La Senza (UK)

The news last week was that La Senza (The UK operation) has called in KPMG for ‘restructuring’.  There are some who may see this development as a Bellwether for women’s retail.  They would be wrong.

Hewson Group quite like La Senza.  The brand name is good and in the shops it’s quite nice really.   But that’s the problem.   La Senza has little going for it other than being …quite nice.   The shops are wholly undifferentiated in design and atmosphere.  The merchandise might as easily be acquired on the internet and there is no recognition of the deeper product range that might be suggested by Women Sex and Shopping.  The staff are also quite nice but highly qualified service is not really in evidence. In all our research to date only a handful of women have ever mentioned La Senza as a shop that matched their ideal shopping environment.

Quite nice is not good enough.  Not for La Senza or for anyone else who wants to compete n Pleasure Goods.