Matalan

Stores

Matalan's stores average 30,000 square feet (2,800 m²). The majority of Matalan's stores are based in out of town locations, based upon a concept that John Hargreaves discovered was successful in America, and that he launched in Preston in 1985. Each store is typically divided into four departments, Women's, Men's, Kids' and Homeware.

In 2010, the potential buyout of Matalan fell through after the companies interested could not meet the £1.5 billion price tag placed on the company by Hargreaves. An offer of £1.3 billion was rumoured to have been rejected. Following the breakdown in any buyout, plans were made by Hargreaves to invest more money into the Matalan brand. As well as investment into the stores in the United Kingdom, plans are in place to open a further 5/6 stores in Scotland and plans are also in place about the possibility of opening Matalan stores outside of the United Kingdom.

Matalan has been awarded for the third time with the Gold award at the Mumsnet Family Friendly awards. [1]

Matalan Reward Card

A card system is used within its stores. As the years went on they changed the system so that anyone could join and get a Matalan card for £1. In 2003, Matalan removed the £1 charge for the card, and the card is now free and no longer needed to process transactions.

The card acts as an incentive to customers by offering them:

In 2006, Matalan trialed a reward scheme using points on the Matalan card in Scottish stores. At the same time, a keyfob was introduced as an alternative to the card, similar to Tesco Clubcard. However Matalan did not roll out this scheme to the rest of the stores, and concentrated on offering more to the customer in store.

In 2014, Matalan launched a mobile reward card app, allowing customers to register using their existing card number or registering online.

M Cafe

During 2007, Matalan began to trial an in-store café concept, to attract more customers into stores. M Cafe's menu was based around healthy options, selling food and drinks with little or no sugar. The cafe itself was based around the shape of a coffee bean, with dark brown and stainless steel fittings creating a contemporary setting.

However, the cafés were later disbanded. The space at the trial stores, Stockport and Southport, have been turned into hearing aid centres, where customers can also get free hearing tests.

Concessions

In addition to their traditional stock management, Matalan operate a number of concessionary product offers in store. These include:

Brands

Matalan sell their own brands as well as other well known brands.

Men's

Ladies

Kids

Expansion

As the United Kingdom economic downturn took hold in late 2008, value retailers such as Matalan began to benefit from the more cost-aware spending of the United Kingdom consumer base, as well as the demise of rivals, such as Woolworths & Ethel Austin. This was in addition to store refurbishment, stock and marketing revision, and debt repayment. Increased revenue allowed Matalan to begin expanding again, and opening new stores for the first time in three years.

As well as expansion in the United Kingdom, Matalan have opened stores overseas, in countries including Jordan, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE.

Sporting Pro

Matalan own sports fascia Sporting Pro, which launched in September 2013. They have opened twelve stores across the UK in Walsall, Coleraine, Harlow, Colchester, Leeds (2 stores), Stockton, Sheffield, Stockport and Wakefield, and Kensington.

Sporting Pro offer a similar Reward Card scheme as Matalan. With the Sporting Pro card, 1% of all transactions will be donated to SportingPromise. Sporting Promise is partnered by Matalan and Sporting Pro, as well as the Youth Sport Trust and aims to ensure children across the country have access to sports activity in school.

Matalan took the decision to discontinue the Sporting Pro venture in 2015. All stores have now ceased trading.

Clearance stores

To make sure that season ranges are given full attention upon launch, Matalan converted a small selection of its stores into clearance outlets. These stores are stocked through stock uplifts from regular branches, where old stock is taken in mass (often the culmination of 2 or more sale periods) and supplied to clearance branches. Matalan dustbin stores are generally selected from branches that are nearing the end of their lease or are located in an area which is commercially viable for a store of a clearance nature. Matalan has clearance stores in Blythswood (Renfrew, near Glasgow Airport), Newport, Wood Green (London), Exeter and Sunderland. There are also stores in Portadown and Swindon, however these are both due to close.

Distribution

Matalan goods are distributed to shops from three distribution centres:

Rana Plaza Factory disaster

Matalan has received criticism for exploitative labour practices and for not living up to its responsibilities to workers who produce its garments. Matalan was amongst the companies who sourced clothes from the Rana Plaza factory in Bangladesh, which collapsed killing 1129 people in April 2013. In 2014, they were the focus of a campaign by 38 Degrees and Labour Behind The Label for failing to contribute to the official compensation fund co-ordinated by the ILO. This was in contrast to some of their main competitors, such as Primark who contributed $9 million. After pressure, they announced that they would contribute an undisclosed amount. It was later revealed that they had paid £60,000 in to the fund, which labour rights campaigns challenged as being an insufficient amount compared with other retailers.

Celebration Of Style

In November 2014, Matalan sponsored Celebration Of Style, a three-day event to celebrate fashion, art, photography and architecture in Liverpool (hometown of MD, Jason Hargreaves). The event was backed by Matalan and organised by Cricket Fashion co-founder, Justine Mills and Denise Harris of SK Events. Well known industry figures were in attendance including designer Matthew Williamson, British hair stylist, Andrew Collinge and fashion photographer, Tim Bret Day, as well as Matalan designer and ambassador, Abbey Clancy.