New Look has revealed like-for-like growth of 2.8% in the 14 weeks to January 3 and, in its January trading statement, reports strong growth online:
In its first year, our ‘Online’ channel continues to report strong growth. In our peak week before Christmas we had over 1.1 million visitors to www.newlook.co.uk and we enjoyed significant sales success across both womenswear and menswear. About 75% of our total product offering can now be purchased online and given this success in the UK, we are now planning to introduce transactional websites for NL in France and Belgium.
“Our new online channel is making tremendous progress and will be a further benefit in trading the business through a very challenging 2009,” says Carl McPhail, chief executive of New Look.
And, according to Retail Week, “the retailer plans to launch exclusive higher price point ranges online after the success of its web site in its first year.”