Our Concept
How do we do it?
An unstoppable combo of experience and close relationships with famous label manufacturers and top designers. But like you, we’re smart shoppers. Our savvy buyers shop the world for the latest in designer fashion (yes, it’s a hard life). When the time is right they swoop in at the right time to get deals on the brands you adore, then we pass on the savings to you.
Our stats
- One man had one idea. Designer labels, famous brands, under one roof, for up to 60% less
- Over 2000 stores across the States and Canada, and 210 plus in the UK, Ireland and Germany. (Guess millions of customers agreed that big labels, at small prices, was a pretty good idea, too)
- Largest off-price retailer in the world. But we’re not letting success go to our heads
Click to find out how to shop the shop (plus secrets of the store)
It’s in the bag
At TK Maxx, we are keen to do the right thing on waste, and the issue of
bags is an emotive one. Every year almost a trillion plastic bags get used
globally. They weigh about 5 million tonnes and use about 50 million
barrels of oil to produce. That is a lot of bags and a lot of waste.
So as part of our commitment to the environment, we plan to reduce the
number of carrier bags leaving our stores. From the 4th August, we will be
charging for all standard plastic carrier bags - 2p for a small bag, 4p for
a medium and 6p for a large bag. We are also introducing 100% recycled
plastic Bags for Life, a fantastic fair-trade cotton bag and a sustainable
jute bag so there are lots of gorgeous and cool fashionable alternatives
too.
The best news is that we’ve been trialling charging for bags throughout a
number of our stores for some time now, and have seen a 50% reduction in
the number that customers take. Really great news.
TK Maxx will not make any money from charging for bags. We will donate any
profits to the Woodland Trust and any cost savings we make will be donated
to our Community Fund to support local charity partnerships.
On the Road to a Greener Business
We want take real responsibility for reducing carbon emissions so one of the things we’ve had a nice long look at our approach to store deliveries. We are committed to sponsoring and supporting innovation in the environmental arena and we’re investing in research and development of totally new technologies.
So here are some of the things we are doing to make our delivery trucks more carbon friendly:
Electric trucks
We have taken delivery of the UK’s largest electric powered store delivery truck. This truck is fully electric, aerodynamically designed and will be the largest zero emission vehicle of its size. It will have one of the greatest ranges of any commercial electric vehicle in the UK and we think it has loads of potential.
Pods
We helped develop a special air deflector, which sits on the front of the double decker trailer and creates a more aerodynamic shape. It helps create less wind resistance which means there is less fuel used and therefore lower carbon emissions. We have already fitted 9 of these pods to our double deck trailers and will add another 90 by the end of the year.
Teardrop trailers
We’ve been among the first to get these new supermodels out on to the road. They are another aerodynamic innovation and we’re predicting they’ll reduce carbon emissions by an estimated 8%. We hope to have at least twenty more of these on the road by the end of the year.
Telematics/Driver training
Alongside the groundbreaking ideas, we are also committed to doing the basic but very important every day stuff, like driver education and training, to ensure we support continuous improvement. This includes investing in technologies like telematics which helps us understand and drive effective route management.
Working with Others
We recognise that if we are to make a real difference, we need to build relationships with organisations that are willing to join us in taking a groundbreaking approach to carbon reduction.
Green Clause
We recently signed an agreement with DHL (who operate our store delivery trucks), which has a specific green clause that commits us (TK Maxx and DHL) to achieving key environmental and social responsibility goals.
Route sharing with other retailers.
This is a groundbreaking approach. We have partnered with fellow retailers Boots and Arcadia to share capacity on our Isle of Man delivery truck. This eliminates the need for multiple parallel trips to the same location and will result in loads of carbon savings.