, up from £287.2m the year before. Sales rose 4.4% from £2.65bn to £2.77bn during the period, which the business said was “largely due to the impact of businesses acquired in [the second half of the year] and a strong underlying performance from Sports Direct”. It added that the sports retailer’s performance “more than mitigated a decline in Game UK and Studio Reta ..read more