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PRShots Digest brings you the latest retail news from Matalan, The Perfume Shop, Barbour, Hotel Chocolat, Superdry, Harrods, and House of Fraser. Plus marketing predictions for 2023, turning reluctant executives into LinkedIn influencers, using web crawlers for SEO and more.

To see the latest news go to our Twitter account @prshotsr

THE LATEST RETAIL INDUSTRY NEWS

Post-Christmas footfall drops

Footfall in the week following Christmas was down, with high streets hit hardest at 19.7% while retail parks at 63.8% and shopping centres 45.4% both saw healthy traffic.

2023 retail sales growth to be low according to BRC

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) predicts retail sales are only set to grow between 2.3% in the first half of 2023 but expects sales to pick up by 3.6-4.7% in the second half of the year.

Matalan lenders reportedly inching closer to takeover deal

A consortium including Invesco and Man GLG are said to be close to securing a deal to takeover Matalan with a cash injection of around £100m with the aim of completing before the end of Jan.

The Perfume Shop hails ‘best ever’ Christmas with record number of bottles sold

The Perfume Shop sold 1.77m bottles of perfume between November 28 and December 24 its best Christmas trading performance in its 30-year history.

Barbour posts year of recovery

Barbour results for the year to May 2022 show turnover up by 31.5% to £286.m with operating profit up by £4.2m to £40.3m.

Hotel Chocolat teams with new partner for Japan expansion

Hotel Chocolat is partnering with Eat Creator Corporation to look at how the brand can be optimised for the Japanese market.

Joules owed almost £114m when it hit the wall

Fashion retailer Joules was nearly £114m in the red before it was rescued by Next and founder Tom Joule.

Made customers to be left £12m out of pocket

Tens of thousands of Made.com customers will collectively lose out on £12m worth of deposits made around the time the retailer collapsed into administration.

Boxing Day sees footfall bounce back

Springboard figures for footfall for Boxing Day were 38.8% higher than in 2021 with the number of visits to shopping destinations up 50.1% on last year by 12pm but tapered off by the end of day.

Superdry boosted by stronger store performance as it secures £80m loan facility

Superdry posted an H1 sales uplift of 3.6% with in-store sales up by 14.4%, and online sales up 1.7% after trade was boosted by a good reaction from customers to its autumn/winter collections.

Harrods boss warns London is trailing behind Paris and Milan in luxury retail

Harrods boss Michael Ward has warned that London is trailing behind Paris and Milan in luxury trade.

UK store closures jumped in 2022, more expected this year

The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) saw the closure of 17,145 shops last year, the highest number for more than half a decade, with 11,636 closing due to either cost cuts or indies exiting the sector.

TRENDS, STRATEGY AND TECHNOLOGY

2023 marketing predictions from industry leaders

As we head into 2023, marketing industry leaders share their predictions for influencer, social, data, B2B and SEO changes over the next year.

How to turn reluctant executives into LinkedIn influencers

If the idea of being more active on social media makes you cringe, that’s totally healthy. In fact, it’s a competitive advantage.

Understanding the biggest PR failures of 2022

Some might ask why is it so darn hard for brands to get PR right, we’re not asking for miracles, we’re just asking is that they read the room

Very, Primark and Kingfisher bosses predict the year ahead

The bosses of retailers Very, Primark and Kingfisher predict the unpredictable and tell Retail Week what trends they think will dominate and direct the sector in 2023.

Will 2023 be the year of social e-commerce?

Long the norm in China, social e-commerce, shopping via platforms such as TikTok, YouTube and Amazon Live, may soon see similar success.

How retailers will change the way they serve customers in 2023

Retailers predict what they will learn from changing shopper behaviour to adapt and evolve the way they serve customers in 2023.

How to use web crawlers for SEO

Web crawler tools are essential for search engine optimization, but the info they provide can be overwhelming. Here's how to prioritize and cut through the clutter.

Shopify looks to fill advertising void left by Apple’s privacy crackdown

Shopify plans to fill the advertising void that has been left by Apple's privacy crackdown by offering retailers new ways to target potential customers on the globe's largest advertising platforms.

Twitter introduces impression count feature to display user views on tweets

Twitter CEO Elon Musk has introduced a new impression count feature on the social media app to display the number of times a tweet has been seen by users of the platform.

BRAND NEWS

Victorian Plumbing to open new £50m distribution centre

Victorian Plumbing is to open a new 544,000 sq ft, purpose-built distribution centre in Lancashire after agreeing on a 20-year lease.

Frasers acquires former Debenhams flagship in Dublin

Frasers Group has purchased the former Debenhams store in Dublin city centre for its new Irish flagship as the retail giant continues its "elevation strategy".

House of Fraser leaves central London after closing Westfield store

House of Fraser has officially left Central London after closing its store in Westfield shopping centre in Shepherd’s Bush.

AND FINALLY x2

Gymshark and Boden awarded New Year honours

Ben Francis, founder and CEO of Gymshark has been awarded an MBE for services to business and Johnnie Boden, founder of Boden was also awarded the CBE for services to Fashion and Retail.

Industry pays tribute to Dame Vivienne Westwood

Marc Jacobs led tributes to Dame Vivienne Westwood, with The British Fashion Council calling her a “fashion revolutionary” who defined punk and “drove positive change globally”

PRSHOTS TOP 10 SEARCHES

What were our users searching for on PRShots Week ending December 30^th 2022?

1/ Christmas 

2/ Magenta

3/ Throw

4/ Cushion

5/ Pink

6/ Coat

7/ SS23

8/ Gifts

9/ Dresses  

10/ Scarf

COLLABORATIONS ON PRSHOTS

Our PRShots brands are looking for media and influencers who want to work with them on collaborations. Register for free at PRShots new collabs service to find out more https://collabs.prshots.com/ 

NEW BRANDS TO PRSHOTS

LolaStarr is a proud British active wear brand whose clothes are designed with the environment and functionality in mind and champions local textile industries using a talented UK team of skilled designers, pattern cutters, and seamstresses.

Hobbycraft was founded in 1995, and has since grown to be the largest arts and crafts retailer in the UK with over 100 stores across the UK, and has everything you need for art, knitting and crochet, haberdashery, papercraft, wedding and party, baking, jewellery making and more.

Silk & Lawn are a Brighton-based accessories brand creating beautiful handmade headbands, hair ties & turbans for little and grown-up people made from silk and Tana lawn cottons.

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

From my mother’s garden has new ranges for 2023

Dune London has new SS23 shoe and bag ranges, gift ranges, going out shoes and wedding shoes

F&F has new looks for 2023

Peacocks has new coats and hoodies

Joe Browns has new Slo Joe’s ranges for SS23

River Island has new Active ranges and SS23 winter clothes for Jan-Feb drops

Roman Originals has new warm winter wear, party and going-out outfits

New Look has new winter clothes and shoes, jumpers and loungewear

NoLoGo has new ranges

Cath Kidston has new bags and clothing ranges

Matalan has new SS23 collections

TK Maxx has new shoes, clothing and accessories for him and her

PrettyLittleThing  has new PLT Sports outfits, new Jayda Cheaves and Jodie Woods collaboration and ski wear, party wear and winter clothes and boots.

George at Asda has new SS23 imagery

Accessorize has new SS23 bags, lingerie, accessories, jewellery, hair and gift ranges

Very has new womenswear ranges for SS23

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

Tu Clothing Dancing Leopard Deichmann UK Sarvin Monsoon  Primark Lipsy M&Co  Cotton Traders Barbour Dune London Men’s Freemans Dunelm Fatface Hope Fashion The Morphbag by GSK Hope Fashion Crew Clothing Seol + Gold Dancing Leopard Radley Sainsbury’s Beauty Sonder Studio Homesense Oliver Bonas

Home and food

Matalan has new SS23 homestore ranges

The Range  has kitchen and home ware to keep you organised in 2023

Cambridge Imprint  has new stationery

Homesense has new Valentines gifts and SS23 home items

Dobbies Garden Centres has new firepits, SS23 outdoor cushions, prints, furniture, AW plants, home goods, and pet accessories.

TK Maxx has new things for the home

Next introduces its new Land and Parallel collections

Fritz Fryer has new antique lighting

NoLoGo has new tableware

Primark has new homeware and gifts

George Home has new soft furnishings, gifts and candles

Dunelm has new SS23 ranges for the lounge and kitchen

Biscuiteers Baking has new Easter goodies

M&Co  has new homeware

Very has new Wellness Kitchen ideas

Sofology has new SS23 furniture ranges

Marks & Spencer has new SS23 homeware

Cult Furniture  has new lighting options and desks

Daisy Park  has new Emma Bridgewater and Gisela Graham Primavera and Pastel home and gift ranges

See additional new home images from the last few weeks from

Very Sofology Marks & Spencer Cult Furniture  Daisy Park Designers Guild Avalana Cath Kidston Dune London B&M National Trust Shop Furniture Village Luxdeco Designers Guild Cuckooland Abstract House Oliver Bonas White Stuff Cartwright & Butler Monsoon  Nest Wilko Cardfactory KMI Brands DFS Fatface Very Habitat Hotel Chocolat Cath Kidston Christy Matalan Oliver Bonas

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

Days until Valentine’s Day - 42

Days until Mother’s Day - 75

Days until Easter – 96

Days until Eid al-Fitr - 108

Days until Halloween - 301

Days until Christmas Day – 356

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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