Tag: UK

Potter advance orders top 2 million

Posted by | Jul 16, 2007 | |

More than two million people have pre-ordered copies of the seventh and last Harry Potter book to ensure they are among the first to discover the boy wizard’s fate. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is released next week, marking the final chapter in an extraordinary publishing phenomenon.

Such is the anticipation around the final book that worldwide pre-order sales have topped two million, according to Amazon.

The online retailer’s “muggle counter” stood at 2,000,516 books ordered and counting – well above the previous record of 1.5 million for the sixth installment, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

With legions of excited readers expected to be waiting by the front door for their copy, Royal Mail has revealed its plans for coping with the demand.

The company expects to deliver 600,000 editions of the blockbuster on its release date – on average, one copy for every 43 homes across the UK.

Royal Mail’s marketing director, Alex Batchelor, said: “We have been working closely with retailers for more than six months to plan our Harry Potter delivery operation with military precision.

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GLS announces positive result

Posted by | Jul 16, 2007 | |

General Logistics Systems B.V. (GLS) reported its 2006/07 results showing higher parcel volumes, sales and profits continuing the positive trend of the past years.

Revenues rose by 4.3* per cent to 1.6 billion euros, EBITA by 15.4 per cent to 179.4 million euros. Shipped parcels increased in 2006/07 by 7.7 per cent to 311 million. International shipments grew by 20 per cent – an especially strong growth rate that reflects GLS’ continued investment in, and development of, its European network.

Capital investment totaled 75 million euros in 2006/07. The larger investments included new hubs and depots in Germany, France, Denmark and Hungary. In addition, GLS made a number of acquisitions to increase its presence across Europe. In December 2006, the acquisition of ABX Belgium Distribution was completed strengthening the company’s presence in the important Benelux market. In Italy, GLS acquired three more franchise areas; thereby increasing the total number of GLS managed depots in Italy to 21.

In addition to investing in the physical network, investments and the continuing development of information technology remains an area of specific focus. GLS has replaced 12.000 scanners in the last financial year, is currently implementing new scanner technologies group-wide and is preparing an online link for its entire fleet of delivery vehicles, a measure that will accelerate shipment tracking to real-time.

In 2007/8, the group plans to increase its activities in Italy and Spain and to enter the Romanian market. The GLS group is targeting revenues of two billion euros and pre-tax profits of 200 million euros by 2009.

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Forecast GBP 28 bn online Sales by 2011

Posted by | Jul 14, 2007 | |

According to a recent study by retail analysts Verdict Research, online sales in the UK will almost triple over the next 5 years and they predict that online spending will reach GBP 28.1 bn in the UK by 2011 – equivalent to 8.9 pct of all UK retail spending.

The report reveals the fastest rate of growth in the online sector since the bursting of the dotcom bubble in 2001. In 2006, online retail spending in the UK grew by 33.4 pct , to a record GBP 10.9 bn, almost 13 times faster than the retail sector overall. (Verdict Research figures in this report exclude spending on services such as flights, tickets and insurance).

Despite the scale of this online opportunity, the report urges retailers to take care not to jeopardise the trust of their customers. Whilst we mentioned earlier that we’re pretty relaxed about spending GBP 2.3k online, not all online shoppers are like us and many shoppers still need great assurance that their financial details are safe online.

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Update on CWU strike action at Royal Mail

Posted by | Jul 13, 2007 | |

Royal Mail said the Communication Workers Union strike had slipped and remained extremely patchy with the percentage of people coming to work ranging from 5 pct to more than 60pct around the country. Royal Mail added that the network of 14,220 Post Offices was operating as normal.

The company said that, as ever, it is willing to meet the union at any time. Royal Mail met Dave Ward and Billy Hayes on Wednesday evening to explain again the company’s urgent need to change, as all its major rivals in the UK postal services market have already done, if it is to thrive in an increasingly tough marketplace. Chairman Allan Leighton and Chief Executive Adam Crozier set out the very serious competitive threat facing the company and its people but the union nevertheless decided to go ahead with a second damaging 24-hour strike which started at 7pm last Thursday.

Royal Mail has offered a package of pay which gives a basic pay rise of 2.5% for change as well as a GBP 800 dividend if we hit our targets – plus the opportunity to earn a 50:50 share of any savings over and above budget.

Mr Leighton called on the CWU to accept the absolute need to modernise and take off their block on local change in 250 operational units where changes have been agreed with our people and the union locally but blocked by the CWU at a national level.

Royal Mail remains very willing to meet the union at any time to explain the company’s position.

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TNT launches new division in UK multi-media market

Posted by | Jul 13, 2007 | |

TNT has announced the launch of a new division with the aim of taking the largest market share in the growing multi media and entertainments sector in the UK. The newly formed TNT Media & Entertainment Division already has a number of contracts, including partnerships with customers such as Universal and Pinnacle Arvato.

TNT co-ordinates daily deliveries of CDs and DVDs to more than 2000 UK retail outlets, and is expanding into providing tailored services for film, music and computer gaming distributors.

Danny Geach, the newly-appointed General Manager of TNT Media & Entertainment, said: “This is an attractive new vertical market for us with customers who distribute high volumes of items to the High Street which is an area where we can obviously excel”.

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