Zalando: ‘Instagram will be our biggest competitor’

European fashion retailer Zalando has said it has an unconventional competitor in the likes of photo-sharing app Instagram as the social platform moves further into the online retail space.

Zalando’s vice president of womenswear Sara Diez said the fashion retailer’s biggest future competitor will be Instagram rather than the likes of Asos and Amazon.

Diez said Zalando is often compared to fashion retailer Asos – though the European retailer is much bigger with 300 million site visitors a month – but said the two sites “complement each other” rather than compete with each other. 

“Instagram is inspirational and easy for customers to use,” Diez said. The former Nike senior director said she did not see Amazon as a competitor due to its current lack of fashionability.

Office latest high street retailer to mull CVA

Office is considering launching a CVA as part of a restructuring process which is expected to take place over the next few weeks.

The shoe retailer has appointed Alvarez & Marsal to restructure the business, Sky News reported.

The CVA is not yet set in stone as the footwear retailer could explore other restructuring options. It has more than 160 stores worldwide in the UK, Ireland and Germany and concessions in Topshop stores in New York, Las Vegas and Chicago. It is unknown if the CVA will affect international operations. 

Bonmarché management sell stakes to Day

Bonmarché’s management has sold its shares in the business to Philip Day, just weeks after telling shareholders to ignore the entrepreneur’s offer.

Chief executive Helen Connolly, finance director Stephen Alldridge and senior independent non-executive director Isobel Macpherson have all sold their stakes after the retailer’s third-largest investor Cavendish Asset Management disposed of a 10.8% stake last week.

Connolly sold 42,542 shares to Day for just over £4,868 last night while Alldridge made almost £58,245 for his 508,910 shares.

Day, the boss of Edinburgh Woollen Mill Group, which owns Edinburgh Woollen Mill, Peacocks, Jaeger and Austin Reed among others, picked up the shares through his investment vehicle Spectre Holdings.

The entrepreneur purchased 52.4% of Bonmarché shares in April, triggering a takeover bid.