Seasalt, the successful Cornish lifestyle-fashion brand, is considering a number of redundancies and it’s blaming higher taxes following the Autumn Budget that increased employers’ National Insurance contributions.

The company said the redundancy move was “in order to meet the challenges presented by an ever-changing retail industry” and that customer sentiment has continued to decline, impacting the outlook for trading conditions in the year ahead.

“As a business here at Seasalt, we are not immune to these very real concerns,” it explained. “In order to meet the challenges… the majority of those beyond our control, Seasalt must remain agile so that we can protect our business for the long term. 

“To continue investing in our growth plans, focusing predominantly on store and partners expansion, and large-scale projects to enhance our operations, we have thoroughly reviewed our cost base, to ensure our expenditure is not outpacing our sales and equally achieve the growth that is essential to the viability of our business. 

“This analysis has included looking at efficiencies and overall productivity, a transformation of our head office structure and a review of our retail team operations, along with, where possible, reducing the expenditure necessary to realise our sales growth.”

It all means a number of roles will be placed at risk of redundancy across the business.

The company has 76 stores around the UK and said in January that it had seen a big jump in sales for the festive season, despite it having to deal with major pressures on costs. Total sales, including stores, online, and partners such as M&S, Next and Zalando, were up 10% year on year in the final five weeks of 2024.

Back in May it had also filed accounts for 2023 showing turnover rising but some profit measures falling as investment and one-costs hit the figures.

It opened its first US store last year and plans two more in the short term.

The news on redundancies comes just after reports that its chief information officer Mel Wilcox has stepped down after less than two years. Drapers said she’s left “to seek new challenges and opportunities”.

Fast-fashion giant Shein has finally said that yes, it is planning a stock exchange listing and while it didn’t specifically say it would be in London, it hasn’t ruled it out.

Shein’s listing ambitions have long been talked about and its original focus was New York. However, the welcome for a Chinese-linked company there was unlikely to be an enthusiastic one and the rumours since then have said London was the next-most-likely option, helped by the fact that the UK is one of the business’s top five markets.

Donald Tang, executive chairman of the now-Singapore-headquartered-but-Chinese-founded company told The Times in an interview conducted in London that a listing will happen. 

And while there has been some opposition from UK groups concerned about everything from its labour practices, to its fast-fashion profile and its secretive nature, Tang doesn’t appear to be afraid of the spotlight that a listing will shine on it.

He said Shein wants to list in order “to embrace the … accountability and transparency of being a public company”.

He added that the business is “democratising” global fashion, that it complies with laws in local markets and creates less waste than its rivals do because of the low inventory levels that it holds. He also cited research that shows its customers don’t view its products throwaway items to be worn just a few times.

Tang said he “admired” UK regulators for “a clear sense of separation between politics and regulation” and he also minimised concerns about Donald Trump’s plan to close the loophole whereby low-priced important into the US are tariff-free. 

He said he himself has advocated reform to create a “level playing field” and insisted that Shein’s success is because “we have a superior business model. We are about customers. We’re not about customs policy”.

The now 13-year-old company is believed to have filed paperwork for a potential London listing last summer, although the executive chairman didn’t confirm this and hasn’t mentioned any timing for a likely listing, nor the monetary value it would have.

But the company is already a member of the CBI, the major UK business organisation. That membership came, he told The Times, because “we want to be a globalised company. In London, we want to be a British company. We want to be a British local company … we’re registered here, we’re paying taxes here, we want to be part of a community.”

UK consumers are adjusting their shopping behaviour in response to the tough economic backdrop, according to the  third annual Shopper Preference Report from Bazaarvoice.

The provider of UGC and social commerce solutions speaks to over 8,000 global consumers every year with a big chunk of them in the UK. And it found that inflation has had a big impact on their behaviour with “affordability and trust driving purchasing decisions”.

And while there has been a lot of talk about fashion spending being affected, the study claims that the hardest hit categories are actually grocery (71%), food and beverages (60%), and health & beauty (25%).

Bazaarvoice said 58% of UK consumers have switched to cheaper brands, 45% are delaying non-essential purchases, and 36% are actively using coupons and discount codes. Loyalty programmes are also seeing increased participation, with 35% of shoppers joining them to access better deals.

Store brands are gaining traction amid economic pressure. The survey also reveals that 57% of UK consumers have permanently switched to store-brand products. Lower prices (77%) remain the biggest factor, but improved quality (48%) and positive reviews (35%) are also helping store brands earn consumer loyalty.

As for Authenticity, 57% of UK shoppers cite real customer reviews as the biggest factor in their final purchase decisions. “Consumers trust content that includes detailed product descriptions (33%), real-life photos/videos (37%), and balanced feedback (36%)”, we’re told. However, on the flip side, they’re “wary of overly positive, generic reviews (45%) and suspiciously high review volumes in a short time (40%)”.

The report also said that social media continues to become ever nor important to shopping decisions. A third (32%) of UK consumers say social media introduced them to new products, while 28% use it to compare prices and products. 

Short-form videos (49%) and customer reviews (44%) are the most trusted content formats here. However, “honesty remains paramount” as 51% of UK shoppers distrust creator content that feels overly promotional, and 42% say authenticity comes from creators who acknowledge a product’s pros and cons.

Social media’s prominence shows how tech can make an impact and consumers appear to be hungry for even more innovation. A quarter (26%) of UK shoppers are excited by smart fitting rooms, and 19% find augmented reality product visualisation appealing.