N Brown targets online growth with three new partnerships

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Oct 12, 2018

N Brown has announced multiple partnerships in an effort to boost online sales and reassure nervous investors after revealing a 3.1% drop in product revenue on Thursday.

The company said offline sales dragged down its performance during the six months to 1 September, and are likely to continue to fall in the second half of the year. Shares in the group dropped by more than 20% immediately after the earnings report was released.

Part of the group’s strategy moving forward is to focus on online growth, with key partnerships with L’Oreal, the Netherland’s Wehkamp and Lipsy London helping it attract more shoppers.

Three of L’Oreal’s biggest consumer brands, L’Oreal Paris, Maybelline and Garnier, will launch on Simply Be, Jacamo and JD Williams this season. With over 200 product lines, this will be the biggest skincare and makeup proposition available on N Brown’s websites.

Additionally, leading Dutch fashion e-tailer Wehkamp and Lipsy London Collection will launch collaborations with Simply Be through the Next website. Wehkamp and Simply Be will present a capsule collection of 80-100 pieces from size 16 to 24 that will launch in SS19, while Lipsy and Simply Be are expanding their existing partnership to include lingerie, swimwear, footwear and menswear.

“We are delighted to be partnering with L’Oreal, Wehkamp and Lipsy London Collection, all of which represent exciting opportunities for our Power Brands,” commented Ralph Tucker, Chief Product and Supply Officer at N Brown.

“L’Oreal is one of the leading brands in beauty products and this is a great opportunity to expand our offering to our customers in this segment, whilst Wehkamp and Lipsy London Collection allowing us to demonstrate our expertise in the specialist fit fashion space. We are looking forward to working with the teams and to the other possibilities this might bring in future,” he continued.

The online partnerships come at a time of change in the UK retail market as bricks-and-mortar stores continue to decline across Britain’s high streets. N Brown’s offline sales slumped by 22.4% in the first half of the year.