Next PLC: Sourcing Capabilities & UK Apparel Competition

This is a snippet of the transcript, sign up to read more.

On the Next margin side, the online business margin, they look very high compared to industry peers. Do you think that's because they're being really cheap? No investments and human resources.

Honestly, it's crazy. Simon sets the margins, and then if you achieve margin, he puts it up the next season. The better you do, the harder it is the next season, and there's a huge amount of pressure on the buyers. I would say the main reason that they're getting such good margins – and they are enormous compared to the margins I get at John Lewis – is because of scale, because they're clever in the way they buy. They consolidate buys, they put a lot of product into duty free regions where they get better prices. They're clever about the currency they buy, they're clever about shipping containers, and they set container rates. It's a real lean culture. Everything is done and negotiated upfront.

This is a snippet of the transcript, sign up to read more.

What do you think of the UK's structural growth of the industry of apparel/accessories? Do you think Next, in the next five to 10 years, given this setup, can grow in line with the market or are they going to fall behind because they're not being bold enough?

This is what I was saying. I know a lot of the buyers who are there still or have left for these reasons. They've got a lot of very young buyers, and there's a bit of a Boohoo mentality. I think they're buying cheap, pile it high, and there's a formulaic approach to rehashing best sellers, because they were best sellers and milking it. I think we used to say, we need to milk that product and get it until the end of the lifeline. They're very risk averse, they don't have that bravery to try something new and fail. Whereas I think in a smaller setup, like John Lewis, you can try something and fail and you can try something and fail and then eventually, you'll get something that sticks. Whereas with Next, I feel as if they don't want to do that. I feel like it's getting cheaper and cheaper and cheaper to get to maximized margin, but also, because all the commodity prices are increasing, Simon never wants to pass that cost on to the customer. Whereas realistically, if you want the most beautiful product and the most desirable product to keep the customer there, sometimes you do have to pass some of that cost on to get the right product for the customer. I feel like an investment in that mid-to-premium sector is where the growth is.

This is a snippet of the transcript, sign up to read more.