Next is to embark on an image makeover for Christmas, quadrupling marketing spend and replacing tired store fittings in a bid to reverse declining like-for-like sales. The Financial Times. The Daily Telegraph


Announcing interim results yesterday the retailer said that, although high street conditions were still tough, customers were trading up to its more expensive clothes.

Simon Wolfson, chief executive, said yesterday that the retailer would try to bring the ‘magic’ back into its stores.

’Risk success or guarantee failure, that is the choice,’ he said, reporting a fall in like-for-like sales in Next’s mainline stores of 3.6% in the six months to 31 July.