We know Mother’s Day was a big draw for physical retail with footfall and sales ahead of last year, but The Perfume Shop looks to have taken performance to a different level.

Claiming the top spot as the UK’s largest specialist perfume retailer, its sales in the lead up to Mother’s Day on 30 March “went above and beyond” with 280,916 bottles sold across the wider 9-30 March trading period.

What’s more, the week leading up to the day was up 56% on a year ago. That helped push overall sales up 14% on 2024.

Top 10 sellers were led by Lancôme La Vie Est Belle, followed by Chanel Coco Mademoiselle, Yves Saint Laurent Libre, Prada Paradoxe, Carolina Herrera Good Girl, Mugler Alien, Yves Saint Laurent Black Opium, Chanel No5, Dior Miss Dior and Mugler Angel.

Digging deeper, The Perfume Shop said sales were driven by a 30% increase in sales of classic perfumes, 3% in new and trending perfumes and a 2% increase in gift sets compared to 2024. 

Promotional deals also proved popular with the website’s busiest day on Tuesday (25 March) seeing a 69% increase in perfume purchases compared to last year. Some 35% of all orders last week were customers making the most of the next-day delivery service.

Also, the retailer’s personalisation services were in demand, delivering over 43,688 ribbons (21,500 of these being sold last week) and 1,091 engraved bottles in the three weeks running up to Mother’s Day.

Karen Harris, Customer director from The Perfume Shop said: “Perfume is such a personal and lasting gift, and this year’s sales have truly reflected that, with a remarkable uplift in both classic and trending scents. Our personalisation services have also been more popular than ever, showing just how much thought goes into selecting the perfect perfume.”

Antler has enjoyed success over the past three years and hit annual sales of £45 million, but now the British travel brand has set its sights on further growth to become a £100 million brand by fiscal 2029.

That will involve continued investment in “brand, product, and people” with further expansion into new categories beyond luggage, Antler said as it announced its latest trading figures.

The ambitious outlook is underpinned by a third consecutive year of double-digit growth across FY22 to FY25, as the business ended its FY25 trading year (1 March 2024 to 29 February 2025) with those global sales of £45 million.

The UK remains the brand’s highest-performing market, which has seen 120% growth across key strategic wholesale partners including John Lewis, Selfridges and Fenwick. They now represent over 50% of total sales, up 16% on last year.

But also key to targeting £100 million sales is the physical expansion into the US and Australia that began in 2024 with the opening of two retail locations in New York and Sydney. 

US ops were up 43% in FY25, supported by launches with department stores Bloomingdales and Nordstrom, while Australia, which continues to be Antler’s second-largest market at 40% of the sales mix, also saw year-on-year growth of 7%.

It said FY25 “marked the convergence of Antler’s brand reimagination and a renewed product strategy, brought to life for the first time with the launch of the Icon Stripe collection in April 2024”. It has become the brand’s best-selling collection and was the first to be designed under the leadership of managing director Kirsty Glenne.

For the FY26 trading year, a strategic focus on travel bags and accessories is forecast to grow the brand’s portfolio by 310% by the end of 2025. This month also sees the launch of the brand’s most premium collection. Two years in the making, the new Heritage Collection becomes “an ode to the brand’s 110-year travel and design legacy”, it said.

According to Glenne: “Antler had a transformative year in 2024 following the launch of our Icon collection, cementing our position as the cult British travel brand. 

“In 2025, we’re dedicated to continuing our expansion into lifestyle, by diversifying our product offering with a strong focus on bags. As part of our global expansion strategy, we will also be investing heavily in new markets as we continue to grow across the US, Australia and RoW.”

And it plans to “redefine consumer expectations and continue expansion into new categories… FY26 is set to be the brand’s most exciting and innovative year yet,” she added.

British luxury heritage brand John Smedley is breaking tradition with its choice of a new managing director. With her background in the creative camp, Jess McGuire Dudley takes up the promotion to MD this month.

Previously deputy MD and global brand director, McGuire Dudley takes over from Smedley family member Ian Maclean. Having worked within the business for 25 years, he will now step into the executive chairman’s role.

McGuire Dudley, who joined the business in 2014 as head of marketing, has made “invaluable contributions to the business… giving John Smedley new relevance and increased presence within the luxury knitwear sphere”, it said on announcing her new post. 

That included recently overseeing product projects and manufacturing overhauls while being “pivotal in transforming the marketing and sales side of the business in recent years” and refreshing the brand’s image and “the many ways it is visible in markets around the world”.

That has helped the business enjoy double-digit increases in global sales across e-commerce (80%) and its retail stores (6%), as well as growing its physical retail footprint with two standalone stores in London, it said.

Looking ahead, Dudley’s appointment also coincides with a “renewed focus on strategically future-proofing John Smedley, both in manufacturing and in product design”, it added. 

“There is a real love between me and this business, and I am determined to ensure it thrives for decades to come,” she said. 

She added: “The commercial landscape is a challenge for a UK based manufacturing brand; traditional wholesale and retail continue to be tough, and the future has a lot of uncertain challenges, from US tariffs to tax increases. But it is a challenge we are up for facing, and we have plenty of new ideas to maintain John Smedley as ‘The World’s Finest Knitwear’.”