There’s no doubt that Next is now an established leader on the British high street. Its stores are everywhere and yummy mummies rave about it.

There’s no doubt that Next is now an established leader on the British high street. Its stores are everywhere, it has yummy mummies raving about it and few competitors can rival Next’s Goliath of a multichannel business. And it’s that combination of physical spread, a loyal customer following and an ever-evolving e-commerce business that makes Next such a success.

“Few competitors can rival Next’s Goliath of a multichannel business”

Anusha Couttigane, Conlumino

Its latest results revealed double-digit growth for the first half of 2014, with 2.4% of this coming from new space. That indicates that whilst online capabilities remain the retailer’s biggest draw, expansion of the physical estate is still an incredibly important component of Next’s strategy.

With full-year expectations hitting 10% at the top end, that is below its current rate of growth. Next is exhibiting caution against soft comparatives, particularly in the light of the cold spring that hampered new season sales last year.

Yet this only serves to highlight the astute planning decisions being made by management. Next benefits from an extremely well-informed leadership that is acutely aware of the thrust of the economy and the impact of natural forces on its core fashion segment.

While Next traditionally excels in fashion sales, the biggest opportunity highlighted is its Home format. In fact, nearly a third of Next’s planned space expansion for the year is dedicated to this fascia. The steady expansion of the Home range and Next’s dedication to cultivating this area demonstrates the retailer’s desire to become a primary destination for all family needs, whether fashion or furniture.

Compared to nearest rival Marks & Spencer, it is a food department shy of being a fully fledged department store.

Furthermore, despite representing only a fraction of the business at present, international expansion is also likely to play a bigger role in Next’s future strategy. New territories for Next include China, Brazil and Saudi Arabia, to name a few. In short, an even bigger market ripe with opportunity.

This does not, by any means, suggest that Next’s UK pillar will fall by the wayside. On the contrary, Next is doing everything it can to keep its native audience engaged. Aware that it has played it safe in the past, Next has made a commitment to revitalising ranges.

It is already increasing buying cycles from two seasons to four over the course of a year. The last quarter provides strong evidence of Next’s fashion ambition, with stronger communication of trends executed with gender-targeted appeal, such as neo-grunge styles for young female shoppers and 1930s ‘rugged heritage’ in men’s tailoring.

Most importantly, Next’s online outreach has been boosted by its social media interaction. The retailer is celebrating its 7,000 strong blogger network with a #ChangingRoomSelfie competition over the summer. Capitalising on the ‘selfie’ phenomenon, bloggers snap and share their favourite Next outfits from the comfort of a Next changing room.

It is a highly effective way of not only transmitting brand appreciation across multiple audiences, but also disseminating its reputation via numerous blogger communities that Next does not even have to directly manage.

Crucially, the success of the campaign will help to secure a generational influx of custom from younger shoppers for a retailer that has historically relied on a more mature middle-market consumer.

  • Anusha Couttigane is an analyst at Conlumino