House of Fraser to boost home with own-brands

House of Fraser is bolstering its home offer with an injection of own-brand categories, including furniture, soft furnishings and tableware.

Trading director Ann Gordon said the furniture range is being designed in-house, and will make its debut at stores next spring. The collection will have ‘modern classic’ design values.

As a precursor to Linea Furniture, Linea Tabletop will hit stores this autumn, and will feature china, glass and cutlery. The shopfit is to be finalised before the range launches on September 1.

Gordon said the brand extensions followed success with bed and bath areas, which delivered some of the best sales densities in its homewares section.

The retailer has reconfigured the home offer at its Oxford Street flagship, dropping big-ticket electrical items, such as washing machines, in favour of shop-in-shops devoted to niche brands like Gaggia and Alessi.

Gordon said HoF is slashing buying times in fashion, in response to customer demand for newness. Among the successful new brands in the portfolio are Sticky Fingers, and clothing from Irish duo Quinn and Donnelly.

For the year to January 31, HoF reported a profit before tax of£18.6 million, after charging£8.4 million for exceptionals arising from store closures. Like-for-like sales increased by 0.4 per cent.

Current like-for-like trading stands at 0.7 per cent. However, it would have been closer to 1.6 per cent were it not for the Bullring effect, which depressed trading at its refurbished Birmingham store.

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