Boots has reported a healthy set of quarterly results, with comparable retail sales up 8.1% year on year, including a ‘record-breaking’ Black Friday.
Boots.com sales in the retailer’s first quarter to 30 November were up nearly a quarter – at 23% – accounting for 22% of total retail sales.
Black Friday week was “exceptional”, Boots said, with sales up 20%. The day itself, on 29 November, marked Boots’ biggest ever day of digital sales, with almost five orders per second during its busiest hour.
Store sales were also strong, with fragrance, beauty, and Christmas gifts among the top-selling categories during Black Friday week.
Beauty sales were up 11% year on year in the quarter, driven by fragrance, premium beauty and skincare, according to Boots. The category was boosted by the addition of more than 20 new brands, including Neom Wellbeing, Fresh and Naturium, launched in Q1.
In healthcare, comparable pharmacy sales were up 10.9% in the quarter, driven by a continued strong performance in services including flu, Covid-19 and travel vaccinations, Boots said.
The health & beauty retailer said the growth came across all categories, with flagships and travel stores performing particularly well.
Over 30 stores were refurbished in the quarter, including Bristol Cribbs Causeway, Manchester Trafford Centre, and Birmingham Bullring.
Despite the strong performance, Boots UK & Ireland MD Anthony Hemmerdinger warned the business faced “heightened cost pressures in 2025 following the autumn budget”.
“This is another strong set of financial results, with retail and pharmacy sales seeing significant uplift alongside market share gains and increased customer satisfaction scores,” Hemmerdinger said.
“These figures demonstrate that our ongoing transformation – from improvements to the in-store and digital customer experience to a focus on offering the very best product and service range across all price points – is working. This kind of success requires collaborative working at pace, and I’d like to say a big thank you to all of our team members for their hard work over this important trading period.
“We are relentlessly focused on our transformation journey and have more exciting plans ahead to further enhance the experience for our customers.
“Looking forward, we face heightened cost pressures in 2025 following the autumn budget. However, with positive momentum behind us and a clear plan in place, the business is focused on navigating these and continuing to deliver long-term, sustainable growth.”
Boots said customers continued to respond well to its strategic focus on value, with Price Advantage – which gives exclusive discounts to users of its Advantage Card loyalty scheme – contributing to a 3.5% increase in active members year on year. Over 700,000 more customers joined the programme in the quarter.
The trading update did not including the Christmas period, which is to be covered in Boots’ quarter two results. However, the retailer said “early indications suggest a solid Christmas trading period”.
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