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Legendary British shoe chain with 326 stores launches 60% off ‘final clearance' sale after axing 1,200 jobs
A LEGENDARY British shoe chain has slashed prices in more than half after launching a "final clearance" sale.
The beloved retailer, with 326 stores across the country, has previously axed 1,200 jobs as it struggled to make profit.
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Clarks has launched a clearance sale with discounts of up to 60 per cent off.
The shoe chain has significantly reduced prices of stock that are out of season.
Shoppers can pick up a pair of sandals which are perfect for the summer for just a fraction of the price.
Bargain hunters will be also happy to find boots for the colder months selling for £70 less than the tag.
Whether you're looking for footwear to get you through the summer heat, or already preparing for fast-approaching autumn, Clarks has it all.
Customers can browse through the clearance section online and order delivery right to their doorstep.
It comes after Clarks has dropped 1,200 jobs in a bid to cut costs after revenues fell by nearly £100m in the latest financial year.
HEAVY LOSSES
The footwear specialists reported a £39.2m pre-tax loss, with sales down from £994.5m in 2023 to £901.3m over the latest tax year.
This comes after Clarks fell to a pre-tax loss of £39.8m in the 12 months prior.
The company revealed that an impairment of £32.1m of right-of-use assets and store property plant and equipment has "significantly impacted" annual results.
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PLAN FOR GROWTH
Clarks said that its 'focus is to return to sustainable sales growth combined with a cost-focused attitude to delivery healthy store profitability in 2025'.
'Significant changes have been made to the operations in the year to right size the overhead cost for the current business size, refocus the marketing approach, reposition the product assortment and set up the business for recovery and sustainable profitable growth in 2025," it added.
The shoe shop last reported a pre-tax profit when it posted a total of £35.9m for the 48 weeks to the end of 2022.
Clarks closed almost a dozen stores in 2024, including its stores at the Saddlers Shopping Centre in Walsall and the Grove Shopping Centre, Witham.
In 2023, the retailer closed seven stores, with shoppers describing the losses as a "terrible shame".
Why are retailers closing stores?
RETAILERS have been feeling the squeeze since the pandemic, while shoppers are cutting back on spending due to the soaring cost of living crisis.
High energy costs and a move to shopping online after the pandemic are also taking a toll, and many high street shops have struggled to keep going.
However, additional costs have added further pain to an already struggling sector.
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury's hike to employer NICs from April will cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
At the same time, the minimum wage will rise to £12.21 an hour from April, and the minimum wage for people aged 18-20 will rise to £10 an hour, an increase of £1.40.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has also warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year.
It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year.
Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR said: "The results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse set to come in 2025."
It comes after almost 170,000 retail workers lost their jobs in 2024.
End-of-year figures compiled by the Centre for Retail Research showed the number of job losses spiked amid the collapse of major chains such as Homebase and Ted Baker.
It said its latest analysis showed that a total of 169,395 retail jobs were lost in the 2024 calendar year to date.
This was up 49,990 – an increase of 41.9% – compared with 2023.
It is the highest annual reading since more than 200,000 jobs were lost in 2020 in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced retailers to shut their stores during lockdowns.
The centre said 38 major retailers went into administration in 2024, including household names such as Lloyds Pharmacy, Homebase, The Body Shop, Carpetright and Ted Baker.
Around a third of all retail job losses in 2024, 33% or 55,914 in total, resulted from administrations.
Experts have said small high street shops could face a particularly challenging 2025 because of Budget tax and wage changes.
Professor Bamfield has warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector.
"By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer's household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020."
