a new segmentation strategy with the opening of its store in Swansea's Morfa retail park. According to River Island this strategy specifically curates stores for their local markets. In the UK, the brand also sells via select wholesale partners Next, Very and Asos. Digital and multichannel operations In recent years, River Island has invested heavily in its multichannel offer, including in technology, supply chain and logistics. In 2018, then CEO Ben Lewis said: “We want to be a leading retailer but we also want to be a leading tech company.” According to accounts available on Companies House, the business has invested heavily in IT, spending £1.5m in 2018 and 2019, adding infrastructure and staff. In 2008, River Island was an early adopter of content focused retailing, and launched a website featuring blogs, news, trends and style alongside its ecommerce offer. This is now absorbed into the main ecommerce site, which continues to publish editorial content. International In 1993, the brand expanded outside of Great Britain, with its first shop in Ireland, on Dublin's Grafton Street. It later expanded into mainland Europe, opening its Amsterdam shop in 2006. Today River Island ships to 125 countries globally, and works with international wholesale and franchise partners including Alshaya, Namshi and Zalando. According to Companies House documents, in 2020, around 11% of turnover came from international markets. In 2021, River Island launched online in the US and Canada, partnering with The Bay in Canada. and Nordstrom in the US. In 2022, select The Bay and Nordstrom stores began stocking River Island. Financials During the Covid-19 pandemic, sales fell dramatically at River Island as lockdown measures forced closures on the entire UK store estate. In its most recent results, covering the 52 weeks to 26 December 2020, turnover fell 31.7% year on year to £600.5m, and the business reported an operating loss of £36.2m, compared with a profit of £21.4m in 2019. CEO Will Kernan has said the business has since "recovered strongly". Product River Island is known for its trend led fashion ranges, all of which are designed in the UK at the retailer’s head office in London. In addition to its womenswear and menswear lines, River Island launched maternity in 2009, kidswear in 2010 and baby in 2018. In 2018, River Island briefly launched homeware, which was paused due to the pandemic in 2020. The River Island ecommerce site has also offered third