All Hobbs articles
Hobbs is a contemporary women’s fashion brand operating at the premium end of the high street with collections covering clothing, footwear and accessories. In November 2017, Hobbs was acquired by South African retail giant the Foschini Group, which also owns Phase Eight and Whistles. Dedicated websites have been launched for Germany, Australia and the USA, with a physical presence also starting to be built up in key markets, mainly through concessions.
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News
John Lewis drafts in former Hobbs boss to board
John Lewis Partnership has appointed former Hobbs chief executive Nicky Dulieu as a non-executive director.
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News
N Brown appoints former Hobbs boss to non-executive role
N Brown has announced that former Hobbs chief executive Meg Lustman will join the fashion retailer as a non-executive director.
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Retail Navigator Analysis
Hobbs (Overview)
Hobbs is a contemporary women’s fashion brand operating at the premium end of the high street with collections covering clothing, footwear and accessories.
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Retail Navigator Analysis
Hobbs (SWOT)
Hobbs maintains its association with affordable luxury and has a loyal following among its core customer base of affluent, middle-aged and older women.
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Retail Navigator Analysis
Hobbs (Strategy)
Hobbs completed a three-year turnaround programme under former chief executive Meg Lustman a few years ago after an ill-judged attempt to appeal to younger shoppers backfired.
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Retail Navigator Analysis
Hobbs (People)
Key roles across TFG Brands (London) have become increasingly centralised and are detailed as part of the parent company profile.
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Retail Navigator Analysis
Stores at Hobbs
Multichannel development has been a big focus of late, but management has stressed that Hobbs’ stores will always remain a big part of the customer experience.
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Retail Navigator Analysis
Technology strategy at Hobbs
Hobbs has invested in a number of new technology solutions in recent years in order to achieve improvements in logistics, business intelligence and analytics. A seamless multichannel experience and personalisation plays a key role going forward. It is also working towards establishing a single view of the customer and exploiting customer data more fully.
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Retail Navigator Analysis
Hobbs (Financials)
Hobbs – which forms part of TFG (The Foschini Group) London – delivered a successful financial performance for the year to 25 March 2023 (FY2022).Total sales climbed 12.2% to £129.3m driven by strong UK trade, where revenues rose 12.6% to £116.4m.
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Retail Navigator Analysis
Ecommerce at Hobbs
Creating a seamless experience regardless of channel has been a high priority for the retailer and ecommerce is a central plank of Hobbs’ international expansion strategy.
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Retail Navigator Analysis
Customer and marketing at Hobbs
Hobbs offers “affordable luxury for the modern woman”. A contemporary British fashion brand, Hobbs operates at the premium end of the high street and is pitched somewhere between luxury fashion brands and midmarket high street fashion chains like Marks & Spencer and Zara.
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Retail Navigator Analysis
Supply chain at Hobbs
Hobbs’ UK supply chain hub operates out of a distribution centre in Park Royal, west London. It acts as Hobbs’ main distribution centre and also deals with returns.
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Retail Navigator Analysis
Hobbs (Outlook)
New partnerships with retailers such as M&S will be helping spur on Hobbs’ sales, which saw double-digit growth in the latest financial year despite its overall store numbers declining.
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Opinion
Move of the Week: Key fashion players bring relevance and style to M&S
The appointments of Fiona Lambert and Anna Braithwaite provide some welcome cheer for M&S’ clothing business.
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News
Hobbs boss to take dual role as Whistles MD steps down
Whistles boss Helen Williamson is to take early retirement after nearly six years with the retailer.
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Be Inspired
Listen: ‘Charity retail is my perfect job’
Head of shops for Crisis UK George Evans says retailers can learn from the often overlooked charity sector, on Retail Week’s Be Inspired Stories podcast.
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News
TFG management reshuffle as Hobbs’ Meg Lustman exits
The Foschini Group London is reshuffling its management team as Hobbs chief executive Meg Lustman exits.
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News
Hobbs bought by Phase Eight and Whistles owner Foschini
Phase Eight and Whistles owner The Foschini Group (TFG) has acquired upmarket womenswear retailer Hobbs for an undisclosed sum.
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News
Hobbs profits rise as turnaround plan bears fruit
Hobbs has posted an increase in full-year profits and sales as the retailer’s turnaround plan begins to pay dividends.
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Analysis
Data: The UK's top 30 multichannel retailers
In 2017, there aren’t many retailers that don’t operate an ecommerce site, but being a successful multichannel retailer is so much more than simply opening an online store.