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When George Davies started his Next chain of fashion shops over two years ago he may not have realised what a revolution he was putting in train. Based on the realisation that purchasing power had moved from the young to the older 25–45 woman, — “women,” he says, “who care about fashion first and price second,” the Next group by the end of this year will have 162 outlets trading including a handful in Germany. Naturally, he has not been without his imitators. Names like Now, Visuals, Look, Surprise and Principles proliferate; variety chains like BHS and Marks & Spencer have been forced to take a long hard look at their fashion ranges; even the department stores have faced up to a changing scene. In this special feature Penelope Ody makes a close examination of the effervescent fashion sector. And the future? It could be, she hazards, that the over‐50 will be the new flavour of the month.

The achievement of Next in changing the shape of UK high streets, in revolutionising both women's and men's fashion has been remarkable. In August came the launch of Next's latest development — Next Interior, with home decor and furnishings getting the same treatment. Next's chief executive, George Davies, outlined the concept and future plans to Penelope Ody.

A new self‐scanning system designed by Nixdorf was described at a recent Nixdorf conference held in Madrid, and is to be exhibited at Euroshop in Dusseldorf in February. Known as the Scan Tower, it is a checkout‐based system rather than a self‐scan trolley which forms the principle of the system introduced by Albert Heijn in Tilburg.

Zone at Harvey Nichols and the new Way In at Harrods both opened last autumn, aiming at high fashion shoppers who have traditionally spurned the conventional department store. Both opened to a blaze of publicity in magazines such as The Face (a favourite with the most avant of the avant garde), while prestigious design journals have waxed lyrical about the original shopfitting. But how do these new lifestyle departments really shape up to high street fashion competition?

From being a rather outdated and loss making men's wear chain, Hornes has emerged from the recent (mid‐1987) Sears takeover with a new high profile image, expansion plans and a strong fashion story to tell. RDM spoke to the firm's new managing director, Stuart Rowland, about its growth and prospects.

While most expanding UK retailers are still preoccupied with such issues as whether to open their next branch in Nottingham or Northampton or relocate the distribution warehouse from Watford to Warrington, a growing band of multinational operators are more likely to be simultaneously opening almost identical shops in Madrid or Malawi, San Francisco or Sao Paulo. Global retailing is not something that is going to happen in 1992 — it is here, now, and can present one of the greatest challenges to successful UK chains. A recent Management Horizons conference put the spotlight on internationalism.

Developing a new supermarket these days is expensive. Very expensive. With initial investment in the site alone often as much as £10 million, no company can afford to pick the wrong location. The need to improve siting techniques is the driving force behind Argyll's current investment in an impressive and extensive database, but the Company believes its use will extend far beyond the Store Research Department.

Retailing is sometimes defined as having the right goods in the right place at the right time. Latest developments in information technology can ensure that the supply chain runs even more smoothly and efficiently, to get those goods to the shelves even faster. This article reviews some of these developments in the context of the 1991 Retail Solutions conference.

Fourteen Consumer Advisory Centres are at present operating and many more are planned for the New Year. Encouraged by the Government and financed by local authorities, the Centres are primarily located in working‐class areas, thus providing a welcome change from a situation in which the professional middle‐class have dominated the consumer protec‐tion field. From a retailer's point of view, they need not be considered as focal points of dissension and breeding‐grounds for angry complaints. On the contrary, reputable retailers should welcome the emergence of the Centres; if the customer is well‐primed with information and can do her shopping intelligently, this will clearly lead to more satisfied customers and a more efficient transaction on both sides. In addition, the Centres should have an important role to play in dissuading shoppers from bringing unjustified complaints against the retailer.

The development of market segmentation over the past few years means that most retail companies now have a much shrewder idea of the customers they want to reach than they used to have. Unfortunately the media in which the retailers advertise are rarely so clearly targeted. So how effective is retail advertising? In a recent Management Horizons survey, a third of the retailers questioned thought that more than half of their advertising budgets were wasted; some top retailers admitted that their only test of advertising effectiveness was “gut feel”. Retailers have been big spenders on advertising for quite a few years; total retail advertising budgets are now running at around £510m. This could mean an awful lot of wasted money. With this in mind, Management Horizons recently put on a conference on the subject as part of its RIS Seminar programme. Speakers came from Benetton, J. Walter Thompson, Rich's, and Granada.