MOTA list of members
Otto UK Home Shopping
Redcats (UK) PLC
Catalogue Brands
Group information
Who are we?
A global leader in home shopping
A member of PPR, Redcats boasts a stable of world-renowned home shopping brands. Our big-book catalogues - La Redoute in France, Ellos in Scandinavia, Chadwick's and Lane Bryant Catalog in the United States - are leaders in their respective markets. Specialty catalogues aimed at selected customers include Vertbaudet, Somewhere, Cyrillus, Daxon, Edmée, and La Maison de Valérie in France, Roaman's, King Size and Brylane Home in the United States.
Thanks to this brand line-up, we cover a wide range of merchandise categories, from personal apparel, home and lifestyle and leisure accessories through to gifts for all the family.
Drawing on a multichannel distribution network combining catalogues, e-commerce and stores, Redcats focuses on extending its brands into new categories, increasing their prominence and professionalism, and asserting its leadership as a global powerhouse in home shopping.
Key figures:
- 19,000 associates
- 17 brands
- 2004 Consolidated sales: €4.4 billion
- Present in 18 countries
- 52.4% of sales generated outside France
Please use the main catalogue brand websites for customer enquiries, requests for catalogue and all matters concerning the catalogues.
General contact point for Redcats UK Group:-
Telephone. 00 44 (0) 1274 729544
e-mail: contact@redcats.co.uk
J.D. Williams & Co Ltd
JD Williams is the home shopping division of the N Brown Group - a leading direct catalogue specialist in the UK with over 140 years of experience in the distance shopping market.
The company manages more than twenty catalogue titles, aimed at three distinct customer groups – younger (30-45), midlife (45-65) and older (65 plus).
JD Williams offers niche products to niche customer groups, principally in clothing, footwear, household and electrical goods.
The company’s strategy is to focus on specific customer groups and product niches, with particular expertise in larger sizes and wider fittings for customers age 45 and over.
There is regular communication with customers through catalogue and brochure mailings, and increasingly via e-mail, keeping the offer fresh and front of mind. The company trades with several million customers each year.
Each of the catalogue titles has a fully integrated and transactional website, providing an even wider range of offers and products than in the catalogues.
The company is continually looking for extensions to the niche product ranges and innovative ways in which to take the message to market.
Key facts:
- Largest direct catalogue specialist in UK
- 20 catalogue brands
- Each brand has a fully transactional website
- Group sales of £460m in 2004/5
- 50,000 product options each season
Visit N Brown Group www.nbrown.co.uk for latest financial summary and background to group businesses.
Registered companies and trading titles:
Ambrose Wilson Ltd t/a
Candid Collections Ltd t/a
Classic Combination Ltd t/a
Fashion World Ltd t/a
Heather Valley Woollens Ltd t/a
Oxendale & Company Ltd t/a
Sander & Kay Ltd t/a
J D Williams & Company Ltd t/a
- J D Williams
- Fifty plus
- Classic Detail
- Special Collection
- Christmas Gifts
- Discount World
- Petfoodnstuff
- Crazy Clearance
Next Directory Ltd
The launch of the NEXT retail chain in February 1982 had a major influence on High Streets throughout the UK, shaping the future of fashion retailing. The continued success of NEXT's unique and innovative shopping concept has provided the company with an outstanding record of achievement in a comparatively short period of time.
The first store opened with an exclusive co-ordinated collection of stylish clothes, shoes and accessories for women. Collections for men, children and the home quickly followed. NEXT clothes are styled by the in-house design team to offer consistency of style, quality and value for money with a contemporary fashion edge.
Today NEXT trades from over 380 stores in the UK and Eire and 80 franchise stores overseas. Over the last few years several larger format stores have opened across the UK and, in the winter of 2005, NEXT will be the anchor store at the new Manchester Arndale Centre with a store in excess of 80,000 square feet.
The ground-breaking mail order operation NEXT Directory launched in 1988 with a hardback book containing 350 pages, creating the blueprint for catalogue retailing. There are over 900 pages in the Autumn/Winter 2005 book offering extensive collections for men, women, children and everything for the well dressed home. Online shopping was introduced in 1999 and the entire book is available to shop from on the internet, page by page - another first in Home Shopping in the UK.
NEXT continues to improve customer service introducing new initiatives such as next day delivery as standard for NEXT Directory orders placed before 5pm. Customers may collect or return unwanted items at any of 380 stores nationwide should this be more convenient and a new in-house delivery service has been set up to deliver large Home items with the ability to deliver at weekends. As well as ordering on-line, customers are able to check their accounts and make payments this way.
Express Gifts Ltd
- Studio
- Ace
- Webb Ivory
- Miller Fundraising
- Pendle Vale
Express Gifts is the home shopping catalogue division of the Findel Plc, retailing direct to the consumer. The Company has been in operation for over 40 years and is based in East Lancashire with Call Centres / Warehouses in Accrington, Clayton, Shaw, Chadderton, Preston, Burnley, Nelson and Raddcliffe.
The prime Direct mail order catalogue brand names are Studio and Ace through which it offers the option of structured credit. Historically the catalogues focused predominantly on Christmas products, i.e. cards, wrapping paper, decorations, toys, confectionery etc, but in recent years the product range has significantly expanded to include kitchen and household goods, audio and visual equipment, occasional furniture as well as innovative gifts and gadgets.
Whilst a significant proportion of sales are still in the months leading up to Christmas Express Gifts have, in more recent years, moved to become an all year round business. With the introduction of structured credit in 1995 and additional catalogues offering a much expanded product range the Company has experienced significant growth in the number of actively trading customers. In addition the Company is able to offer a full range of financial services to meet its customer's needs.
With its Webb Ivory and Miller brand names Express Gifts operate catalogues through which fundraisers can raise monies for charities and good causes of their choice, e.g. Scouts, Guides, Churches, Schools and Playgroups.
A unique selling offer available through all catalogues is the opportunity to personalise many of the gift items, including engraving, embroidery and etching with a name or message of the customers' choice.