Next plc is a British clothes retailer, with its headquarters in Enderby, Leicester. It is one of the United Kingdom's largest clothing retailers, number three behind Marks & Spencer and Philip Green's retail empire of Bhs and Arcadia Group. The company, which has employed some of the biggest names in the fashion world including Alessandra Ambrosio, Noémie Lenoir, Yasmin Le Bon, Gabriel Aubry and Paul Sculfor, has over 400 stores throughout the UK and the Republic of Ireland, and 50 franchise branches in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. These are located at a mixture of high streets, shopping centres and retail parks.

History

The Company was founded in 1864 in Leeds as a tailor under the name of J Hepworth & Son. The Company was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1948.

In 1982 the Company bought Kendall & Sons Ltd, a Leicester based rainwear and ladies fashion company from Combined English Stores, to redevelop their stores as a womenswear chain of shops. Terence Conran, the designer, was Chairman of Hepworth's at this time and he recruited George Davies to create the unique NEXT concept using the Kendalls shops. The first stores were opened on 12 February 1982, and by 1983 all 80 of Kendall's stores had been converted by Davies to the NEXT brand.

In 1984, Davies became the Chief Executive of the group and launched Next for Men. In 1985 the Company began to develop mini department stores selling women's, men's and children's clothes as well as Next Interiors all under one roof. In 1986 the name of the Company was changed to Next plc, the Company moved its head office from Leeds to Leicester and the catalogue company Grattan was acquired. The Company acquired Combined English Stores in 1987. In 1988 Davies then launched the up-market NEXT directory.

In December 1988, Davies left the Company to work for Asda. Grattans was sold to Otto Versand in 1991.

Operations

Next sells around 21% of its merchandise through the Next Directory, a home shopping catalogue launched in 1988. All Next stores only sell their own brand label although recently some small scale branded products have been seen such as trainers from Gola and Morphy Richards electrical goods. More recently the company has begun to tap into the growing market for trendy men's underwear by stocking the latest styles of Calvin Klein underwear. The Next Directory now sells a large variety of electrical goods both through the catalogue and online in addition to a new 'brands' section. The Next website has recently seen the addition of a large brand section with names such as Firetrap, Levi's and Rock and Republic. Currently the largest branch of Next is the branch in the Manchester Arndale Centre that opened in October 2005. Next's biggest store in the Republic of Ireland is located at the Liffey Valley Shopping Centre in Clondalkin in County Dublin: the store opened in 2004.

Next produces an internal magazine called 'The Faith Restorer.' This includes reports on new store openings, recent events (such as staff parties or news on advertising campaigns), contributions provided by stores, good customer service and the famous 'What not to say' column that reports on recent complaints and advises employees on how to avoid them in the future.

Logos and Marketing

Until circa 1991 Next used a lower case Courier-style typeface in black against a white background for its logo. This was replaced by the capitalised NEXT logo in a Roman-serif style type face that is still widely used in stores and corporate marketing. There have been some variations of this such as the logo with each letter of NEXT in an individual square and in some stores in 2005/6 had the Next logo in a varying blue & black bacground with "X's" printed on them, as opposed to the black background. In addition, some variations in typeface occurred during the logo's use - including similar fonts that had serifs positioned obove the "T" crossbar, similar to Garamond and others that had more in common with Times New Roman.

As of 2007 a brand new next logo has been introduced, although the previous logo in use since 1991 continues to be used throughout marketing, directories, carrier bags and coat hangers for now until all consumables that carry the old design have been exhausted. Most of these have now gone and very rarely will you see them in shops.

For a long period in recent years Next has marketed only to advertise an impending sale usually through brief television spots and newspaper advertising and in and out of stores. However recently billboard advertising featuring Alessandra Ambrosio and later in 2007 Yasmin Le Bon have advertised the stores womenswear.

In September 2007, to celebrate its 25th anniversary, Next launched its first television campaign in 12 years named 'Ali's Party' with the song 'Suddenly I See'. It stars Brazilian supermodel Alessandra Ambrosio. The campaign is aimed towards young working women. All extra casts are Next employees, otherwise nicknamed 'nextras'. A second advert, also featuring Ambrosio, was screened during November 2007. Throughout the period when the adverts were being aired the songs were regularly played instore. The third advert in the series has been filmed in Brazil and again features Alessandra Ambrosio and Paul Sculfor. The song used in the latest advertisement for Autumn/Winter 2008 is ][she's so lovely]] by scouting for girls

Other businesses

Next also own the following businesses:

• Next Clearance which sell previous seasons stock at a lower price than the core Next stores.
• Lime which sells cheaper priced stock. The first branches opened in Derby, Nottingham, Newbury, Glasgow, Douglas in the Isle of Man, Wigan and Llandudno in 2006. In November 2007 Lime opened in the MetroCentre, Gateshead. The Lime stores replace existing Next outlets which have since moved to larger premises nearby. Lime-branded items are also now stocked at larger Next Clearance stores. Lime was setup primarily as competition for low cost competitors such as Primark, Peacocks, Matalan and the clothing operations of supermarkets such as Tesco, ASDA and Sainsbury's. The Lime brand was discontinued in early 2008. Stores with long leases are being converted in temporary childrenswear or home stores. For example, the Lime Store in the MetroCentre, Gateshead is opening as childrenswear store. All Lime stores have now closed, the last one was on the Isle of Man.
• Ventura which is a call centre operator.
• Next Sourcing which sources products.
• www.branddirectory.co.uk which sells top name brands aimed at fashionable youths.

Stores

Next have 448 stores located around the world. They are in locations such as the United Kingdom, Denmark,Iceland and Ireland as well as in other parts of the world such as Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Ras al Khaimah, India, Pakistan and Hong Kong. The stores range in size and goods. While most stores feature mainly fashion, some also include homewares and furniture as well, classing the store as a department store.

Franchise

All non UK and Ireland stores with the exception of Copenhagen, Denmark are franchises. One of the largest franchises is in Japan, operated by Xebio. There are currently 27 stores in Japan.

Next Sales

Next discount sales are very popular events usually occurring four times a year, two at the end of seasons and two mid-season. Queuing for the sales starts early with people arriving at times as early as 2 am to wait for the store to open at 5 am.

References

External links

• Next's main website
• Lime official website
• Next's corporate website
• Yahoo Finance profile
• Business analysis and history
• Xebio's Next website