The story this week: A deep-dive into the results of four big consumer companies and what they tell us about the modern British economy and consumers
How do you judge the success of a new shop?
Sales, surely - how many customers it attracts and how much they spend.
That used to be the case at Next, Britain’s biggest clothing retailer.
Not anymore.
Next opened 15 new shops in the last year and they have missed their sales target. It wasn’t that close either. Total sales from the shops were 12 per cent below the target. 13 of the 15 missed their individual target.
Yet Next has concluded that these shops were a success.
Next is one of the smartest and best-performing businesses in Britain, so what’s going on here?
Welcome to the new rules of British business. Britain used to be a growth economy, now it is an extraction economy. It is where businesses get what they can. Success isn’t about finding new customers, it is about getting more out of the ones you already have.
