Sales across TK Maxx’s UK business have increased 3.6% to £4.03bn, with its 432 stores generating a 3% increase in like-for-like sales to £2.67bn.
TK Maxx is a powerhouse in affordable designer clothing sales, bringing end-of-line and last season stock from some very well-known lux brands into the price range of the masses, according to the Europe Fashion report.
Launched in 1994, TK Maxx introduced off-price retailing to the UK and Ireland and is the only bricks-and-mortar, off-price apparel and home fashions retailer of significant size in Europe. TK Maxx expanded into Germany in 2007, Poland in 2009 and Austria and the Netherlands in 2015.
Traditionally selling through stores – characterised by an ‘organised chaos’ approach to retail – the fashion vendor has carved out a highly successful niche in fashion by tapping into the desire for luxury branded garments at prices more akin to affordable fast fashion outlets.
This has seen TK Maxx develop a unusual strategy in Europe. Instead of ordering two or three seasons in advance as most fashion retailers do, it has a team of buyers who buy up stock as and when the opportunity arises. As a result, it can see anywhere up to 50,000 product lines and 10,000 new lines arriving every week.
To meet this challenge, the retailer has had to create a supply chain, warehousing and IT systems that are extremely flexible and agile, since stock levels and actual inventory changes all the time. To do this across its international footprint, the retailer operates 20 distribution centres across six countries with custom-built automation to supply stores. This approach has worked so well in a store-first business that TK Maxx has been slow to embrace online retailing. While it saw a shift towards ecommerce during the pandemic, the company is committed to expanding its physical retail offering, with new stores set to open in Europe in 2023.
It does have a transactional online presence, although this is largely confined to homewares in Europe. The company says that it will, in due course, open up transactional websites for all departments, but that it will do this slowly so as not to compromise its bricks-and-mortar presence. This process has commenced in the UK, where the tkmaxx.com website sells a limited range of clothing and accessories.
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