Brown Group Share Price (BWNG)

Step 5 - Flexible credit to help customers shop

Our credit proposition is a key differentiator. It enables us to provide convenient financial services to customers, while using data to provide personalised and targeted offers to our customers. Our credit customers are also loyal to N Brown and have improved purchasing power, helping to drive demand for our products.

We will be resolutely focused on continuing to provide convenient Financial Services to our core customers, delivering ongoing improvements to customer outcomes and, at the same time, continuing to improve the quality of the debtor book. As the refined brand propositions attract a broader and more affluent section of the market, we will develop new financial products that are familiar to these customers and drive higher volumes of full price incremental retail sales. The new Financial Services platform will support the delivery of these new credit options.

We will also enhance our use of data sources and analytical tools & techniques to improve our lending proposition. Our partnership with Aire Labs is already driving incremental improvement and we see further opportunities in this area.

Finally, flexible credit is a key enabler of the new Home proposition which will allow us to compete within the market by ensuring the relevancy and appeal of our Home products.

Step 4 - Enhanced digital experience to increase customer conversion

We will invest to support our strategic priorities, improving our digital capabilities and ultimately improving the customer experience. Through FY20, we substantially changed how we delivered technology projects, moving away from largescale, waterfall delivery to a more agile methodology focused on driving frequent, incremental value gains. Working under this methodology has already delivered a new Home Essentials trading website, Android & iOS apps for JD Williams, Simply Be, Jacamo, Ambrose Wilson and Home Essentials and Artificial Intelligence enabled search.

For the next two financial years we will focus on progressing N Brown with a "digital first" mentality. Our investment will be focused on new front-end websites, providing significant benefit to the customer experience, and improving site speed to drive performance of organic search. In addition, we will invest in a new Financial Services platform to support new credit products.

Step 3 - New Home offering for customers to shop more across categories

Previously our Home proposition extended across our apparel brands with no consistent, curated offer. The separation of our Home offering from our apparel brand sites represents a significant market opportunity for the Group, enabling cross sell into our existing apparel-focused customer base and attracting new customers.

Our new Home Essentials trading website launched on April 1st and is a standalone home brand targeting young families who are balancing their budgets. The brand focuses on soft furnishings, helping customers "dress their home," while still providing access to larger items and white goods.

The Home Essentials launch was timely, coming just one week after commencement of the "UK lockdown". The launch had an immediate impact on the Group's Home sales and the strength of demand has subsequently been sustained, demonstrating the exciting opportunity that this presents for the Group.

Step 2 - Improved product to drive customer frequency

Refining and improving our product offering is key to driving our new brand propositions, encouraging customer loyalty and frequency. We will focus on three key areas.

· We will improve our product 'handwriting' through clearly defined designs for each brand, investing in fabric, quality and consistency of fit. Our focus will be on delivering trends for customers at the right time in the right way. This will result in a better product, which is more relevant to customers, thereby driving loyalty.

· Secondly, we will renew our 'good / better / best' product architecture. This will be done through increasing the importance in our 'own designed' ranges in Womenswear, Menswear and Home, better curation of branded products and a well-defined and responsive pricing strategy. These initiatives will help to drive increased order frequency and customer loyalty.

· Finally, we will continue to focus on ethical and sustainable sourcing, ensuring a consistent and consolidated supply base. Our proactive approach has resulted in a 50% supplier reduction in the last 18 months and we will increase the mix of UK and European sourcing to increase flexibility and speed to market. We also have a clearly defined roadmap to deliver enhanced level of sustainability. By evolving our sourcing model, we will be able to respond with increasing flexibility to shifting customer demands, while reducing our lead times.

3. New Home offering for customers to shop more across categories

Previously our Home proposition extended across our apparel brands with no consistent, curated offer. The separation of our Home offering from our apparel brand sites represents a significant market opportunity for the Group, enabling cross sell into our existing apparel-focused customer base and attracting new customers.

Our new Home Essentials trading website launched on April 1st and is a standalone home brand targeting young families who are balancing their budgets. The brand focuses on soft furnishings, helping customers "dress their home," while still providing access to larger items and white goods.

The Home Essentials launch was timely, coming just one week after commencement of the "UK lockdown". The launch had an immediate impact on the Group's Home sales and the strength of demand has subsequently been sustained, demonstrating the exciting opportunity that this presents for the Group.

All taken from results but it always amazes me how many pi,s fail to read results in detail...

Step 1 - Distinct brands to attract broader range of customers

We undertook a thorough review of the markets in which we operate, which highlighted that we are serving a specific set of customers well but that we need to extend our reach to a broader set of customers to drive growth. Doing this requires a portfolio of brands with clearer, more focused propositions. Therefore, from this financial year we will simplify our portfolio to four apparel brands, supplemented with one standalone home brand. Our clear brand proposition will standout against the market and each other. The brand architecture and target customer segments are as follows:

· Simply Be - an online fashion & beauty brand for plus size women, targeting plus size women aged 25-45.

· Jacamo - an online fashion & grooming brand for plus size men, targeting plus size man aged 25-50.

· JD Williams - an online boutique experience showcasing fashion and home product for 45-65 year old women.

· Ambrose Wilson - a womenswear fashion led brand supported by home, available on and offline that truly values the mature customer.

· Home Essentials - a standalone one stop home brand focused on modern homeware and enabled by a credit offering. The target customer will be families with children at home.

Our other brands will either be folded into our main brands or closed down. As we execute our plan, we will be focused on protecting our loyal and valuable customers to ensure that they continue to receive the product they want and the customer service they have come to expect. This refined brand strategy ensures that our brands have a clear proposition, appealing to distinct customers segments in order to return N Brown to growth.