Lingerie retailer La Senza is to launch a raft of ranges in its stores this spring as it steps up its UK growth plans.

In March, the retailer will launch a girls’ underwear and nightwear range, La Senza Girls, for five- to 12-year-olds. It will also introduce a leisurewear range, which La Senza chief executive Rose Foster described as “Juicy Couture at high street prices”. These will be followed by a maternity range in selected stores from April.

Over the next three years, La Senza is planning to open 100 stores in the UK and Ireland – particularly in central London and the Northeast. In 2008, it plans to add 50,000 sq ft of retail space to its estate, the equivalent of about 20 new stores.

Foster said: “We have a very strong brand and I want to build on that. There are certain areas and cities that we have definitely underexploited so far.”

The retailer will refit its Milton Keynes store with its new black and pink fascia next month, as first unveiled at a new site in Enfield, north London, in December. If the refit is successful, it will be rolled out to as many stores as possible and used as the blueprint for the rebranding of its transactional web site later this year. Online accounts for about 7 per cent of La Senza’s sales.

Despite growing competition from value retailers Primark and H&M’s cheaper lingerie offers, Foster reaffirmed her commitment to La Senza’s existing price proposition. “I want to keep price architecture where it is at the moment. I think we are at a good place,” she said.

La Senza posted a 10 per cent increase in like-for-like sales for the four weeks to December 24, with both sales and margins up on last year.

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