NEXT is a multichannel clothing and home retailer that operates one of the United Kingdom's largest e-commerce platforms. The company runs three sales channels under what it calls a "One Brand, Three Ways of Shopping" strategy: Next Retail, a network of around 700 stores across the UK, Europe, Asia and the Middle East; Next Online, its digital commerce channel; and Next Directory, the catalogue shopping business. For technologists, the central interest is the digital commerce infrastructure behind these channels, which processes trade for millions of customers.
Beyond its own retail operation, NEXT provides e-commerce infrastructure and services to third-party brands through Total Platform, which counts Gap, Victoria's Secret and Joules among its partners. This places engineering work in areas including e-commerce platforms, multichannel retail technology, digital commerce infrastructure, online retail and catalogue commerce systems, at a scale of more than £6 billion in annual revenue.
The business was founded in 1864 as a Leeds-based tailoring company and is headquartered in Enderby, Leicestershire. It employs more than 50,000 people worldwide and is listed on the London Stock Exchange as a FTSE 100 constituent. Recent growth has come partly through the acquisition of complementary fashion labels, including Reiss, FatFace, Cath Kidston and Made.com.
