Friday, November 22, 2024

How ‘boring’ Next took over the British high street – and its new big fashion move

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“We have a high proportion of customers actively shopping and seeking out premium products,” explains Taylor. “The logical next step was to serve those customers even better.” So if you want a pair of Citizens of Humanity jeans or an APC handbag tomorrow but you live in the wilds of Scotland, you can still have it – as long as you order by 10pm. And if it doesn’t fit, there’s the home collection returns service, or the 500 existing returns points around the country.

Will it work? Well, there’s no doubt that Next has already nailed the online market, with 6.3 million customers, and about two-thirds of its sales made online. “When it comes to distribution, they really are best in class for the business,” says one business industry insider. That early investment in mail order infrastructure – warehousing, distribution and logistics – puts Next miles ahead of its competitors. When high-street shopping started moving online, and in today’s instant gratification consumer market, the ability to get something quickly and be able to take it back easily if it doesn’t work is worth far more to its customers than being at the front of the fashion pack.

In a world of online overwhelm, meanwhile, there is also potential value in a relatively tight edit of pieces. The Seasons offering follows the general Next model – not too directional; things that will show you’re fashion conscious rather than a fashion victim and that you can wear for several years running – but without the sheer volume of the main site, which can feel a bit too much when a search for a jumper throws up multiple pages of offerings.

Here, by contrast, there’s a 25-piece edit of Ganni items: you can buy one of the brand’s classic leopard-print dresses for £235 or keep it simple with a £115 T-shirt. The pieces aren’t bonkers money, but are reassuringly expensive: a black puff-sleeved midi dress by Scandinavian brand Rotate for £305; a rust brown Barbour x Alexa Chung padded jacket for £199. It’s the sort of stuff that The Telegraph’s men’s style editor Stephen Doig says his Scotland-based, Next-loving sister would love. “She’ll buy ‘fashion’ pieces from Harvey Nichols Edinburgh and has the Chanel bag and the Prada shoes, but for everyday pieces she relies on Next, for ease of delivery and for basics that she knows work,” he says. “Plus she likes the fact that there are lots of brands on there under one roof, with delivery that she can rely on.”

A ripe target for Seasons, then – and one more player in Next’s quest to take over the high street.

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