Sainsbury's launches TU clothing range online

As part of its strategy to turn the fashion division into a 1 billion pounds business British supermarket chain Sainburys has lauched its TU clothing range online. The lauch comes as the retailer looks to accelerate growth under new chief executive Mike Coupe.

In May, Sainsbury’s revealed its slowest growth for almost a decade, with annual profits up by only 5.3% to 798m pounds in the face of fierce competition from discounters. There has been recent investment in the range that has seen the Tu design team double and the brand relaunched. “Now’s the right time to explore the online channel as a complement to our store business,” James Brown, Sainsbury’s non-food trading director told mail online. Further adding that the company had increased the number of its in-house designers to 30.

Robbie Feather, online director, said: “Our customers want to shop with us through a range of channels that allow them to shop whenever and wherever they want and they’ve been asking us to extend our online service to our clothing. The pilot will allow us to work with a group of customers to build the right customer experience.”

Fashion designer and body image expert Gok has also designed a collection for TU. The 34 piece collection priced between 10-40 Pounds is a versatile mix of elegant eveningwear, beautiful basics and chic workwear. The TU label will be initially available only to some customers in the Midlands with a UK-wide launch being planned for 2015.