Bhs
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- For other uses of the abbreviation, see BHS
Bhs (once known as British Home Stores and then BHS) is a long-established department store of the British High Street, selling clothing and household items (such as bedlinen, cutlery, crockery and lighting). Bhs competes on high-quality and value-for-money, aiming at a slightly less affluent demographic than Marks and Spencer or John Lewis. Currently the company has 182 Stores throughout the United Kingdom.
| Bhs Limited | |
  |
|
| Type | Private (Ltd) |
|---|---|
| Founded |  Brixton, London (1928) |
| Headquarters | Marylebone Road, London, UK |
| Key people | Philip Green (Managing Director) Paul Coackley (Finance Director) Tony Brown (Retail Director) Ian Allkins (Commercial Director) |
| Industry | Retail |
| Products | Clothing, Homewares & Restuarant Other |
| Revenue | £900m (04-05) £860.5m (05-06)£SOON (06-07) |
| Employees | 14,752 (2006) |
| Slogan | "Best on the High Street" "Modern Living, Made Easy" "For Girls with Attitude" |
| Website | Bhs UK: Bhs.co.uk Tammy: TammyFashion.co.uk |
[edit] History
The 1920s & 30s - The first British Home Stores shop opened in Brixton in 1928 and copied the business model of the US-based FW Woolworth in that the price of goods were limited to a miximum of one shilling. In 1929 the maximum price was increased to five shillings which enabled the company to expand the range to include furnishings and drapery. The company became a public company (Plc) in 1931.
The 1960s - After the Second World War the company stopped selling based-on price and started to offer goods with quality and value for money. In 1960 the company started an own brand called Prova and by the end of the 1960s had 94 stores.
The 1970s - The company expanded in the 1970s including a joint venture with retailer J Sainsbury Limited to create hypermarkets using the SavaCentre brand. By the end of the 1970s the store was now established as a department store.
The 1980s - A downturn in business in the early 1980s was fought with a revamp of the stores and the selling of goods with higher profit margins. In 1985 the first overseas franchise store opened in Gibraltar. Such stores, not directly owned by the Bhs company itself, now operate over Europe and the Middle East. In 1986, Bhs merged with Habitat and Mothercare to form Storehouse plc and soon afterwards, the British Home Stores registered company name and branding across its shops was replaced with BhS (now Bhs) and a new corporate logo.
[edit] The Green takeover
During the late 1990s the stores which formed Storehouse Plc fell on hard times, Bhs and Mothercare being the worst affected. Following a number of years tough trading Sir Philip Green bought Bhs from Storehouse Plc in May 2000 for £200 million. He then changed the company from public (Plc) to private (Ltd). In 2002 Green then went on to acquire the Arcadia Group of high street retailers; which includes Topshop, Burton, Evans, Dorothy Perkins and Wallis among others, to form Britain's second largest clothes retailer, after Marks and Spencer. Storehouse Plc who had also demerged Habitat back in 1992 now trades as Mothercare Plc and only operates Mothercare. Alan Smith, chairman of Storehouse at the time of the Bhs sale commented "He [Philip Green] had a crystal-clear vision and strategy. He had the guts to do the deal, to make it work when nobody else thought he could."
[edit] Etam UK Purchase, Amelie May and Tammy
In May 2005 Philip Green, owner of Bhs purchased Etam UK from their French owner, Etam Developpement. The Etam UK brands included "Etam", "Emily May" and "Tammy"; of the three brands names included in the purchase of Etam UK; the girls fashion retailer "Tammy" ('Tammyfashion.co.uk') having already established itself as a well respected girlswear brand "For Girls with Attitude" was the strongest brand in terms of sales and consumer recognition. For this reason and to help improve young peoples' perception of Bhs as a whole, stand-alone Tammy stores were closed nationwide and the brand was integrated into all Bhs stores across the UK from early September 2005. There are also some new lines in UK Bhs stores which carry a slight re-work of the "Emily May" brand, "Amelie May".
[edit] Return of British HOME Stores
In 2005, Bhs resurrected its 'British HOME Stores' fascia more than 20 years after it had disappeared from the UK high street. The move followed the purchase of several former Allders at Home sites from the defunct department store chain. As the name suggests, British HOME Stores are dedicated entirely to domestic items and home furnishing. Due to the success of these stores, there are more planned for the future. Effective from 14 January 2007 all of the 'British Home Stores' have all been structured together as one "region" within the company. As a whole the company has approx 12 regions.
[edit] Home Shopping
The company launched their new website which enables customers to shop online for the very first time on Wednesday 28th March 2007. Initially make wedding, schoolwear, homewares an gift vouchers are available to buy online although the ultimate aim is to make all of their products available online. For the lines currently not available to buy online the new-look site will provide a gallery offering visitors a glimpse at some of the products available in stores. Its understood the the company will effectively opperate their new web-shopping operation as a store (#8) in its own right; in that it'll be allocated its own branch number and support staff. Bhs.co.uk branding and information will be applied in-store over the coming weeks.
[edit] Changes to Store Format
Some stores in the core format of Bhs are currently evaluating a new department layout; with some departments, including menswear, growing and some decreasing in size. With this ongoing change. Larger homewares departments will also stock new bedding, lighting and bathroom ranges developed for the British HOME Stores fascia.
A number of sections within some of the main departments are being re-branded and are receiving new clothing lines to suit their (colour-based) themes. Tea Dance, 40s Romance, 40s Nostalgia, Classics, Core, Dennim Shop, English Heritage, Heritage, Simply Chic, Winter Berries, Baroque and Petites (note the addition of the "s") among others (depending on season) for example, made-up the 2006 women's fashions department. Recently, the older boys (8-16) department has been revamped with new, more fashionable clothing ranges added across most stores within the company. This new department range is called "Flipback". Flipback's aim is to appeal youngsters into the rebel, punk, skater boy type-image.
[edit] Specialised Departments
Bhs has a number of dedicated niche departments that include the school and wedding departments. In the wedding department a number of changes have recently taken place. A larger wedding range is now available in selected stores and parts of the range ("esstentials") are available in other stores. The schoolwear shop ("Bhs School") department received a major design and range review mid-2006 and with its new "short, tall, big or small... we've got it all!" slogan and promises to "Fit the Nation". Additionally, each store is now customising their uniform offerings to cater for the most popular colour combinations used by schools in the locality.
[edit] Brand Imaging and Revamps
At present there are a number of corporate designs being used by Bhs, this is caused by the company's policy of refurbishing and applying new branding to the better (financially) performing stores first and slowly working down the store "league table" thereafter. Generally speaking those stores with the most up to date facia (black and white) are among the best performing within the business. Those with the facia prior to this are stores which are or have been performing fairly well. Stores which are still using facias dating back to the 80s and early 90s are generally the worst performing stores within the business.
Bhs are currently in the process of rolling out a revamped brand image for its stores. Gone will be the 1980s facias and the Bhs greys, greens and curved store signage from the 90's - in come the black and the white. Examples of this can already be seen by both the internal and external presentation of their newer stores, like those purchased from collapsed firm Allders in 2005 and better performing stores such as Kingston. This move appears to be quite a trend for high street retailers, with rivals Debenhams and Next already having a similar simple black and white corporate design.
Many departments within the stores themselves will soon be receiving (or have recently received) a brand revamp. Departments receiving the updated branding include Women’s and Men’s Fashions, Sportswear (soon to be Leisurewear), Petite (now Petites), School and Shoe Shop. Riviera (Bhs's holiday shop brand) received a revamp last year. The Bhs School website has also received a revamp to reflect its new brand identity; following suit with its online presence at least is Tammy who have also launched a new look website.
[edit] Christmas Shop
Bhs is renowned among many of its customers for offering a fair value Christmas shopping experience - and the queues around the Christmas period speak for themselves. During the 1st week of October each year the Christmas shop is rolled out in Bhs stores nationwide; in most cases this replaces a section of womens fashions until just after Christmas. During this period Christmas shop offer a wide range of novelty, gift, decoration and food items to consumers in addition to the usual Bhs clothing and homewares lines. Additional temporary staff are taken on from late September right up until December, the some often being retained on a permanent basis after this should the store have any vacancies to fill. Each year a new Christmas cuddly toy is launched, normally taking the form of a bear. Christmas 2005 brought about Parker the Bear and Christmas 2006 had Bertie Bear and Toby Terrier.
[edit] Kelly Hoppen
Kelly Hoppen is a internationally renouned interior designer - who advisises the Beckhams among others on their interior furnishings and decor. The "KHome" range has now been fully integrated into the home and lighting departments in all Bhs stores. The KHome range offers two styles, "Classic" and "Glamour". Products include cushions, towels, vases, accessories and lighting. Customers can also order sofas, dining tables and chairs, side tables and Headboards in store with credit available. The Kelly Hoppen range is normally higher priced than the standard Bhs Home Range.
[edit] Bhs Goldcard
The Goldcard, is the Bhs combined payment and discount card, administered by GE Capital Bank. The card is also a used as a loyalty discount card. Card users are invited to exclusive and regular Cardholder Events (often one per month) when further discounts are available. The Bhs Goldcard is accepted in all Bhs (including Tammy) and Arcadia Group stores.
[edit] Bhs Everyone Card
A number of changes are planned for the Bhs Goldcard over the next couple of years which will involve the existing card evolving into the "Bhs Everyone Card" and the Choice card scheme which dates back to the 80s ending. The new all-in-one Everyone card will be available in two different versions. One of them being similar to the current Goldcard, in that it can be used in Bhs and Arcadia stores (Everyone Card) and the other will incorporate Mastercard, and will so be able to be used anywhere (Everyone Mastercard). Changes will also be made to the methods of applying discounts - regular discount vouchers will be provided rather than working up percentage levels.
[edit] Management Structure, Offices and Distribution
Bhs in the UK is split up into a number of regions, each region is headded by one RDE (Regional Development Executive), each store then has a store manager and assistant manager along with departmental, admin, loss prevention, weekend and visual managers. Bhs has a number of administration offices across the UK, alongside the company's main head office in Marylebone, London; offices are also located at Euston, London and Luton, Bedfordshire. The company's distribution centre is located at Atherstone, Warwickshire and is managed by Excel Logistics, web-based orders are also dispatched from this location by DHL.
[edit] Bhs International
The Bhs brand is used by a number of stores around the world on a franchise basis and although they are not directly owned by Bhs Ltd, products and support are supplied by the company. While Bhs have been offering franchises to interested parties internationally since 1985, the Tammy brand is now available as a stand-alone franchise in the international markets. In early 2006 a new franchise concept "Bhs Kids" was launched in the Middle East. Bhs Kids carries a large number of best selling children's lines from Bhs stores.
[edit] Difficult Trading Conditions and Financial Performance
Bhs revealed that their operating profits for the financial year 2005-06 have plunged 54% to just £42.2m down from £106m the previous financial year. This figure is even lower than that predicted by the firm earlier this year, who had speculated that operating profits were expected to be down by around a third. In the previous financial year which saw Bhs's operating profits at £106m was down 6% on the year before that. For the 2004-05 year Mr Green admitted that he took his eye off the ball at Bhs whilst he tried to take a tilt at Marks & Spencer and to focus on his more successful businesses such as Topshop/Topman and Burton in 2004. This was worsened by poor purchasing decisions resulting in "poor products" for the same trading year - Since then however, Mr Green has taken a more hands on role with regards to purchasing and changed some of the senior management team.
Over the last year, the new Bhs product ranges appear to have taken some time to filter into their stores, although these are now appearing in most stores, which in turn has left the business with a large selection of reduced, unsold stock from previous year(s) which is reflected in the sales which appear to be never-ending throughout their UK stores.
Bhs has been squeezed by the ascent of discount retailers such as Primark, as well as supermarkets Tesco and George @ Asda. The large purchase of ex-Littlewoods sites by Primark is expected to further worsen Bhs's market position with many Primark stores expected to open nearby existing Bhs stores throughout large parts of the UK (even though Bhs purchased 6 Littlewoods stores themselves!)
Older shoppers want to be more fashionable, and critics say Bhs has failed to fully move with the times. Its problems are compounded by the cut-throat retail climate, which has even hit high street favourites such as Next. Bhs say they are currently revamping their product range and many sale lines are now offered in their stores.
Despite these difficult times for the company, Bhs has continued to roll out more stores nationwide - including Nuneaton in Warwickshire and Llandudno, Wales. The company are also beginning to work on the refurbishment of their older stores more pro-actively as a growing number of customers see the stores as being "old fashioned".
Through no legal requirement, but as a relatively "open" privately owned business, Bhs tends to announce it's financial performance for the previous year at the beginning of April, when it's new financial year begins - the financial year is made up of thirteen periods of four weeks each.
[edit] Bhs for Sale?
According to ('thisismoney.co.uk') Bhs owner Philip Green had been touting Bhs as being for sale late February/early March 2006, but this came to nothing. Other rivals including Asda and Debenhams were contacted regarding any interest they might have in purchasing the chain. Retail executives say that Green has mooted various combinations including joint ventures or outright sale. The article also (quite rightly) states that "In the current tough market, most chains have enough on their plate and don't want to risk taking on even more stores." - which is most likily the reason why no interest was shown by any of the parties contacted.
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- 'Bhs Past & Present', Bhs.co.uk (2001). Retrieved March 29, 2007.
- IIIL. 'Hungary, a new emerging economy', New Nations, 66 (Monmouth: International Industrial Information Ltd., 22 October 2002). Retrieved January 2, 2006.
- 'Green's Bhs sale comes to nothing', ThisIsMoney.co.uk (2006). Retrieved April 11, 2006.
- 'Green admits mistakes at Bhs', ThisIsMoney.co.uk (2006). Retrieved April 11, 2006.
- 'Green humbled by Bhs profits', ThisIsMoney.co.uk (2006). Retrieved September 28, 2006.
- Company History
- Companies House English Company No. 2290606 Incorporated 12 April 1928
