Fresh from enhancing its brand-related retail media capabilities, The Perfume Shop has now implemented the first phase of its Store+ app initiative for customers.
Designed to enhance the shopping experience and make it easier for customers when it comes to making an informed perfume purchase, the enhanced app’s been launched in response to its own extensive customer and market research, it said.
Specificially, it identified that 72% of its customers often require further additional information and services when in-store, with 58% of them regularly searching for social content, tips and reviews when it comes to selecting a perfume.
So the upgraded Store+ app service aims to provide just that by bringing both the Offline + Online (O+O) experiences “closer together than ever before”.
Phase one has so far gone live into 24 stores will be followed by a rollout of further phases in 2025, it said.
Features of the app include a homepage that offers “all the most important and relevant information… on one page for an easier and smoother experience”; optimal self-service support of digital information and tools; physical experiences for customers to interact with while in-store “to boost store engagement and lead to purchase”; customers’ ability to scan the QR code displayed in the store to open the app; a Smart Product Scan available on the home page to access to all product information on the fragrances available, including sizes, prices, product description, key notes, fragrance family; and a loyalty card for VIP customers.
The retailer also said the newly redesigned customer app will allow them to view other key areas such as fragrance product information with overviews of ingredients and characteristics, plus rating details where they are able to filter best reviews that come directly from social media and brand video content related to testimonials and spot TV.
It will also be introducing a modular approach to bring to life the O+O digital experience for customers through various ‘Phygital Experiences’, allowing customers to interact with purpose-built physical and digital displays in store “that make product discovery more fun, engaging, and memorable”.
Laura Wilkinson, Online Business director, said: “We believe that all our customers should be able to have an easy and enjoyable experience when they are shopping with us offline and online. We’re bringing proven, online innovations to our in-store customers using their smartphones on a regular basis. We believe this will increase engagement with our brands by providing new ways for customers to explore our product and company values.”
German retail sales rose in 2024, but growth should be more modest this year due to the high level of uncertainty, according to retail association HDE.
Last year, retail sales rose 1.1% compared to the previous year in inflation-adjusted terms, official data showed on Friday. The HDE forecasts 0.5% growth in real terms this year.
“Consumption and the retail sector in Germany will not really gain momentum in 2025 either,” said HDE managing director Stefan Genth. “There is simply too much uncertainty,” he said. “Wars, high energy costs and overall economic stagnation are a toxic cocktail for consumption.”
In nominal terms, retail sales rose by 2.5% in 2024 and are expected to grow by 2.0% in 2025, according to HDE’s forecast.
The latest HDE survey with 700 retailers shows that 22% of respondents expect sales to increase this year, while almost half of them expect results to be below the previous year’s level.
In December, retail sales fell by 1.6% compared with the previous month, official data showed. Analysts had predicted a 0.2% increase.
Many big names in UK retail had a good Christmas season — despite the sector being generally sluggish — but it seems John Lewis Partnership (JLP) may not have been one of them.
The retailer — which operates its eponymous department stores and webstore, plus Waitrose supermarkets — has missed its profit target after a disappointing festive season.
It hasn’t shared any info officially but internal documents seen by The Telegraph suggest bad news to come when it does release its results.
Those internal documents have only been shared with staff so far with the company saying that sales have fallen short of expectations and it’s unlikely to achieve its hoped-for £131 million full-year profit.
The company is said to have blamed “lower consumer confidence and weaker than expected market confidence” for the sales miss in the month to 21 December, although also the fact that key trading days fell outside the period.
Sales targets were missed at both of the firm’s chains, although the newspaper said it still claimed it outperformed rivals and staff should be “proud of our performance”.
It will be interesting therefore to see exactly what its figures were as a number of rivals have actually reported a good Christmas. If its stores have beaten other supermarkets and chains like M&S, perhaps its targets were too ambitious in the first place.
We won’t know for a while, but we do know that with M&S resurgent, JLP’s supermarkets and department stores have lost some of their lustre as the destination of choice for Britain’s middle classes.
So what were the firm’s benchmarks? Back in September it had said it was seeing strong demand and expected a significant rise in profits for the year to January. The prior year’s pre-tax profit had been £56 million and the year before that it made a loss.
It had also talked about its turnaround efforts paying off and that it was seeing a “considerable improvement” in performance, with the John Lewis chain in particular expected to benefit from a buoyant second half.
Christian Dior Couture announced on Friday that Kim Jones, its Dior Homme artistic director, is leaving the post after seven years.
It’s been rumoured for some time that he would exit the label but it’s not yet known what his next step will be.
Jones has been widely praised for his work at Dior with his latest men’s collection shown this month being hailed as a success.
He’s been a key creative at LVMH having also designed its Fendi women’s collections. And he helmed Louis Vuitton’s menswear before he joined Dior.
The company said it “wishes to express its deepest gratitude” to the designer “who has accelerated the development of Men’s collections internationally and has greatly contributed to the worldwide influence of the House by creating an inspiring wardrobe that is both classic and contemporary, and connected to some artists of our time”.
And Delphine Arnault, who’s chairman and CEO of Christian Dior Couture,added: “I am extremely grateful for the remarkable work done by Kim Jones, his studio, and the ateliers. With all his talent and creativity, he has constantly reinterpreted the House’s heritage with genuine freedom of tone and surprising, highly desirable artistic collaborations.”
Jones meanwhile called it a “true honour to have been able to create my collections within the House of Dior, a symbol of absolute excellence. I express my deep gratitude to my studio and the ateliers who have accompanied me on this wonderful journey. They have brought my creations to life. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the artists and friends I have met through my collaborations. Lastly, I feel sincere gratitude towards Bernard and Delphine Arnault, who have given me their full support.”