Lingerie specialist La Senza is to widen its product range and move into wholesale as it seeks to ramp up its business.
The retailer will introduce jewellery and hair accessories next week to 80 of its stores and has rolled out cosmetics, which trialled earlier this year, to 180 stores.
It is also testing children’s apparel in its new flagship Marble Arch store in London, following the launch of a children’s underwear range earlier this year. The range, called Chill, is already sold in the retailer’s Canadian stores.
The retailer has also clinched its first wholesale deal to sell its La Senza perfume in Boots stores.
Chief executive Rose Foster said it will open a further 20 stores before the end if its financial year to March 2009, including its largest to date at 5,300 sq ft in Westfield London. Foster said that none of the new stores would be as large as the one in Westfield London.
“New stores do not need to be big in the future, but they do need to be in the right location,” she said. “Some of our most profitable stores are the smaller Contessa stores we converted, which are between 500 and 1,500 sq ft.”
Foster said the retailer is positioned more favourably than most to cope with the downturn. “People might buy a smaller item in a slowdown and accessories go quite well,” she said.
La Senza has also appointed a new merchandising director, Nicky Davies, who moved from Monsoon.
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