Shoppers’ ‘buy now, wear now mentality’ lands UK’s New Look in the doldrums
New Look Retail, majority owned by SA’s Brait, added to the gloom among Britain’s clothing retailers. It reported a full-year loss and warned of challenging times ahead as online competition increased and shoppers sought instant gratification. The pretax loss was £16.6m for the year to March 25, the South African-controlled company said in a statement on Tuesday. Sales fell 2.4% to £1.45bn, while the New Look brand’s like-for-like revenue declined 6.6%. New Look, which operates 872 stores selling fashion mainly for women and teenage girls, joins other UK apparel sellers such as Next and Marks & Spencer in the retail doldrums. The chain said shoppers are growing ever more trend-conscious and harder to please. "The retail environment is now more competitive than ever," CEO Anders Kristiansen said. "We have seen a growing shift in customer mindset during the year to a ‘buy now, wear now’ mentality, which challenges us to be even faster in identifying and responding to trends, buying wi...
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