The boss of premium department store chain Fenwick is working to make his stores luxury experiences for customers despite the company making a loss in the tough retail climate.
Fenwick has struggled to come to grips with the changing retail environment, which has led to sales in its stores falling from 拢411m to 拢355m for the year ending January 25.
According to CEO Robbie Feather, the drop in sales was caused by customers preferring to shop online. This has hit the firm hard in the past as until recently Fenwick did not operate an online store.
Last year the company embarked on a three-year transformation plan that aims to bring the company up-to-date with an all new sales website, as well as learning from the past by introducing new experiences in store. The changes are underway, with the company鈥檚 website going live in April.
Mr Feather said: 鈥淲e have great content on the website and we are very excited about that. Customers are giving us positive feedback on being online.
鈥淏ecause we are late to the party our website now talks to our store system so customer come online to check if something is available in store.鈥
Fenwick operates nine stores across the 海角视频, with each shop selling different ranges of products. The addition of the website means that the retailer is now able to sell these brands to new customers located in different areas, though the website launch came after the end of Fenwick鈥檚 financial year so failed to improve sales figures.
Before taking into account exceptional items and the value of the company鈥檚 properties, Fenwick made and operating loss of 拢17.3m. This compares with a profit figure of 拢6.5m during the previous year.
But after taking in these other costs Fenwick鈥檚 ultimate loss after tax came in at 拢42.2m.
The company was hit by exceptional costs of 拢16.4m last year, which was largely attributed to its investment in IT system and website, as well as redundancy costs. The company made around 400 people redundant last year after it introduced plans to centralise much of its business operations.
The accounts also suffered from a 拢3.15m cost relating to a fall in the value of its stores, thought was slightly offset by an increase in the value of its investment properties, which grew by 拢25m.
Mr Feather explained that he expected the company to make a loss while it worked through its three-year transformation plans but was still wants to invest in the company鈥檚 stores, creating experiences that people will travel to enjoy.
He pointed to the food hall in Newcastle as an example, saying: 鈥淪trategically I don鈥檛 want to put in other people鈥檚 brands, I want to have our own experiences.
鈥淭hat puts us back to what department stores were originally. They were unique, there were things of awe and wonder and the main attraction in the city. We are going back to the future and we need to go our own way, as we have proved in Newcastle with the food hall.鈥
He added: 鈥淚t is not about bringing in other people鈥檚 high street experiences, we want to build on what we have created in the food hall. We are trialing a new restaurant concept on Bond Street that will open at the of October and we will hopefully bring that to Newcastle as well.
鈥淚t鈥檚 called the Brook Street Caf茅. It is a new restaurant and a new creation. It has been created by our Newcastle team and Rhys McKinnell (Fenwick鈥檚 director of restaurants). We have Newcastle teaching Bond Street how to do restaurants.鈥
