The unexpected Indian Summer of the past week saw glorious weather in the UK, with temperatures rocketing beyond those in Africa over the weekend. The earliest warnings of the Autumn swelter appeared in UK press the previous weekend; but did retailers act speedily enough to cash in? Or were they so caught up in pushing new season product that they missed the opportunity to clear their summer sale stock?
From the extensive database of brands that we monitor with our Visual Merchandising tool, we found just five retailers who reacted in time, with either homepage updates or tailored newsletters.
The VM champions
Warehouse
Newsletter
‘Summers Back’ themed newsletter went out on the 28th Sept, pushing a selection of sale stock with editorial tailored to suit.
Jigsaw
Homepage
Free postage and packaging over the weekend for those ‘Too hot to shop’. Whilst the homepage image still reflects AW11/12 stock, the update is prominent.
Lands End
Newsletter
‘Hello Summer’ £10 discount for orders placed on the day launched through newlsetter on 29th Sept. Homepage remained the same throughout the period.
Net-a-porter
Homepage
A specially tailored edit of Indian Summer stock went live on 30th Sept. It featured on the homepage but with its own subsection on the site.
With online offering such a vast platform for sales, brands need more than ever to be on top of their Visual Merchandising. Both Warehouse and Net-a-Porter excelled in this with specially pulled together edits to suit the weather. Flexibility and spontaneity are key in order to capitalise on demand. With weather like Hurricane Ophelia heading for our shores, let’s see who gets the waterproofs ready…
Katie Smith
