Superdrug has shared its predictions on the trends it expects to see from shoppers over over the festive season this year. The health and beauty retailer said it has seen unit sales of Christmas gift sets increase in recent weeks, as shoppers start their shopping, adding that premium fragrance products are seeing “particularly strong growth” as customers seek quality products at great value. Superdrug chief commercial officer Simon Comins predicts that “money-saving beauty bundles are expected to feature heavily amongst the best sellers as consumers look at ways to make their money stretch fur ..read more

Cosmetics retailer The Body Shop has reignited its fight against animal testing with its long-term partners, Cruelty Free International. The company is bringing back its campaign 25 years after the UK’s absolute ban on animal testing was passed in 1998. The ban, which followed The Body Shop and Cruelty Free International’s campaigning on the issue, was reversed in 2019 as the government re-aligned its policy with less stringent EU rules, allowing for the testing of cosmetics ingredients on animals. The move came despite 71% of the British public supporting the government reducing testing ..read more

Three Poundland Christmas trucks are set to hit the roads today, delivering goods to its stores until Christmas Eve. In a stunt paying homage to Coca-Cola’s iconic truck campaign, the discount retailer’s vehicles have embarked on the journey from the North Pole, locally known as its three main distribution centres, Harlow, Wigan and Springvale. Each of the festive trucks will be driven by Santa himself, alongside his trusty elf. The vehicles will cover 10,000 miles over the next 24 days, delivering gifts to the the group’s 800-plus stores. Subscribe to Retail Gazette for free Sign up  ..read more

Orla Kiely has delivered double-digit rises in profit and sales in its full year results. Pre-tax profits at the fashion retailer were up 66% compared to last year while sales soared by 42%. Sales were driven by product revenue of £3.3m, up from £2.1m last year, of which the majority comprises its ecommerce business, according to the business. The launch of the company’s new website and an extension of its homewares range also led to ecommerce growth. Orla Kiely said it experienced an exceptionally strong Black Friday weekend, with conversion rates achieved over 3.8% and year to date sales som ..read more

Ted Baker’s retail and ecommerce operator for UK and European operations has obtained a long-term secured asset-based facility, which it says will provide a “platform for growth” for the fashion retailer. The operator, No Ordinary Designer Label Limited, part of the AARC Group, secured the facility from specialist asset-based lender, Secure Trust Bank Commercial Finance. The facility will provide a platform to continue strengthening Ted Baker’s retail presence in the UK under the AARC Group, which acquired the license earlier this year. Subscribe to Retail Gazette for free Sign up here&nb ..read more

THG founder Matthew Moulding has taken a stake in Kelso Group, the activist shareholder which has been highly critical of his leadership of the business. In a corporate move reminiscent of the strategies employed by Mike Ashley, Moulding has acquired a 3.2% stake in Kelso, after the group called for a break-up of his listed beauty empire. This makes Moulding one of Kelso’s top shareholders after making an investment of about £300,000. Kelso launched back in 2022 to identify, engage and unlock trapped value in the UK stock market and completed a fundraising of £3m in January 2023 from around 20 ..read more

Bershka has teamed up with AI-powered virtual fitting room platform 3DLOOK as it looks to reduce rising return rates and offer a more “seamless online shopping experience”. The Inditex-owned fashion retailer said the rollout of the new virtual try-on service hopes to “eliminate the fit and sizing guesswork” typical of online shopping, to boost ecommerce sales. Customers can opt for a virtual try-on experience on Bershka’s website by selecting an item and clicking on the “See how it fits me” widget. Accessible on all mobile devices and laptops, the technology requires customers to take two phot ..read more

Danish retail chain Søstrene Grene will open the doors to its central London flagship later today as part of its rapid expansion across the UK. The 5,000 sq ft unit on Tottenham Court Walk is stocked with the Scandi brand’s extensive range of homewares, crafts, stationery, kitchenwares and children’s toys in its signature maze store layout. The two-storey shop is Søstrene Grene’s largest UK store and features its ‘experience room’ concept, a dedicated space where customers can interact with changing seasonal displays. It also includes a large space dedicated to the retailer’s extensive tea co ..read more

Frasers Group has pulled out of its acquisition of SportScheck after the German sports chain filed for administration on Thursday and will instead seek a pre-pack deal for the business. The retail group said it had exercised its right to back out of the deal amid the ongoing financial crisis surrounding SportScheck owner Signa Holdings, which filed for insolvency this week. In an update on Thursday, Frasers said it was “disappointed” by the retailer’s insolvency but that it “continues to believe that SportScheck is an attractive asset in one of Europe’s most important markets for sports”. Subs ..read more

89% of shoppers consult a Search Engine Results Page (SERP) when purchasing. But is the beloved search bar about to be displaced by the Chat Experience Results Page (CHERP)? With their vast knowledge bases and lightning-fast response times, LLM-powered chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Bard and Microsoft’s Bing are set to be invaluable for shoppers in their hunt for the right product but present a new challenge for online retailers. Get CHERP-ready by diving into this essentials guide on optimising your ecommerce product content for large language models like Bing, ChatGPT and Bard. Ama ..read more