History
The company was founded by Joseph Hepworth in Leeds in 1864 as a tailor under the name of Joseph Hepworth & Son.
In 1982 Hepworth & Son acquired Kendall & Sons Ltd, a Leicester based rainwear and ladies fashion company from Combined English Stores. The intention was to redevelop the Kendall's stores as a womenswear chain of shops. Terence Conran, the designer, was Chairman of Hepworth's at this time and he recruited George Davies, who went on to become Chief Executive of NEXT.
The first NEXT shops opened on 12 February 1982, with the Kendall's conversion complete by the end of 1983.
Made chief executive in 1984, Davies then converted the 50 Hepworths stores to the NEXT format, extending the total concept look at the same time to cover menswear. This allowed the development mini department across the entire footprint, selling women's and men's and clothes. This was added to by the introduction of NEXT interiors to stores which were deemed in the "right demographical areas." In 1986, Davies moved the groups headquarters from Leeds to Leicester, to be closer to the main garment manufacturers. The groups name changed to NEXT plc.
In 1987, the group acquired Combined English Stores and the Grattan catalogue company. Extending first to introduce NEXT childrenswear, Davies then introduced the NEXT Directory.
By 1988, "after seven years of growth, Next had over- expanded suicidally" .. "some stores were not bringing in enough to pay the rent." Davies was sacked and the share price fell to 7p. Chairman Sir David Jones, accused him of being egotistical and taking Next to the verge of bankruptcy.
In Autumn 2009, Next launched an online catalogue for the United States offering clothing, shoes and accessories for women, men and children.
Operations
Next has three main channels: Next Retail, a chain of 500+ retail branches in the United Kingdom and Ireland; Next Directory, a home shopping catalogue and Website with more than 2 million active customers, and Next International, with 180+ international stores.
Its other businesses include Next Sourcing, for own brand products; Lipsy, which designs and sells its own branded younger women's fashion products through wholesale, retail and Website channels.
In 2011 Next trialled a new 'concept' store at Shoreham-on-sea. The 56,000 square-foot Next, Home & Garden store also housed a Starbucks concession. Following the success of the concept, a similar 40,000 square-foot store will be opening in March 2012 in Martlesham retail park, Ipswich, in the now defunct Focus DIY store. The store will also contain a Starbucks.
In July 2010, a BBC investigation found Next was breaking the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 by billing customers for its delivery costs even if goods were returned within the seven working days. A spokesman for Next admitted that they had been doing this for three years but promised to comply by August 2010. Trading Standards said that the DSRs had been in force for ten years, and there was no excuse for not adhering to them. "Although the majority of businesses ..are law-abiding, there is a small minority that are not and those are the companies we need to take action against."
Prices charged in Ireland have attracted criticism. Next was one of four retailers accused of failing to pass on exchange rate savings to shoppers in the Republic.
All non UK and Ireland stores with the exception of Copenhagen, Denmark are franchises. One of the largest franchises is in Japan, operated by Xebio.
Logos and marketing
Until circa 1991 Next used a lower case Courier-style typeface in black against a white background for its logo. This was replaced by the capitalised NEXT logo in a Roman-serif style type face. There were some variations of this such as the logo with each letter of NEXT in an individual square and in some stores in 2005/6 had the Next logo in a varying blue & black background with "X's" printed on them, as opposed to the black background. In addition, some variations in typeface occurred during the logo's use – including similar fonts that had serifs positioned above the "T" crossbar, similar to Garamond and others that had more in common with Times New Roman. In 2007 a new next logo was introduced, although the previous logo continued to be used until stock was exhausted.
Next clothing often carries reference to the origins of the company in 1982 with use of "82" or "1982" as a design feature on clothes in all ranges.
Prior to 2007 Next only advertised immediately prior to a sale, usually through brief television spots and newspaper advertising. In 2007 following a "disappointing" 7.2% fall in like for like sales, it announced it was investing "£17 million over the next three years to revive its existing stores and product offering" + an additional £10m for marketing. Yasmin Le Bon who modelled in the first Next Directory in Spring 1988 featured in an on-line fashion show.
In September 2007, to celebrate its 25th anniversary, Next launched its first television campaign in 12 years named 'Ali's Party' with the song 'Suddenly I See' starring Brazilian supermodel Alessandra Ambrosio. All extra casts were Next employees, otherwise nicknamed 'nextras'. A second advert featuring Ambrosio, was screened in November 2007 and the songs were regularly played instore during the campaign.
An advert directed by Ben Watts and filmed on the banks of the river Seine was shown in September 2010 to reflect the season’s Parisian chic styles. It was soundtracked by The Specials’ "A Message to You, Rudy" and starred Brazilian model Emanuela de Paula and Spanish actor Jon Kortajarena.
Official website
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