Member Info for Okehurst1

Stepped up the marketing on the East Coast

https://www.instagram.com/stories/prettylittlething/3196900640517715397/

Since July 2021 to now …

Alshaya Group and Boo have expanded, the average store size is 55,000 sq/ft although Dubia is the biggest at 120,000 sq/ft

Give or take they now have almost 1,275,000 sq/ft across MENA region

I would argue Debenhams is looking extremely interesting in its own right

Guess we can see why MA bought in for many reasons

# homeware

Kuwait, Saudi , UAE, Bahrain, Egypt, Oman and Qatar to name a few, selling a wide range of goods from clothing, Beauty products , homeward and electrical’s

So this how Boo have done it … they have leveraged their relationship with Alshya Group and put the same products in Debenhams online in U.K.

It’s capital lite … such a smart move no wonder the CFO said he loves a market place

Boo have been quiet on this one but look at the website - Debenhams Middle East and you can see how this is coming together

So when Boo bought the Debenhams brand / website and rights in 2021 it looked expensive but it came with a license to Alshaya Group signed in 1977 to operate Debenhams stores in MENA - Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa region

They now have 23 stores in MENA plus the online franchise

The Dubia Mall hosts the largest being 120,000 sq/ft it’s on the first floor of the Mall next to Fashion Avenue

Its pretty impressive what Boo are doing with Debenhams be that online and via their franchise model incorporating wholesale market platform

Hi PDS

Page 11

franchise, wholesale and licensing

We have created a new department, led by an Overseas Director, dedicated to Franchising, Licensing and Wholesale in regions where we have not been successful reaching customers through our own websites. These regions include India, the Americas, Indonesia, Japan and South Korea.

There is little to report at this stage other than we expect to develop a number of important relationships over the next twelve months, with a wholesale trial underway with one major overseas department store operator. The Overseas Director will also take responsibility for maximising the overseas potential of our other wholly-owned brands (Lipsy, Love & Roses, Friends Like These) and licences (Cath Kidston, MADE etc.)

Read across to the analyst meeting / notes posted earlier re Debenhams market place

Boo are on the money , Middle East / USA

Growing via franchise / Capex lite

Page 10 graph

On price inflation

2021 to est 2024

It’s a heavy read - 82 pages

Page 6

Worth a look at the bar chart

Page 5

‘A LOOK AT WHAT WE SAID IN MARCH, AND HOW IT’S GOING

WHAT WE SAID IN MARCH...

Our Year End Report in March finished on a note that was more upbeat than the prevailing mood. Our prognosis was that although we faced short term challenges, the Company could see more new long term opportunities than we had for many years.

Short term challenges

Two challenges were set to hamper the current year: (1) slowing sales, hindered by the rising prices of our goods, and a more general squeeze on consumers; coupled with (2) unavoidable inflation in our cost base. At that time, we expected full year full price sales to be down -1.5% and profits to be £795m, down -8.7% on the previous year.

Longer term opportunities

In contrast, the longer term outlook for the Group looked more positive than it had for many years. The uncomfortable transition of sales from Retail to Online appears to have slowed to a more manageable level, not least because less than 35% of our sales are now in shops. Alongside this change, Retail property costs have dropped to levels more in line with current trading volumes.

Meanwhile, there appeared to be promising new growth opportunities for the Group. These included: (1) Total Platform's ability to enhance service levels while lowering costs for companies in which we may invest; (2) the potential for the NEXT brand to extend its reach overseas; and (3) the development of new product offers through the creation of new brands and licensing opportunities.

Priorities for the current year

In March we set out our priorities as follows:

● Improve our product ranges to drive sales

● Improve our Online service

● Manage our costs

● Lay the foundations for future growth through the development of three new and developing

business streams (Total Platform, NEXT Overseas and product ranges beyond the NEXT brand) ...AND HOW IT’S GOING

In short, so far, we have made good progress on all four fronts. Sales are better than expected; Online service has significantly improved; costs are lower than expected and, although it is early days, and there have been bumps along the road, all three streams of new business are showing signs of promise. Overseas, in particular, has taken a big step forward in the second quarter. The following sections focus on our four priorities and outline what we have achieved in the first half and our plans for the rest of the year.

Worth a read of Next results

Look at the opening paragraphs/ statement below

CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S REVIEW

WHAT’S THE POINT?

This is a long report. Some might ask why we publish such detailed reports. Others might think we are too open, and give away too much about our plans. Our answer is simple: this report is written as much for ourselves as it is for our investors. That means:

● If we are open about performance to the outside world, we are more likely to be honest with ourselves: to expose the cracks and faults - the areas that have not done as well as we would have liked, or made the returns we expected. A plan that is presented to outsiders as perfect, is less likely to be improved.

● If we are open about our plans for the future, where we are going and how we are adapting our ideas as they evolve, then colleagues are more likely to understand how their decisions and actions contribute to the collective endeavour. In a business where execution is ninety percent of the battle, that makes all the difference. We would rather competitors see every element of our plan, than colleagues misunderstand one part of it.

● Finally, exposing our plans and performance to the outside world brings the advantage of the criticism, discussion and scepticism of those who do not work for the Group. Often a little uncomfortable, this feedback, if constructive, is very helpful. It is all too easy for those ‘on the inside’ to fall in love with the plan, the occasional reality check does no harm.

But the report is long. The guide below gives readers a quick view of the contents to help them pick the parts that matter to them. Colleagues and those wanting a less detailed view should read the Headlines and Big Picture.

Last one on Debenhams - may have posted last week but reinforces their strategy

Presenter Speech

John Lyttle (Executives

‘Moving on to Debenhams, our digital marketplace. Our strategy is to add more partners, more brands and more products and through this, to grow our customer numbers. You can see in the table the rapid progress we have made in growing our customer base. The number of brands available for consumers and the impressive number of products available across fashion, beauty and home. Looking forward, we want to accelerate Debenhams, focusing on premiumization, turbocharging our marketplace and accelerating beauty.

This will allow us to capitalize on Debenham's huge brand awareness and significantly scale its capital-light stockless model, which at scale, can deliver superior margins.

Our partnership strategy is focused on working with partners that can extend our global reach through their direct-to-consumer platforms and help raise our brand's awareness in a manner that offers complementary and incremental revenues in a low-risk way. In turn, our wholesale partners get access to our fashion, our newness and our short lead time model. Our sales portal allows them to select from the same ranges that our teams are buying and benefit from the group's buying scale.

We have today a large wholesale footprint around the world with 5 key partners as outlined on this slide. Looking ahead, we are working on partnership opportunities across new regions to continue to expand this offering, elevating our brand's presence across existing and exciting new markets.

So to summarize, we are focused on a leaner, lighter and faster model’

Obvs make your own mind up but looking at what they are telling the analysts and from what we can see from their marketing it appears they focusing their serious marketing $$ on what they may see as their premium brands / margin and as such a better return on high end marketing

PLT, Karen Millen & Debenhams

Boo itself as a brand utilises their 18M App users and cheaper influencer channels

Presenter Speech

Shaun McCabe (Executives)

‘You'll find it no surprise to hear that marketing is absolutely vital to the success of our business, 10.8% of net sales in FY '23. And as we look out to the medium term, we will continue to invest in marketing to ensure that we continue to acquire customers and build excellent brand awareness across our U.K. and international markets.

Presenter Speech

John Lyttle (Executives)

At the end of the year, we had 18 million active customers and over 65 million followers globally across our brand's social channels. We work with high-profile celebrities on big name campaigns. And for example, in the last year, we have partnered with Kourtney Kardashian through boohoo, Liz Hurley through Karen Millen, Jayda Cheaves of PLT and Trippie Redd of boohooMAN, amongst many others.

We also work with hundreds of influencers who allow us to target huge audiences that are specific for our brands and geographies. The combined reach of influencers that our brands work with totaled in excess of 400 million. We recently launched on TikTok Shop, enabling followers to purchase directly through the platform. And we are focused on engaging our customer base across the platforms relevant to them as well as through our customer journey such as our apps to upgrade the shopping experience.

Question

Tony Shiret (Analysts)

And in terms of the 10.8% marketing spend, what would that figure look like for Debenhams?

Answer

John Lyttle (Executives)

We -- well, we don't break down our brands by marketing spend, but we have different spends depending on brand and depending on region in terms of this what I would say. So some of our more mature brands in the U.K. have got our lowest marketing spend as an example, and some of our newer brands have got higher percentages. And equally, if we go into the U.S. or go into Europe, the percentages tend to be a little bit higher. So clearly, we see the opportunity as well, I would say, in Debenhams, and we'll be making sure we get behind that opportunity.

Question

Tony Shiret (Analysts)

Tony Shiret from Panmure Gordon. A couple of things. First of all, Debenhams. You talked about turbocharging Debenhams and the slides got a few brands on it, quite a few brands admittedly, but doesn't really come across as very turbocharge. I just wondered if there's something else you're going to do. Is there going to be a sort of big marketing push on Debenhams at some point, refocusing more of the marketing on Debenhams to get behind

Answer

John Lyttle (Executives)

Yes. So in terms of Debenhams, look, we're in discussions with lots of other brands. And we're launching new brands on Debenhams every week is what I would say. We clearly have a lot to go in terms of brands that we want to attract and get on. And it's a slow process. But actually, if I think even in the next month, the number of new brands, well-known brands that you'd be very familiar with, that will have on board.

So we continue to push brands. Marketing spend continues to increase. Obviously, as we get more consumers and we get more brands and we look to attract more people. So we've got ambitious plans for Debenhams for this financial year. And obviously, that's going to be through more brands and further marketing spend in Debenhams.

Question

John Stevenson (Analysts)

John Stevenson of Peel Hunt. A couple of questions, please. First up, just on the U.S. launch. Can you touch on sort of plans for marketing and also plans for sort of local supply chain, I don't know how quickly we hope to start testing something a little closer to the U.S.?

And second question, just on Debenhams. If you can talk a little bit about how Debenhams performed last year and what you're looking to achieve coming to peak this year, whether that's in terms of number of brands or the profitability of the platform and sort of the progress that you think you can get to?

Answer

John Lyttle (Executives)

Yes. So if I kick off with the U.S. and local supply chain. So we're already active is what I would say, in the U.S.. So that's working with partners in the U.S. who may be making in China, Asia, in some countries, but importing directly in. And that's mostly in L.A. and in New York. We're looking at Mexico. We're looking at Central America, Guatemala in terms of what's coming through there. So we're active. We've already opened up. We're already working with suppliers in advance of that and ready for when our first brand PrettyLittleThing goes live sort of towards the end of summer. So all happening there. We've got actually our own team on the ground. We're beginning to build a team in Los Angeles. So that's all progressing really, really well.

And in terms of U.S. marketing plans, clearly, we want consumers to know that you can now get a parcel within 3 days, and in some cases, next day. So we'll be actively communicating that. We have some events planned as we go into September, October, particularly on PrettyLittleThing to really begin to build that brand awareness again.

I'll hold back on those plans for the moment, just sort of we kind of give those to the consumer first. But obviously, yes, we're preparing in terms of marketing for that as we come through.

And then finally, just a question on Debenhams. Look, we're really pleased with Debenhams. You'll have seen some of the numbers that we've got. I can say it's a profitable Debenhams already. Really now it's about onboarding more brands. We're way ahead of a number of brands that were on old Debenhams. And clearly, having online-only allows us to do that. It's really about scoring more and more brands, getting more customers, but we're excited.

You can see we mentioned that it's one of our key brands, one of our key focuses. And it's from an investment point of view, Shaun's very happy. It's stock-light, less, in terms of infrastructure, but we just see a super opportunity ahead for us on that brand.

Answer

Shaun McCabe (Executives)

I love a good marketplace.

Boo CEO

‘Moving on to Debenhams, our digital marketplace. Our strategy is to add more partners, more brands and more products and through this, to grow our customer numbers. You can see in the table the rapid progress we have made in growing our customer base. The number of brands available for consumers and the impressive number of products available across fashion, beauty and home. Looking forward, we want to accelerate Debenhams, focusing on premiumization, turbocharging our marketplace and accelerating beauty.

This will allow us to capitalize on Debenham's huge brand awareness and significantly scale its capital-light stockless model, which at scale, can deliver superior margins.

Our partnership strategy is focused on working with partners that can extend our global reach through their direct-to-consumer platforms and help raise our brand's awareness in a manner that offers complementary and incremental revenues in a low-risk way. In turn, our wholesale partners get access to our fashion, our newness and our short lead time model. Our sales portal allows them to select from the same ranges that our teams are buying and benefit from the group's buying scale.

We have today a large wholesale footprint around the world with 5 key partners as outlined on this slide. Looking ahead, we are working on partnership opportunities across new regions to continue to expand this offering, elevating our brand's presence across existing and exciting new markets.

Our digital marketplace, Debenhams, expanding our wholesale partnerships and developing our global infrastructure network. We're extremely confident in our medium-term outlook as we continue to offer customers unrivaled choice, inclusive ranges and outstanding value, giving them even more reasons to shop with us.

So thank you, and we'll now open up the floor to questions’

Good post West

Thanks West will check out

Gut feel Jeffries we’re on the money with the £300M revenue

2022/3 for Debenhams, they are close to the company, doubt they would fabricate?

Their Middle East partner has 2000 outlets with 7 full on Debenham stores across multiple countries

When we look at the products on the Debs store on line U.K. plus the Beauty side, it’s becoming a key brand for Boo

Karen Millen as a brand looks like it’s growing

PLT did almost $1B Globally last year and any of us tracking their USA marketing can see it’s gaining momentum

I could be wrong but it’s starting to look that Boo itself is in the same segment / place as Shein and the other key brands above are enjoying the marketing $$ as they are being developed in their own right

They will develop their own beauty brands with Rev B support and separately cross sell Rev B on line to its 18M

app users

I could be wrong but it kind of all makes sense as Boo move away from chasing revenue and focus on margin and as they say the heavy lifting Capex to put this all together is almost complete

Hi Wolf

Am liking how Boo are developing their key brands.

Debenhams Beauty

Debenhams Market Place

Debenhams Middle East Franchise

Karen Millen

PLT - USA

Will find their specific comments tomorrow about partnerships / distribution deals on the Conf call, tbh I didn’t pick up on it at the time but beginning to join the dots