Sainsbury’s to launch third-party ‘fashion destination hubs’

Supermarket Sainsbury’s is launching new fashion destination spaces across nine of its stores that will offer a curated offering of complementary third-party brand partners alongside its Tu clothing ranges.

The fashion hubs will feature seven third-party womenswear brands, including Sosandar, Finery, Simply Be, Little Mistress by Vogue Williams, Thought, Burgs and Brakeburn from this September.

The move is to give customers more choices and will kickstart the supermarket’s plans to grow its branded proposition “at pace” over the next five years, as it continues its focus on “meeting its customer's evolving needs,” as well as helping to drive new customers.

In a statement, Sainsbury’s said that the plans are to create at least 50 ‘fashion destination hubs’ to support its ambitions to become a leading physical and digital destination for inclusive family fashion in the UK.

Sainsbury’s added that it will work closely with third-party brands to retail “exclusive product ranges and support the expansion of the broader clothing offering,” particularly across more specialist product areas such as curve, maternity, lingerie and tailoring.

Sainsbury’s to rollout third-party brands in-store to complement Tu clothing

The increased selection of fashion brands will also help cater to the demand Tu has seen while broadening the range of styles and price ranges to supplement its popular own brand range. With Sainsbury’s explaining that almost 40 percent of branded sales at Tu.co.uk this year has come from its contemporary clothing brand offer, where the platform features more than 30 brand partners.

Christine Kasoulis, clothing director at Sainsbury’s, said: “We’ve been harnessing the strength of our much-loved own brand range, Tu clothing, to successfully introduce fashion brands online over the last year. Building on the success we’ve seen at tu.co.uk, we’re delighted to launch our new fashion destination hubs to offer customers a curation of exciting brands when they shop with us in-store.

“We’re proud to be collaborating with so many brilliant partners that align to our values and who we hope will introduce new customers to our stylish Tu clothing range while giving our existing customers even more variety, whenever and however they choose to shop with us.”

Sainsbury's to offer Sosandar, Finery, and Simply Be in-store

The first nine Sainsbury’s stores to roll out ‘fashion destination hubs’ from September 24 to October 6 will be: Stanway in Colchester; Crayford in Dartford; Bybrook in Ashford; Longwater in Norwich; Calcot in Reading; Osmaston Park in Derby; Selly Oak in Birmingham; Sydenham in south-east London and London Colney in St Albans.

These stores were chosen for their high footfall and will range between four and seven of the brands.

Sarah Welsh, chief executive of retail at N Brown, which owns Simply Be, said: “We are delighted to have partnered with Sainsbury's, one of the UK's most established and well-known retailers. Serving a broad customer group in synergy with our brands' own target demographic, the partnership aligns with N Brown's core ethos of championing inclusivity and serving the underserved.

“We know from our own website how passionate our Simply Be customers are about fashion which truly fits. This new relationship will enable us to demonstrate the power of fashion and meet the needs of a wider audience - as a company which prioritises accessibility, this is extremely important. We're excited to begin working together and realise the positive outcomes of the partnership."

Touker Suleyman of Finery added: “We’re excited to launch Finery into Sainsbury’s stores, it’s a great first venture to enter the brand into retail space and give customers the opportunity to see and shop the product ranges.”