I notice that Boohoo (LON:BOO) have got the new Debenhams website running.
It seems to be offering all the Boohoo brands, the Debenhams brandsand Home and Living. I'm not sure what I think of it at the moment. It doesn't seem to have quite the same level of polish that the other Boohoo websites have.
BoohooMAN seems to be primarily aimed at the young BAME community:
https://www.debenhams.com/cate...
As an investor (I hold) who is neither young nor BAME I am not sure if this is a positive or negative branding policy but it is an interesting angle for them to take.
Gostevie
I used to buy quite a lot of my clothes from Debenhams but on first look it is not good. The website is very basic and a lot of the products have few details.
Also they seem to have dropped most of the brands they used to carry and filled it mainly with the boohoo ones which don't appeal to me.
Presumably it will improve over time but for now I will avoid.
After comparing a couple of items listed on Debenhams and other Boohoo websites, the Debenhams site seems to be missing Details and Care information. Also pricing on both items was different - the base price was the same but both the Boohoo websites had the items discounted for sale.
It's a missed opportunity, this website. There is no real attempt (in my view) to create a distinctive Debenhams feel or identity. Nothing about brand values, or the story of Debenhams (which is long and interesting) or simply "this is what Debenhams has to offer you." You can argue that people shop for clothes, not a narrative, but it doesn't have to be either/or. Any as you say the same is repeated for the clothes themselves, there is nothing really other than a photo and the price.
As an example, when you go to see what is "just in" for women you are offered "1691 Products" what is the point of that? "Just in" ought to be an opportunity for a selection of items that show off the best of the brands and/or are relevant to the new season, making you want to browse them for inspiration. You can't browse over 1,000 items that's ludicrous.
I'm acutely aware that (a) I'm not the target customer and (b) Boohoo (LON:BOO) is a successful business while Debenhams is in administration, so what do I know? My main conclusion is that the incremental impact of Debenhams will be less than hoped. It will just me another route through to product ranges that already have their own websites, rather than bringing in a new demographic.
LTH of Boohoo (LON:BOO) here and I agree, on a very superficial scan through the Debenhams and Debenhams for Men sites as linked above, I'm very disappointed.
OK - they now own all the Debenhams shopper data so they are able to show these, potentially "new" people, the Boo Hoo range but surely to get maximum value from having multiple websites it's all about differentiation.
Early days, maybe.
I think we will see some of the downsides of having made multiple acquisition of brands in short order. If you think of multiple acquisitions of businesses, these often have cultural and economic pitfalls when squeezed under new management. It is not going to be a plug and play deal to acquire brands in an online environment either.
That said it will be interesting to see the initial results of this strategy
I hold
Totally agree with the comments below,
I thought the acquisition of Debenhams would give them access to the, ahem, more mature market, the late 30s+ demographic - people with money and class where the likes of Karen Millen would be able to shine.
It appears all they have done is dumb down Debenhams to the no money demographic but used Debenhams as a one stop shop for all of the brands with no differentiation and no upmarket appeal. They’re going to lose any brand cachet of their better margin brands through association with the cheap tat.
Interesting the product descriptions don’t even tell you what material the item is made of from my quick look - or have a filter eg cotton or wool jumper. Also I thought they would be selling more than just clothes? 36 soft furnishings and duvet sets is sad looking.
This website can only get better and until them they will put off a lot of shoppers and generate a lot of returns.
Looks to me very much like an interim arrangement. Boohoo and Dot Perkins and many of the other sites are still up and running.
