Debenhams hails 5% rise in Christmas like-for-like sales
Debenhams has reported a “good” performance over the busy Christmas trading period with like-for-like sales up 5%.
In the seven weeks to 7 January, online sales at the department store chain climbed by 17%.
Sergio Bucher, chief executive of Debenhams, said: “I’m pleased with the performance we have achieved in the key trading weeks of Black Friday and over the Christmas peak, given the challenges in the broader environment and the strong performance last year. The resilience of Debenhams’ differentiated offer is beginning to show through, with the growth we have driven in beauty and gifting.”
The results mean that in the 18 weeks to 7 January Debenhams’ group gross transaction value rose by 3.7% while group like-for-like sales increased by 3.5%. UK like-for-like sales were up 1%.
By the end of the period, Debenhams had completed 75% of its current store space optimisation programme, rolled out a further nine food service offers and launched two new partnerships with James Martin Kitchen and Franco Manca.
It also made further progress in growing its non-clothing categories. Beauty and gift sales grew strongly to take the non-clothing sales mix in the period to 57%.
Bucher added: “It’s encouraging to see that the service improvements we have made helped us to deliver strong multi-channel sales growth.
“There is a lot more we can do to build from this base and I’m looking forward to providing an update on our plans for Debenhams alongside our interim results in April.”
