The retail week

The best fashion retailers are constantly reinventing their offer as tastes change. For probably the best example, see the story on River Island and its 50 per cent jump in profits, which features on the front page of today's Retail Week.

The transformation from Lewis Separates to Chelsea Girl to River Island is well documented, but River Island itself has changed, with the nautical themes which dominated 15 years ago a distant memory. Lots of retailers talk about masstige - mass-market prestige - but River Island does it better than anyone and its stores look great.

Next is another fashion retailer that is constantly evolving. Being a mid-market player fundamentally, it is constantly being squeezed from all directions yet always manages to keep growing by offering what mid-market consumers want and making them feel special.

So what are we to make of Next's poor trading figures, released yesterday? A 9 per cent fall in like for likes can't just be attributed to a late Mother's Day and Easter - especially when that figure excludes stores affected by Next's mammoth store opening programme.

The resurgence of Marks & Spencer cannot have helped Next's cause. The two operate at a very similar level in the fashion market and the improvement in M&S's ranges will undoubtedly have hurt Next. The growth in the value sector will inevitably have squeezed Next too and put pressure on its pricing.

Next's announcement today that it is planning to trial a new store fit is a sensible response. Compared to its rivals, many of its stores - excluding the outstanding new one in Manchester - look a little dated. A fresh new look could work wonders. There's no real cause for alarm here though. Like River Island, Next is an expert at reinventing itself. It may not have had its eye entirely on the ball in recent months, but yesterday's figures could have been just the wake-up call it needs.

Yesterday's numbers from Morrisons were every bit as bad as expected. Now the integration of Safeway is done, however, there is no excuse for things not to improve dramatically this year. The key is getting a new chief executive in place quickly. Integrating Safeway was hard enough without all the boardroom wrangling that has dogged the company over the past year. There needs to be one clear vision at the top of the company - and someone with a free hand to execute it.