Asos close to launching Click & Collect in Boots' stores

Customers of online fashion retailer Asos will soon be able to collect their orders from Boots stores. The pure play merchant has recognised the massive demand from consumers to buy online and then collect in-store.

Soon to be a pick-up point for Asos 

Boots represents a non-competing retailer with an attractive national store coverage that would be powerful to Asos. The company had also been in talks with Argos but this led to nothing as management at the fashion chain did not see much correlation between the two brands.

Boots is a very different proposition because it has a very broad mix of customers including the younger audience that makes up Asos' core shoppers. The reason Boots is keen for a tie-up is that it would drive extra footfall. Its Advantage loyalty card has shown it that customers who use its existing Click & Collect service ultimately make additional purchases when they come to pick up their orders.

For Asos to have a click and collect service up and running before rival Arcadia (with its countrywide stores base) will be a massive indictment of the Sir Philip Green-owned retailer. Multi-channel retailing is here to stay and it is strange that a pure-play retailer has spotted this before a stores-based merchant and taken the necessary action.

Clone Towns part 2 - the least boring shopping areas outside London

Shopping malls are largely given a bad mainstream press because the perception is that they all house the same old stores and besides providing a place to shelter from the rain are believed to offer little else to the shopper.

We may have to think again if the research from retail location specialists CACI is true. In their recent Clone Towns research they sought to find the locations with the worst and best mix of stores - based on the level of large multiple operators present.

It turns out that some of the least cloned shopping areas outside of London are the malls. (See earlier Retailinsider.com post for the results that include London). In fact, three out of the top 10 areas from the research turned out to be shopping malls.

Top 10 Least Cloned Retail Footprints Outside London
1. Bluewater
2. Trafford Centre
3. Cambridge
4. Bath
5. Brighton
6. Manchester
7. Meadowhall
8. Edinburgh
9. Nottingham
10. Guildford

There's no doubt that much work has been done by developers (especially Westfield) to create a more interesting environment that comprises a mix of independent retailers and more leisure/food operators.

Whether the inclusion of more of the former is down to a decision made on a new holistic approach or is a result of desperation by developers to fill empty units (who've therefore relaxed their covenant requirements) we'll all have our own views on that one no doubt.

The difference between Tesco and RBS

An interesting little insight into Tesco and Sir Terry Leahy came out of this week's Retail Bulletin Loyalty Conference. Steve Gray, former MD at dunnhumby and now chairman of Emnos, recalled the time in 2004 when dunnhumby client US-based Kroger was looking to do a banking joint-venture with RBS.

Sir Terry: Top of the pile

Such a deal would have emulated the j-v that Tesco had put in place with RBS and during this time RBS chief Sir Fred Goodwin (I think he is still a 'Sir') was asked what he thought of Leahy. His response says a lot about the respective individuals and also helps explain a litte about how their companies have ultimately ended up where they have. "Terry is a terrific guy but he really does believe all that customer shit," said Goodwin.

Who cares what t-shirts the Scots wear.

What to make of all this fuss around the sale of anti-English World Cup merchandise. It seems the Scots have been entertaining themselves by buying t-shirts with 'Anyone But England' emblazoned across them.

The offending t-shirt: would look quite stylish on a Scot 

Well they need something to do in addition to twiddling their thumbs because their team yet again failed to quality for the finals. Apparently these t-shirts have been selling in their thousands and the situation has even reached the point where the Police have been called in to investigate whether selling such merchandise is an act of racism.

HMV has been among the retailers defending themselves and been forced to take them out of stores in Scotland. It's a shame they've been pushed into this position because as an Englishmen I couldn't care less whether they sell such clothing. I couldn't actually care what the Scots do during the World Cup.

This is because the t-shirts highlight the fact that whereas they seem to be obsessed about England, we're completely indifferent to what they do. Let them do what they like and see if we care. 

Is that racist?

High streets are boring shoppers

To state the blindingly obvious - high streets are having a tough time. Many retailers blame landlords and they are largely right. The greedy men in suits simply charge too much rent.

Where this has really been felt is with smaller independent retailers. Not only have they had difficulty coming up with the high rentals demanded - compared with the deep-pocketed big boys - but they have also lost out through having unattractive covenants.

Interesting high street: I don't know where it is but we need more.

The result of this scenario is a combination of growing numbers of empty units and increasingly boring high streets littered with the same well-known retail names. We are talking about identikit high streets where you can only find the likes of: Vodafone, WH Smith, Curry's, Carphone Warehouse, Tesco, Phones 4u, Sainsbury's and O2.

Do we need another bland, blurred Vodafone store?

In this age of the internet, consumers increasingly want an interesting experience when they venture out shopping. So which high streets should shoppers avoid like the plague because the store selection is mind-numbingly boring.

Our friends at retail location specialists CACI have used their extensive knowledge to create two very interesting tables to show shoppers where to go and where not to go:

AVOID - Top 10 Most cloned retail footprint centres
1. Barry
2. Didcot
3. Southampton - Shirley
4. Goole
5. Chorley
6. Pontefract
7. Havant
8. Felixstowe
9. Leek
10. Leighton Buzzard

RECOMMENDED - Top 10 Least cloned retail footprint centres
1. Brompton Road - London
2. Westbourne Grove - London
3. Knightsbridge - London
4. Shoreditch - London
5. Commercial Road - London
6. Covent Garden - London
7. Wimbledon Village
8. Westfield London
9. King's Road - London
10. Bluewater

The obvious solution to shoppers' woes is to live in London. The rentals might be the highest in the country but there are enough landlords sufficiently enlightened to let in smaller independent retailers who have helped create many interesting shopping areas that consumers actually want to visit.

The equally obvious answer to the problem is for councils, local authorities and landlords to simply get their acts together before they kill the high street and bore shoppers to death.

When will the City get Asos?

Continuing to misvalue online fashion retailer Asos seems to be one of the consistencies in the City, with retail analysts perenially underestimating its growth prospects.

Last week's results - for the year to March 31 - were a typical example. There was much talk ahead of the results about Asos needing to deliver strong numbers to justify its high rating and that the potential therefore was for some weakness in the share price. 

Post the results (that showed a 44% increase in pre-tax profits) the analysts scrambled to upgrade their forecasts while the shares rocketed ahead by almost 100p to 725p. This scenario seems to be repeated almost every quarter when Asos throws numbers to the City.

I can recall a conversation with Asos chief executive Nick Robertson in November 2008 when he seemed convinced the City was getting its valuations a tad wrong. The shares were then 240p and are now over 750p so maybe he had a point.

Not available on Asos - yet.

Asos has certainly over-delivered on its numbers between then and now and until the City gets its head around the fact Asos is a very different beast to traditional retailers then it will continue to do so. Derek Lovelock, chairman of Aurora Fashions, seems to understand and when I put words in his mouth suggesting that the City had got Asos wrong he didn't disagree.

At the recent BRC Annual Retail Conference he pointed out that fashion shoppers now typically visit Asos to do their research and to see what is happening in fashion-land on its 'what's new' page. They then peel off to go to their favoured brands. Whether this means they then buy on the Asos site or go to the Oasis or Coast websites, Lovelock didn't mind.

This sort of recognition that Asos is playing a key role in the new world of fashion retailing might be finally filtering through to the City judging by the recent note from Goldman Sachs that put a price target of £12.80 on Asos.

Planting the flag in the ground so far ahead of the underlying share price mirrors the dotcom boom but on past form Goldman Sachs will probably be more right than the rest of the cautious City pack.

Cause of Richard Brasher's downfall

Tesco commercial director Richard Brasher's failure to secure the
chief executive role at Tesco has been revealed at the BRC Annual
Retail Conference this week.

In his earlier years at the company he was sent out to manage a store.
He got it badly wrong over Christmas and was running a store with very
little stock and lots of empty shelves.

He remembers it as being like Zulu Dawn where shoppers "just kept on
coming". So bad did it get that one shopper asked him: "Why are you
even open?"

His response: "Good question madam." So it would seem Brasher's card
had been marked many years ago. Philip Clarke's elevation to the CEO
role at Tesco looked like a certainty many years ago.

Netto's owners never really understood UK market

Asda might have paid a high price for the Netto supermarket chain but the expectation is that it will squeeze significantly greater revenues and profits from the business than its Danish owners.

It intends to attract more people doing their full weekly shops through increasing the SKU count and boosting the fresh food offer. It will also introduce a greater food-to-go type proposition, and improve general service levels - by doubling in-store staff numbers.

Netto: No wonder it's been a dog in the UK; the basket's empty

Ironically such a conversion of the stores to what are effectively scaled-down full-service supermarkets is exactly what former Netto UK managing director Richard Lancaster was pursuing before he resigned from the business in late 2008. Netto's owners were understood to be not fully convinced of such a strategy.

It seems rather strange that Asda and its supportive parent Wal-mart think such a move is a great opportunity (and are willing to pay £778 million for the privilege of delivering on it) whereas Netto's owners appear to have thought otherwise. I know who I'd side with on this disagreement.

What it highlights is that even after 20 years the Danes were still unwilling to accept that food retailing in the UK was not like that of the rest of Europe.

Insufficient support and backing to the changes implemented by Lancaster made it difficult for him to deliver on his strategy and investments made by him weren't given time to bed down and bring in returns. He therefore had to go - chiefly out of frustration. (He joined Morrison's)

Ever so slightly bigger than the average Netto store.

Netto's owners' strategy since his departure has been to cut costs and return the chain to its rock bottom cut-price roots. The very strategy that had arguably delivered little over two decades of effort. In contrast, Aldi and Lidl had made much more headway.

The sale to Asda could be the purest form of admitting (finally) that they didn't really know the UK market and that Lancaster was probably right all along. But then, judging by what I've heard, maybe not.

Where are all the women?

We all know that women holding senior positions in the retail sector are an extremely rare breed. But the reality is that the retail industry is hardly unusual in having its most powerful roles held predominantly by men. This is a universal scenario that is common to all sectors.

This poor situation was brought home to me during the past couple of weeks when I saw two surveys completed in random trade magazines. The first was Restaurant magazine that held its annual and widely publicised 'World's 50 Best Restaurants' survey.

The big surprise was that a Danish restaurant Noma came top, while the least surprising aspect was that only two of these top 50 restaurants have female head chefs running the show.

But where are all the women?

The second example of women being in the back seat came with the publication in Mobile magazine of the 'Mobile Power 50'. In this illustrious list of the UK mobile industry's big hitters the grand total of women is, wait for it, one. This is Sally Cowdry at O2 and surprise, surprise she occupies the female-friendly role of marketing director.

These are just two examples of industry surveys and there are many more published each year across a plethora of sectors. And the only consistent factor in all of them is that women are merely bit-part players.

Does Ocado really need eight banks advising on its flotation?

Home delivery company Ocado is taking no chances in being short of advice for its float as five more banking names signed on the dotted line to receive fees if the company does actually float (Retail Week, June 1).

It seems staggering that a business looking to raise a modest £150 million (against an admittedly outlandish valuation of £1 billion) should feel the need to appoint the services of Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group, HSBC, Numis and Jefferies. This comes on top of its existing advisor arrangement with Goldman Sachs, UBS and JP Morgan Cazenove.

Lunch is over, now get on with your work and take that hat off

It is surely beyond belief that they all have something different to offer on the advice front. So maybe the thinking from Ocado management is that if it can 'sell' the flotation idea to enough banks, who then buy enough shares, they can maybe manage to get the float away at the fanciful £1 billlion level.

The recent signing of a new 10-year partnership deal with Waitrose to continue to supply it with products was a welcome bit of news for Ocado and did undoubtedly remove one of the major obstacles to its stock market listing. But this is not enough to ensure the company successfully floats by the now mooted July at its chunky hoped-for price.