LONDON — Adult retailer Ann Summers is launching click-and-collect later this month and will soon begin piloting the use of in-store tablets as information and order points.
Click-and-collect, a relatively simple concept that has gained popularity in recent months, gives customers the opportunity to purchase an item online and then personally pick it up at a brick-and-mortar location.
“The continued journey to being an integrated multichannel business providing our customers with a variety of ways to shop whether that be in-store, online, on mobile or at a party, is absolutely a priority as we continue to grow the business,” Ann Summers CEO Jacqueline Gold told Retail Week.
The U.K.-based company posted a full-year profits dip: its pre-tax profits dropped to £2.4 million in the 52 weeks to June 29, 2013, against £4 million in the 53-week period in the prior year. Retail Week also reported that sales fell 2.5 percent to £115 million as its party plan sales declined.
In response, Ann Summers says it is undertaking an overhaul of it party planning business. Gold said the changes, which include a systems update, would improve the ease with which its party planners could do business with Ann Summers.
Following the relaunch of its website last year, Ann Summers reported rising online and retail sales. Gold noted the “Fifty Shades of Grey” trilogy was still helping to boost the retailer.
Ann Summers is now eyeing international growth in the year ahead as it launches with eBay across Europe, the U.S. and Australia.
