{"id":359249,"date":"2026-03-26T14:14:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T14:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/359249\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T14:14:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T14:14:14","slug":"next-says-middle-east-conflict-could-raise-prices-by-up-to-10-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/359249\/","title":{"rendered":"Next says Middle East conflict could raise prices by up to 10% | Next"},"content":{"rendered":"

The boss of Next<\/a> has said that clothing prices could rise by 4% to 10% if conflict in the Middle East extends into the autumn and factories are hit by higher fuel and fabric costs.<\/p>\n

Simon Wolfson said the clothing and home retailer had so far seen little disruption to its supply chain. While container ships are being delayed by up to two weeks as they travel slowly to save fuel, he said the company already held enough spare stock to prevent gaps on shelves.<\/p>\n

He said these costs could amount to \u00a315m if the conflict lasts three months and prices could begin to rise by about 1% from June or July if disruption dragged on until then.<\/p>\n

Lord Wolfson added that Next was offsetting additional costs on fuel and air freight with savings elsewhere and it did not expect any affect on profits for the year ahead.<\/p>\n

He said that if the conflict continues into the autumn there would be \u201ca more significant increase in prices\u201d to pass on an increase in the cost of good of between 4% and 10% and his main concern was about the price and availability of fuel for factories.<\/p>\n

He said the increase was \u201cunlikely to be as much as\u201d 10%, given that retailers and suppliers would make savings to mitigate the impact.<\/p>\n

The boss of rival fashion retailer H&M also said that a prolonged conflict could have a \u201csignificant impact\u201d on consumer spending.<\/p>\n

Daniel Erv\u00e9r, the chief executive of the Swedish chain, told Reuters: \u201cA continued conflict, such as with continued high energy prices, will create inflationary pressure on a consumer who already has tough inflationary pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite Wolfson\u2019s warning on the effects of the conflict, Next upped its profit guidance by \u00a38m to \u00a31.2bn for the year to January 2027 after better than expected sales in January this year. It said the guidance was being increased despite its expectation that sales in the Middle East, which account for 6% of group turnover, could be adversely affected until the summer.<\/p>\n

Wolfson said he had not spotted signs of a turn for the worse in consumer sentiment. \u201cIf energy bills and the [higher costs] feed through to [retail] prices that is when they will respond,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

That came after pre-tax profits rose 14.5% to \u00a31.16bn in the year to January as sales increased by almost 11% to \u00a37bn.<\/p>\n

In its annual trading update, Next said of the Middle East conflict: \u201cWe have no feel for the medium-term effects on supply chain resilience, freight rates, factory gate prices and consumer demand. Much will depend on how long the conflict persists, and how much permanent damage is done to the world\u2019s energy infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next said it had increased the amount of stock it held by 6% to give protection in the event of supply chain delays, although that was partly linked to the development of its warehouses.<\/p>\n

Sales at the group were boosted by strong sales overseas, particularly via third-party websites such as Zalando, and from its newly acquired brands such as Cath Kidston. However, the group also increased sales in stores and online in the UK.<\/p>\n

Next said it was focused on cutting costs, with more use of AI in its warehouse operations part of the plan for the year ahead. It said it was already using AI technology to help in sales forecasting, as well as getting the right discounts and range of sizes in stores and online.<\/p>\n

In a lengthy report, the company said: \u201cAt Next it appears to us that AI will change people\u2019s jobs rather than replace them, making them much more effective, and taking away many of the tasks they enjoy least. People will need to adapt and change, but Next people are generally good at that.\u201d<\/p>\n

It said the jobs most affected were \u201croutine processing jobs\u201d.<\/p>\n

Next added: \u201cIf we are reflective of the wider economy, then those in jobs need not worry too much; the challenge will be for those looking to join the workforce.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The boss of Next has said that clothing prices could rise by 4% to 10% if conflict in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359250,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[114,184,85,46],"class_list":["post-359249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359249\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}