British Home Stores: Difference between revisions
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foundation = [[Brixton]], [[London]] (1928) | |
foundation = [[Brixton]], [[London]] (1928) | |
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location = Marylebone Road, London, UK | |
location = Marylebone Road, London, UK | |
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key_people = Mike Goring<br>(Managing Director)<br>Barbara Gentles<br>(Finance Director)<br>Darren Topp<br>(Retail Director)<br>Rachael Lynch (Trading Director)<br>Jacquie Gray<br>(Creative Director) |
key_people = Mike Goring<br>(Managing Director)<br>Barbara Gentles<br>(Finance Director)<br>Darren Topp<br>(Retail Director)<br>Rachael Lynch (Trading Director)<br>Jacquie Gray<br>(Creative Director) |
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num_stores = 193 Stores Nationwide | |
num_stores = 193 Stores Nationwide | |
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num_employees = 17,256 (2008) | |
num_employees = 17,256 (2008) | |
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'''2007 - Suitor Search Resumes''' |
'''2007 - Suitor Search Resumes''' |
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On [[May 30]], [[2007]] there were rumours of talks with Icelandic retail investor Baugur regarding a sale of the chain and that Green was hoping to raise around £450m from selling the chain which would then be used towards the continuation of Arcadia's TopShop international roll-out. Analysts said Green was in a dilemma over whether he should sell the chain to rivals of his other Arcadia chains.<ref>[http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/investing-and-markets/article.html?in_article_id=420831&in_page_id=3 Green may sell Bhs to concentrate on Topshop]</ref> |
On [[May 30]], [[2007]] there were rumours of talks with Icelandic retail investor Baugur regarding a sale of the chain and that Green was hoping to raise around £450m from selling the chain which would then be used towards the continuation of Arcadia's TopShop international roll-out. Analysts said Green was in a dilemma over whether he should sell the chain to rivals of his other Arcadia chains.<ref>[http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/investing-and-markets/article.html?in_article_id=420831&in_page_id=3 Green may sell Bhs to concentrate on Topshop]</ref> |
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tammy is an 12 year old girl who is UP MY BUM MWUHAHAHAHA |
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==References== |
==References== |
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Revision as of 11:37, 16 October 2009
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| Company type | Private (Ltd) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | Brixton, London (1928) |
| Headquarters | Marylebone Road, London, UK |
Key people | Mike Goring (Managing Director) Barbara Gentles (Finance Director) Darren Topp (Retail Director) Rachael Lynch (Trading Director) Jacquie Gray (Creative Director) num_stores = 193 Stores Nationwide |
| Products | Clothing, Homewares and Restaurant |
| Owner | Sir Philip Green |
Number of employees | 17,256 (2008) |
| Website | Bhs UK: Bhs.co.uk |
Bhs is a British department store chain with branches mainly located in high street locations, primarily selling clothing and household items such as bedlinen, cutlery, crockery and lighting. The company, which was originally known as British Home Stores, competes on quality and value, aiming at a less affluent demographic than Marks and Spencer or John Lewis. The company has 186 stores throughout the United Kingdom. The Company has been a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but is now owned by Sir Philip Green.
History
The early years
The first British Home Stores shop opened in Brixton in 1928[1] and copied the business model of the UK arm of US-based FW Woolworth in that the price of goods was limited to a maximum of one shilling. In 1929 the maximum price was increased to five shillings which enabled the company to expand the range to include furnishings and drapery. The company became a public company (Plc) in 1931.[2]
After the Second World War the company stopped selling based on price and started to offer goods with quality and value for money.
The 1970s & 1980s
The company expanded in the 1970s and 1980s including the opening of stores in the newly-developing wave of indoor shopping malls (such as The Mall Bexleyheath and Lakeside Shopping Centre). 1977 saw the firm launch a joint venture with supermarket retailer Sainsbury's to create hypermarkets using the SavaCentre brand[3]. Sainsbury's took whole control of SavaCentre in 1989 and has more recently converted the stores to the Sainsbury's branding.
A downturn in business in the early 1980s was fought with a revamp of the stores and the selling of goods with higher profit margins. The company closed its only overseas store, in Dublin, Ireland, during this time. In 1985 the first overseas franchise store opened in Gibraltar.[4] Such stores, not directly owned by the Bhs company itself, now operate over Europe and the Middle East.[2] In 1986, Bhs merged with Habitat and Mothercare to form Storehouse plc[1] and soon afterwards, the British Home Stores registered company name and branding across its shops was replaced with 'BhS' (now Bhs) and a new corporate logo. The exception was in stores that displayed a 'historic' fascia, such as Edinburgh's Princes Street, which continued to feature the British Home Stores name in its original Roman type etched into the granite shop front.[5]
The 1990s: Takeover by Philip Green
In the mid-1990s the brand saw a further re-invention under guidance from retail design house '20:20'. The new look was showcased with the launch of the 'millennium concept' shopfit initially at the Grafton Centre, Cambridge (now simply called the Grafton) during 1995. With its softer Bhs 'signature' logo[6] and warm interior lighting the concept attempted with varying degrees of success to meet the needs of the modern, more sophisticated (female) shopper. During the late 1990s the stores which formed Storehouse Plc fell on hard times, Bhs and Mothercare being the worst affected. Following a number of years tough trading Sir Philip Green bought Bhs from Storehouse Plc in May 2000 for £200 million.[1] He then changed the company from public (Plc) to private (Ltd). In 2002 Green then went on to acquire the Arcadia Group of high street retailers; which includes Topshop, Burton, Evans, Dorothy Perkins and Wallis among others, to form Britain's second largest clothes retailer, after Marks and Spencer.[7] Alan Smith, chairman of Storehouse at the time of the Bhs sale commented "He [Philip Green] had a crystal-clear vision and strategy. He had the guts to do the deal, to make it work when nobody else thought he could."[8]
The 2000s: Tammy & Return to British Home Stores
In May 2005, Philip Green, owner of Bhs, purchased Etam UK from its French owner, Etam Development.[9] The Etam UK brands included "Etam", "Amelie May", and "Tammy". The girls' fashion retailer Tammy was the strongest brand in terms of sales and consumer recognition. For this reason, and to help improve girls' perception of Bhs as a whole, from early September 2005 stand-alone stores were closed and the brand integrated into Bhs stores.
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In 2005, Bhs resurrected its 'British Home Stores' fascia more than 20 years after it had disappeared from the UK high street.[10] The move followed the purchase of several former Allders at Home sites from the defunct department store chain. Except for the Broughton Park site in Chester, these projects were designed purely to build upon the success of the homewares & lighting that Bhs stores currently offered and to tap into new areas of business such as furniture, curtains, rugs, and wall art. Brands sold included Denby, Maxwell Williams, Typhoon, Brabantia, Terence Conran and Jasper Conran.
Chichester was the first of the Allders sites to be refurbished, and by 2006 the success of the 'Homestores' rollout was extended to the larger high street stores. By October 2008 the success of the Homestore format had rolled out to 25 dedicated Homestores, with Thanet being the latest addition, opening in October 2009.
Arcadia Integration
On 27 February 2009, Bhs announced that the company would integrate with sister company Arcadia. Central support functions will merge and selected Bhs stores will now house selected Arcadia brands; for example, in July 2009, Bhs stores in Solihull in the West Midlands and Bexleyheath in South London[11] both opened Evans and Wallis concessions. In August 2009 Canterbury opened Wallis and Evans concessions within the store. From May 2009 Mike Goring was appointed Managing Director to the chain and in July, Jacquie Gray appointed Creative Director.
Shopping
Home Shopping
The company launched its home shopping Web site on Wednesday 28 March 2007, with the aim of making all of its products available online. This was achieved in the October.
In Store
Around the same time, some stores evaluated a new layout, with departments changing size. Larger homewares departments started to stock new products that were developed for British Home Stores.
Bhs has several niche departments, such as for weddings and for schoolwear. Each store caters its school uniform offering to the most popular colour combinations used by local schools.
Christmas
During the first week of October each year the full Christmas shop is rolled out nationwide. In most cases this replaces a section of women's fashions until just after Christmas. During this period the Christmas shop offers a wide range of novelty, gift, decoration and food items to consumers in addition to the usual Bhs offering.
Temporary staff are taken on from late September right up until December. Some are retained after in permanent vacancies. Each year a new Christmas soft toy is launched, usually a bear. Some collect these each year, and have done so for over a decade. Christmas 2005 brought about Parker the Bear and Christmas 2006 had Bertie Bear and Toby Terrier. In 2007 Baxter Bear and Dexter Dog made an appearance. 2008 brought Benji Bear and Dylan Dog.
By 5 October 2008 all Bhs stores had launched their Christmas Shop offer and in the flagship store in Oxford Street the event was marked by the launch of the first Christmas window display on Oxford Street.
Bhs Goldcard and Bhs Everyone Card
The Goldcard was the Bhs combined payment and discount card, administered by GE Capital Bank. The card also functioned as a loyalty discount card. The Bhs was accepted in all Bhs (including Tammy) and Arcadia Group stores. Bhs Everyone card was available in some regions from September 2006 in some regions.In March 2008, the company decided to withdraw these cards. They were replaced with a temporary discount card, the 'Thank-you Card', which has now also been terminated, but was valid until 31 July 2008. The cards were replaced on 23 July 2008 by the BHS Credit Card, and the older cards cancelled on at the end of 2008. Customers must open a BHS Credit Card if they wish to receive the 20% discount on Cardholder Days and promotional vouchers.
The BHS credit card was launched on 23 July 2008. The card is run by Barclaycard alongside Mastercard.
As well as the credit card, all BHS Choice card holders have now been (or will be in the near future) converted into the BHS loyalty card where the customer will get an instant 5% discount off everything in store with every purchase. Card holders will also be invited to 20% off events where they will get 20% off everything in store as well as there additional 5% discount.
Staff Discount
Staff receive a 20% discount on all purchases (20%+25% off food purchases in the Restaurant and Coffee Lounge), and can nominate one other family member to have the same discount.
Corporate
Locations
Bhs is split up into nine regions. Each region is headed by an RM (Regional Manager), each store then has a store manager, commercial managers, Sales Floor Managers, operational managers, visual managers and lead associates.
Bhs has a number of administration offices across the UK, alongside the company's main head office in Marylebone, London; offices are also located at Euston, London. The company's distribution centre is at Atherstone, Warwickshire and is managed by Exel Logistics. Web-based orders are also dispatched from there by DHL.
In April 2006 Bhs acquired another site next to the Marylebone House office. North West House opened on May 2007 after extensive refurbishment. The new building now houses Homewares & Christmas departments, Marketing, Visual Merchandising, Human Resources, Internal Communications (Central Retail Support) and PR. Clothing divisions remain in Marylebone House.
In May 2009 the Arcadia merger saw changes at the Euston Road office with support functions including Pensions, Loss Prevention, Property, and Design & Construction moving to Arcadia's office Colgrave House, on Berners Street, London. Food Services & International would remain at the Euston Road offices.
Image
Bhs uses several corporate designs. Its policy is to put new branding first to better-performing stores and work down from there. It is currently rolling out a revamped brand image to all its stores, with a clean-cut black and white. Debenhams and Next already have a simple black and white corporate design, so this seems quite a trend.
Many departments within the stores have recently received complete revamps themselves, creating "shops within shops" in each department.
Perhaps the most notable change is the return of the iconic 'British Home Stores' brand, reintroduced after 20 years and used for those stores selling just homeware. The British Home Stores wording is shown in the Futura typeface which both contrasts the curvy script of the Bhs logo and harks back to the its predominant use in signage of the past.
Bhs International
The Bhs brand has been franchised since 1985 to stores around the world and, although they are not directly owned, products and support are supplied by Bhs. The Tammy brand is now available as a separate franchise. In early 2006 a new franchise "Bhs Kids" was launched in the Middle East. Bhs Kids carries a large number of best selling children's lines from Bhs stores.
Bhs was the first high street retailer to open in Moscow, in 1995. The £3 million venture was the largest in the international portfolio and was quickly followed by the opening of a second store in St Petersburg. In 1998 stores opened in Uzbekistan and Kazakstan. The Middle East remained the key focus, with stores in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Dubai and sites in Oman, Qatar and Abu Dhabi. By 2000 the chain also had stores in Greece, Tenerife, Gibraltar and the Far East.
Bhs For Sale
2006 - No Interest, Tough Climate Bhs owner Philip Green had been touting Bhs as being for sale late February/early March 2006, but this came to nothing. Rivals such as Asda and Debenhams were contacted regarding any interest they might have in purchasing the chain. Retail executives say that Green has mooted various combinations including joint ventures or outright sale, but in the current tough market most retail chains don't want to risk taking on more stores.[12]
2007 - Suitor Search Resumes On May 30, 2007 there were rumours of talks with Icelandic retail investor Baugur regarding a sale of the chain and that Green was hoping to raise around £450m from selling the chain which would then be used towards the continuation of Arcadia's TopShop international roll-out. Analysts said Green was in a dilemma over whether he should sell the chain to rivals of his other Arcadia chains.[13] tammy is an 12 year old girl who is UP MY BUM MWUHAHAHAHA
References
- ^ a b c Philip Green pays £200m for BHS
- ^ a b Competition Commission Report 2006
- ^ The Sainsbury Archive: Savacentre
- ^ Fashion Mission
- ^ Edinburgh heritage framework
- ^ BHS Shopfront Northumberland Street, Newcastle upon Tyne
- ^ Green ups bid for Arcadia to £775m
- ^ The celebrity world of the high street shopping lord
- ^ Green snaps up Etam fashion chain
- ^ British Home Stores returns
- ^ The Mall Bexleyheath website on Wallis/Evans move
- ^ Green's Bhs sale comes to nothing
- ^ Green may sell Bhs to concentrate on Topshop
