Mothercare Global Brand Limited – the global specialist brand for parents and young children, has today announced that it has entered into binding heads of terms with Boots UK to become its new exclusive franchisee of the Mothercare brand for the UK. Boots is the UK’s largest pharmacy-led health and beauty retailer, and is part of the Retail Pharmacy International Division of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. the first global pharmacy-led, health and wellbeing enterprise.
This new partnership will provide the strong foundations for Mothercare’s continuing presence in the UK. With strong synergy between the UK customer proposition and the customer bases of Boots and Mothercare and this new partnership is expected to create significant opportunities for both companies, positive in the wake of Mothercare’s financial losses announced via PreschoolNews.net earlier this week, following from the turmoil as the company was placed into administration in November.
Under the terms agreed between the parties, Boots will stock Mothercare-branded clothing, and home and travel products; this latter category includes pushchairs and car seats. The Mothercare product range will be made available in larger Boots stores across the UK including a number of Mothercare shop in shops over time, as well as online. A limited range of Mothercare product will be available to buy online from mid 2020. It is expected that a wider Mothercare product offer will be available in Boots stores from late summer 2020.
Having today entered into binding heads of terms with Boots, the company will now push-on with the finalisation of the detailed contractual arrangements with Boots which are expected to be signed in the next quarter. The proposed franchisee partnership will be for an initial period of 5 years and the terms and royalty rates arrangements will broadly be commensurate with those of the Company’s existing franchisee agreements.
Mark Newton-Jones, ceo of Mothercare commented: “I am delighted to announce that we have taken our long-standing partnership with Boots to this next stage. In Boots, another much loved British heritage brand, we believe that Mothercare has found the right home in the UK. Boots is at the heart of one of the largest healthcare businesses in the world, and Mothercare will fit in as the specialist brand for parents and young children in both Boots stores and online. We know the team at Boots well from our successful Mini Club partnership which has been established over many years, and we now look forward to working in an even stronger collaboration with the Boots team for the future.
Mark continued: “Today’s announcement is fantastic news for the brand and the millions of Mothercare customers across the UK. It is also great news for Mothercare and our wider group of stakeholders after what has been a tough period. This partnership between Mothercare and Boots UK brings certainty and scale to our continuing group. These are exciting times as we enter into these new arrangements with a partner of the scale, scope and stature of Boots.”
