Now they want to put the Ann
Summers label on everythong
By Jonathan Thompson
24 August 2003
Ann Summers, the self-styled "passion and fashion" shopping
chain which sells over two million vibrators to British women every year,
is diversifying into mainstream consumer products. It wants to market Ann
Summers-branded goods such as sandwiches, suitcases and even cars, from as
early as next year.
The retailer, best known for its lingerie, hosiery and sex toys, is
confident the brand is now strong enough to move into direct competition
with its more strait-laced high-street neighbours.
Jacqueline Gold, Ann Summers' chief executive, confirmed that the
company was "opening its doors to suitable lifestyle products",
and had already received interest from a number of manufacturers
interested in working with it.
"Ann Summers is such a powerful brand now, it's time to diversify
and think laterally - to use our brand name to develop well-matched
products," Ms Gold said. "If we do this, we will make Ann
Summers accessible to an even greater audience."
Ann Summers is likely to be viewed as an attractive business
proposition by a number of potential partners. Boasting 90 "passion
and fashion" stores across the UK, and with plans to open 60 more, it
has an annual turnover of £110m. The company is also the UK's biggest
party plan network, with 4,000 parties every week.
It's a far cry from the early days of the chain, which was founded on
London's Edgware Road in 1970 by Kim Caborn-Waterfield, an entrepreneur
who named the company after his buxom blonde secretary in the hope of
giving it an "English Rose" image. After an ill-fated early
attempt to expand to Bristol, the company went into liquidation and was
subsequently bought by brothers Ralph and David Gold for just £10,000. In
1993, David's daughter Jacqueline became chief executive.
Over the past three years, the company has expanded into Europe, taken
over the Knickerbox chain, and secured a high-profile "face" in
the shape of Nancy Sorrell, the model and wife of Vic Reeves.
Now, Ms Gold feels, it is time to push Ann Summers even further into
mainstream consciousness.
"Imagine having exciting Ann Summers ice-cream flavours, seductive
Ann Summers perfume and sexy Ann Summers silk bed sheets," said Ms
Gold. "Once we have the right products in mind, we'll then decide on
the sales platform. The possibilities are endless."
Retail experts believe Ann Summers has a realistic chance of succeeding
in its ambitious expansion. Richard Hall, the head of retail at Cap Gemini
Ernst & Young said there were "positives on all sides" for
the company.
"The challenge for Ann Summers is to understand how big the
opportunity for diversification is in comparison to their core
brand," he said.
"In other words, how popular lickable chocolate sauce will be
compared to their strong, well-known line of lingerie."
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