Main Image:  George at Asda

PRShots Digest brings you the latest retail news from Vans, Lush, Superdrug, Harrods, Make it British, Frasers, WHSmith, Argos, M&S, Halfords and THG. Plus articles on social media crisis communications, why we shouldn’t replace humans with AI, is Discord the best way to attract Gen Z and more.  

THE LATEST RETAIL INDUSTRY NEWS

WHSmith, M&S and Argos ordered to pay short-changed staff

WHSmith, M&S, Argos and 200 other companies have been called out by the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) for short-changing staff between 2017 and 2019.

THG predicts increase in profitability ahead of AGM

Ahead of its annual general meeting THG has reported “strong” Q2 trading and said it expects an increase in profitability in the first half of 2023 with adjusted EBITDA in the range of £44-47m.

Inflation sticks at 8.7%

The rate of consumer price inflation has remained 8.7% for the second month in a row, according to latest figures released today (21 June) by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Debenhams’ unsecured creditors left £1.3bn out of pocket

The unsecured creditors of Debenhams will not recover the £1.3bn owed to them before the retailer’s collapse in 2020 and purchase of the brand and IP by the Boohoo group.

Make it British founder Kate Hills urges retailers to be ‘more transparent’

The founder and CEO of Make it British, Kate Hills, has called out big fashion retailers to become “more transparent” arguing that consumers “care more now than ever before”.

Halfords posts decline in profit

Halfords sales for the year to April saw revenue grow by 15.3% with like-for-like growth of 2.4%, however underlying pre-tax profit fell 38.3% to £51.5m down from £89.8m in 2022.

Iceland’s Irish franchise appoints examiner

The owner behind the Irish franchise of Iceland has been appointed an interim examiner by the Irish High Court as it nears the brink of collapse.

Frasers Group acquires stake in Boohoo

Frasers Group has bought a 5% stake in fashion giant Boohoo becoming one of the largest single shareholders in Boohoo Group. Co-founder Mahmud Kamani remains the largest shareholder.

Amazon launches flexible financing programme

Amazon has launched a flexible financing programme for small and medium businesses giving them access to funding linked to their sales on Amazon, and allows them to “repay as they earn”.

Frasers acquires stake in Currys

Frasers Group has taken an 8.9% stake in electrical goods retailer Currys, a week after building a 21.3% shareholding in AO World.

Scotch & Soda to close all UK stores

Amsterdam-based fashion label Scotch & Soda will close all four of its UK stores this summer following its buyout by New York brand management company Bluestar Alliance.

Two in five of UK businesses report known, or suspect fraud attempts over the past year

Fraud in the UK is rapidly becoming industrialised, with 40% of UK businesses reporting known or suspected fraud attempts in the last 12 months.

Independents hold fast on early discounting

Indies are innovating to stay ahead of competition from multiples, tightening consumer spend and declining footfall, but most are holding fast on discounting early.

TRENDS, STRATEGY AND TECHNOLOGY

6 AI presentation tools for webinars and demos

Creating attractive presentation decks has never been easier with sophisticated AI tools. Practical Ecommerce looks at six compelling options.

A guide to social media crisis communication

Social media crisis communication for brands comes down to one simple question: How can you help? Here's how to make sure you're prepared.

THG on why the opportunities for growth are online

Retail Week talks to THG Beauty chief executive Lucy Gorman about the future of direct-to-consumer businesses, loyalty schemes and her time at the business.

Why John Lewis Chair Sharon White thinks we shouldn’t write off humans just yet

John Lewis Chair Sharon White writes about the power of Partners and why human connections will always be so important to their business and customers.

What does Frasers Group own?

Retail Gazette looks at the many retailers and retail stakes that Mike Ashley-controlled Frasers Group owns and the timeline of its acquisition.

Will Discord become the go to social media channel for Gen Z?

Gen Z is changing the way it uses social media, with community making a comeback and deeper connections being sought on their terms, rather than on the basis of algorithms or paid placement.

Why AI needs to get itself a better PR firm

British media stories about AI increased 100% across the period January to May this year, and negative sentiment in those articles was 83%.

Retail spend on chatbots to reach $12bn globally in 2023

Global retail spend on chatbots is forecast to reach $12bn in 2023 and increasing by 470% over 5 years to $72bn by 2028, with the majority spent on AI models like ChatGPT in US and Europe.

AI predicts digital future for UK high street

Savoo used AI to visualise the future of the British high street and suggested more than 11,000 chain stores would disappear by 2030, with almost 2,400 gone from London.

PEOPLE, MOVERS AND SHAKERS

Vans parent VF makes Logitech's Bracken Darrell as CEO

Vans and Timberland parent VF Corp has appointed Bracken Darrell as its new CEO. Bracken stood down as the boss of computer accessory business Logitech last week after 10 years at the brand.

Alibaba CEO steps down to focus on brand’s cloud business

Alibaba chief executive and chairman Daniel Zhang will step down later this year to focus on the retail giant’s cloud business. Zhang joined Alibaba in 2007 succeeding Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma.

BRAND NEWS

Lush launches ‘Refugees Welcome’ high street campaign

Lush has teamed up with Refugee Action on a campaign to put in the windows of its 103 UK stores a message that reads, “Wherever you’re from, however you got here, all refugees are welcome”.

Superdrug launches new magazine The Edit

Superdrug has launched a new quarterly magazine, The Edit. The magazine targets beauty-conscious shoppers, and will be available in-store and will be sent out with online customer orders.

JATC features six upcoming brands from all over over the world

The forthcoming London Just Around The Corner (JATC) fashion show will feature six new brands from around the world.  

New artificial leather made from beer waste

London-based Arda Biomaterials is turning waste barley grain from beer production into artificial leather and has recently secured a £1.1m investment from The Clean Growth Fund.

Harrods opens luxe new lingerie and loungewear department

Harrods is spending heavily on refurbishing its womenswear retail spaces and the first phase of this has seen it unveiling a new dedicated area for lingerie, lounge and sleepwear.

AND FINALLY

Net-A-Porter partners with V&A for new 'DIVA' exhibition

Net-A-Porter has partnered with the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) as the lead supporter for its new exhibition, DIVA which opens from 24 June 2023.

PRSHOTS TOP 10 SEARCHES

What were our users searching for on PRShots Week ending June 16^th 2023?

1/ Summer

2/ Garden

3/ Father’s Day

4/ Sunglasses

5/ Beach bags

6/ Shorts

7/ Kitchen

8/ AW23

9/ Barbie  

10/ Crochet

COLLABORATIONS ON PRSHOTS

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NEW BRANDS TO PRSHOTS

Belissh create bags and dresses for going out and having fun and are committed to creating solutions that are environmentally friendly using sustainable fabric options.

Lola Starr ranges are designed with the environment and functionality in mind. They source only the highest quality recyclable materials designed to be recycled, recreated and remoulded again and again. They are a British brand that champions local expertise and keeps the carbon footprint to its lowest level.

Arran Sense of Scotland puts quality and fragrance first, so you can be sure that each of their Bath, Body & Home products have been expertly crafted and manufactured with the greatest care on the Island home of Arran.

Jessica Russell Flint is a British designer who creates vibrant, entirely unique hand-illustrated prints, with luxury products ranging across accessories, clothing, sleepwear and homeware.

Tweedmill is a family-run business established in 1971 that creates beautiful British-made blankets, picnic rugs, home accessories and more and are stocked in more than 4000 retailers UK-wide.

HELP WITH YOUR IMAGE SEARCHES

The latest images on PRShots are found here https://www.prshots.com/whatsnew why not bookmark the page for a regular feed of the latest images on PRShots!! You can select the latest images from the last 24hours, week, or month.

BRANDS WITH NEW IMAGES

Clothing, beauty and accessories

Monsoon has new summer clothing including dresses, kaftans, jackets and jumpers plus shoes,  bags,  scarfs, accessories and jewellery and kids clothing ranges.

Curvy Kate has new Retro Wave, High Waist, Happy Boobs, Lift-Off, Centre Stage,  Senses, Authority, Lifestyle, Wonderfully, Enclose, Boost in Bloom, Scantilly, Twist & Shout ranges.

Accessorize has new Sundown jewellery, summer clothing, hats, scarves, shoes and bag ranges.

Roman Originals has new floral outfits, spring and summer ranges in all sizes.

George at Asda has new women’s summer clothing, bags, hats and accessories.

Aspiga has new on fashion summer maxi-dresses.

Peacocks has new womenswear ranges with Louise Redknapp and menswear ranges with Ashley Banjo.

Dune London has new luggage, sandals and bags.

Cotton Traders has new womenswear for summer, including tops, dresses, jackets and jumpers.

Primark has a new monogram ranges, Barbie movie range, band shirts, a Hip Trip festival range, a Pride range, a Bridgerton range of clothes and accessories, makeup ranges, swimsuits and beachwear.

Threadbare has more summer clothing and beachwear from its new Greecian Getaway range.

New Look has new women’s summer wear, accessories, and footwear ranges.

PrettyLittleThing has a new GirlsVsCancer holiday outfits for the beach and the clubs, a bodycon range, a festival collection, a Molly Mae Summer edit, a Bridal edit, Kappa and Gemma Owen collaborations, plus beach outfits.

Barbour has new festival fashion ranges for all weathers.

River Island has new summer holiday ranges from clothes for going out to beachwear.

Matalan has new pink and Barbie ranges, summer accessories, mens Taylor & Wright suits, kids summer outfits and beachwear plus new womenswear.

Oliver Bonas has new fashion, bags, accessories and jewellery collections.

Fatface has new festival wear, beachwear – with a collaboration with the Marine Conservation Society - summer clothing, shoes, bags, jewellery, and accessories.

Seol + Gold has new jewellery and womenswear ranges.

Lipsy  has new Laura Whitmore x Love & Roses collaboration and new Love & Roses collections.

Teva have new sandal ranges.

Daisy Park Has a new range of all-purpose bags.

The Night Store has a new range of Moroccan nights nightwear sets.

Office has mens summer shoes and new sandal and trainer ranges.

See additional new clothing and accessories images from the last few weeks at

Very  Bonmarché F&F Silk & Lawn National Trust Shop Shoe Zone Scamp & Dude Dunelm Tu Clothing Regatta Dune London Men’s TK Maxx Aspiga Nologo

Home, garden and food

Cuckooland has new furniture for outdoors.

The Range has outdoor furniture, fans to keep you cool, new beach accessories, homeware, festival gear, and a honey comb collection of kitchen and table ware.

Hobbycraft has new weaving and clay kits, sewing kits, cross stitching kits, gifts, Pride clothing, summer party ranges, foam mosaic art and paint and sew your own ranges.

Ivyline has new Christmas gifts and decoration ranges as well as garden and indoor plant pot ranges for this summer.

Biscuiteers Baking has new ranges for summer, and for graduations.

Imp & Maker has new food hampers and gift ranges.

B&M has new Natural bathroom, kitchen pantry and Winter Harvest ranges.

Hotel Chocolat has new Velvetisers and chocolate gift ranges.

Oliver Bonas has new kitchen gift ranges and home ranges.

Furniture Village has new lounge and bedroom solutions.

Cartwright & Butler has new picnic hampers.

Daisy Park has new homeware and new Gisela Graham Christmas candle ranges and Christmas decorations.

Wilko has new presents and gifts.

Designers Guild has new ranges for AW23 including John Derian fabric and wallpaper and an Essentials range and an Accessories range.

Cambridge Imprint has new stationery storage ranges.

Next has new Nomadic range of homeware and Reflections, Optimism and Moss Green ranges of furniture, Kitchenware and homeware.

Dobbies Garden Centres has new plants, Meadowmat instant turf, picnic ideas, terrariums and indoors and outdoors ranges for the home.

Dunelm has new homeware and furniture ranges, plus Disney and Natural History Museum collaborations plus Timeless and Pride & Joy homeware ranges. 

Sofology has new furniture for the home.

George Home has new homeware and outdoor furniture ranges as well as ranges for your pets.

National Trust shop has new picnic and outdoor ranges.

Cutter & Squidge has new coffee ranges, afternoon tea selections and picnic hampers.

See additional new home images from the last weeks from

Joe Browns Cardfactory Homesense Primark Regatta TK Maxx Nologo Studio Fritz Fryer Habitat DFS Primark Home Marks & Spencer Cult Furniture Next Branch Jewellery GettingPersonal Nest

Looking for inspiration?

Our trends lightboxes section has lots of ideas for features and themes but If  you can't find something or you need help then email us at support@prshots.com, and we'll see if we can help

DIARY

PRShots Retail Calendar Alerts

Days until Halloween - 132

Days until Singles Day - 143

Days until Black Friday – 156

Days until Christmas Day - 187

How to get your brand on the June Editorial Calendars, higher up on search engines and in social media

Summer is here - and hopefully the weather will improve – so add anything summery, including summer clothing, and swimwear and push anything to do with outside so garden furniture, anything for a garden party, or a picnic or barbecue, and don’t forget to add all of the other spellings BBQ, Bar-B-Que etc.

We’re also at the start of the festival season, so make sure you add festival or Glastonbury or any of the other big festivals, Isle of Wight, British Summer Time, Boardmasters, Reading/Leeds, to your keyword lists. 

The media are starting to ramp up their summer holiday features, so add swimwear, beachwear, beach, holiday, suitcases, travel bags, travel accessories etc to your keywords. Because of the cost-of-living crisis people are cutting back and are either staying at home, or are thinking of holidays closer to home, so add in keywords and phrases like “staycation”, “holistay”, “holiday at home” to your keywords and why not suggest clothing like hoodies and cardigans for the colder UK evenings.

Also, look at sports, particularly anything tennis-related for Wimbledon, which is coming up in early July.

June Diary - Weeks/Months

June is LGBTQ Pride Month.  It’s also National Picnic Week (18^th-26^th). Shorter events include - Royal Ascot (20^th-24^th) and the return of the Glastonbury festival (21^st-25^th)

June - Days

21^st – Glastonbury Festival Starts

21^st – International Yoga Day

21^st – Summer Solstice (The end of Spring)

22^nd – World Rainforest Day

22^nd – Windrush Day

23^rd – Take your dog to work Day

24^th – Midsummer’s Day

25^th – 6 months until Christmas Day

30^th – International Asteroid Day

How to get your brand on the July Editorial/Media Calendars, higher up on search engines and in social media

Summer is here! So keep on adding anything summery to your keywords and descriptions eg summer clothing, swimwear, beachwear, sunglasses, plus things to keep you cool, like fans, sun hats and sun shades. Also, push anything to do with the outside, so garden furniture, anything for a garden party, or a picnic or barbecue, and don’t forget to add all of the other spellings BBQ, Bar-B-Que etc and other related keywords like picnic.

The festival season is now in full-swing, and the media are all looking for festival wear and things to take to festivals (tents, fans, ice boxes, torches etc). We’re also getting ready to go on holiday so beachwear, bikinis, swimsuits, shorts, trunks, luggage, bags etc are all being searched for.

Clothing keywords being searched for this summer include; crochet, maxi dresses, mermaid-core, and anything Pink and Barbie-related.    

But not everyone is going abroad. The cost of living crisis is cutting the money in everyone’s wallets, so shoppers are still looking at holidays closer to home. Add in keywords and phrases like “staycation”, “holistay”, “holiday at home” to your keywords and why not suggest clothing like raincoats, coats, hoodies, and cardigans? If you stock them, then firepits and chimineas for the colder UK evenings would be good to add.

July Diary - Weeks/Months

July is Independent Retailer Month, Plastic-free Month, and National Ice Cream Month in the US.  It’s also Alcohol Awareness Week (3^rd- 9^th Jul), Wimbledon fortnight (3^rd-16^thJul), Berlin Fashion Week (10^th – 13^th Jul), Northern Fashion Week (14^th- 16^th Jul), the Men’s and Women’s Ashes tournaments continues through July, and it’s Cowes Week (29^th Jul - 5^th Aug).  

July - Days

            1^st - Pride London parade

4^th - US Independence Day

5^th – National Bikini Day

7^th – World Chocolate Day

9^th - British Grand Prix 

11^th – World Population Day

12^th – Battle of the Boyne (Northern Ireland)

14^th - Bastille Day (France)

16^th – National Ice Cream Day (US Third sundae in July 😉)

18^th - Nelson Mandela International day

19^th - Muharram/Islamic New Year 

21^st – Start of the school holidays  

22^th-23^rd  - Northern Pride 

23^rd – National Parents Day (US)

24^th – National Tequila Day (US)

25^th – Christmas in July (5 months until Christmas)

29^th – National Lipstick Day

Do you have any news on your brand that you want us to feature, or have a new appointee or a new event that you would like us to feature? Get in touch at news@prshots.com We don't charge, so get emailing now!!!

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