News roundup--Zooplus, Vente-Privee, Maplin, more

Germany-based pet supplies etailer Zooplus saw total sales grow 46 percent in the first nine months of the year, to €135.3 million (£114.6 million).  EBIT during the period was €2.2 million (£1.86 million), compared with a €1.1 million loss in the previous year.
Chief executive and cofounder Cornelius Patt said in statement that a “low logistics cost structure” is helping the company ramp up its marketing budgets and achieve this level of growth. Zooplus operates 13 websites and ships to 15 countries across Europe including Germany, the Netherlands, France, Denmark, and the UK among others. 

Charity trading arm Traidcraft is expecting to exceed last year's annual turnover of £15 million thanks to a £50,000 investment in its website and a £100,000 cash injection into its mail order and marketing activities, it told NE Business.

Secret-sales specialist Vente-Privee.com has opened its website to customers in Austria and Belgium, taking its European coverage to seven countries including France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK.

Funds affiliated with TPG and Leonard Green & Partners are to acquire US retailer/cataloguer J Crew Group for approximately $3 billion (£1.9 billion). As part of the deal, Millard Drexler will continue as chairman and chief executive and retain a significant equity investment in the business.

IT products retailer Maplin has unveiled its mobile website. The site uses smartphones’ inbuilt geo-tagging to provide customers with localised stock searches. The launch of the m-commerce site follows a beta introduction that saw page visits jump by 50,000. 

Having shipped products to Italy through its other websites since 2005, Amazon.com has finally launched a localised Italian website.

Check out retail consultant Leon Bailey-Green’s website today for an interview called My British Websites with yours truly, Miri Thomas, editor of Catalogue e-business.