THE Woolworths name is back in business this morning.
Speke-based Shop Direct Group, owner of the Littlewoods catalogue range, has launched its new Woolworths website to a potential audience of millions of customers.
The company’s chief executive, Mark Newton-Jones, also revealed the firm has ambitions to export the Woolworths name, together with some of its associated brand names.
Today’s launch comes just five months after Shop Direct bought Woolworths name from receivers after the high street retailer collapsed into administration at the end of last year.
Mr Newton-Jones said: “It’s been an incredible 20 weeks.
“It shows how you can bring an online business alive in a really short period of time.
“We feel very confident about this launch because we have used Woolworths customers to tell us how they want us to rebuild the brand.”
Around 1m customers responded to Shop Direct’s market research about its new Woolworths website.
The new website will offer four principal product types, childrenswear, toys, entertainments and technology, including DVDs and iPods, and party goods, including fancy dress. When all book and DVD titles are included, the new website will offer 500,000 products.
“We are going to be much more focused than Woolworths used to be. Instead of trying to sell something to everybody, we are going to be much more targeted,” said Mr Newton-Jones.
Shop Direct will be relaunching the childrenswear brand Ladybird, initially selling 300 lines. It is also planned to sell Ladybird branded clothes through concession arrangements in 20 overseas countries, including China, India and Australia. The Woolworths website will also target ex-pats living in some of Europe’s major economies, including France and Germany.
Mr Newton-Jones added: “We are going to start with 300 Ladybird lines, which is as many as Woolworths ever had. But we expect to expand that to 600.
“We will do other products as well, such as nursery furniture like cots and bedding.
“In the future, we hope to launch a Ladybird retro range, things like pushchairs and car seats using the Ladybird logo as their design.
“This is a strong brand. Customers have said they want us to bring it back, but want to see it offer better quality.
“We have upgraded the product range significantly, but we are selling it at a similar price to those seen in the old Woolworths.”
