Despite a chequered history, descending from quintessential UK design icon of the 1960s and 1970s, enjoying international acceptance in the 1980s to spending much of the 1990s in deep trouble, Laura Ashley’s originally faltering but impressive 2000s revival is a textbook example of retail really being detail.

Despite a chequered history, descending from quintessential UK design icon of the 1960s and 1970s, enjoying international acceptance in the 1980s to spending much of the 1990s in deep trouble, Laura Ashley’s originally faltering but impressive 2000s revival is a textbook example of retail really being detail.

Moreover, recovery has been achieved in part by counter-intuitive and cyclical thinking, under the perhaps unlikely direction of Malayan United Industries (MUI) since the late 1990s, initially without UK market experience.

Some would argue that lacking preconceptions of traditional remedial action under evolving circumstances was a positive benefit, others that it delayed revival, but the truth perhaps is a beneficial mix of both.

Retail Week Knowledge Bank’s profile charts the changes through choppy waters of recovery. Suffice it to say that since the mid-2000s, product breakdown has settled at 80:20 in favour of furniture and furnishings over clothing, despite the clothing sector performing better than the struggling home fashion market.

However, there have been crucial shifts within furnishing’s 80%. Thus, decorative products have lately seen share driven by an increased focus on interior design in-store, but within a recently modified store realignment programme.

In terms of operational detail, Laura Ashley’s employment costs traditionally averaged an elevated 20% of sales, but recent action has seen a sharp reduction to below 17%. Moreover, previously falling sales densities have been recovering since 2008.

It took MUI time to get to grips with what was a complex business for its size, but success has been achieved, with the current focus on domestic market productivity plus exploiting international potential.  With Laura Ashley blossoming again 20 years after the early-1990s recession, there are no doubt retailers struggling in a similar manner after the latest recession that could benefit from some of the detailed lessons learned plus unconventional thinking applied. 

  • Robert Clark, Director, Retail Week Knowledge Bank    

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