Seasalt trading boosted by Christmas but wary of tough months ahead
Cornish clothing retailer Seasalt has released its financial results for the Christmas period revealing a 15% increase in sales across online, stores and marketplace partners.
Store sales saw revenues up 24% against the same time period in 2021. Seasalt emphasised that the Christmas trading weeks round off a record 12 months of performance for its stores, seeing like-for-like sales up 12% on 2019.
Online sales remained “strong” throughout the Christmas season, but dropped 2% below last year’s “record-setting” figures. The brand said that online trading conditions have become “increasingly challenging” in the last six months, with the online channel impacted more by the cost-of-living crisis than physical stores.
Looking ahead, Seasalt expects that online sales will continue to be affected by wider economic uncertainty throughout 2023. However, the brand’s relationships with marketplace partners, including M&S, NEXT and Zalando, have all gone from “strength to strength” in 2022, with sales up 57% on the prior period.
Malcolm Macdonald, CFO of Seasalt, said: “Our strong store performance over Christmas is a continuation of the success we have enjoyed all year. We have always believed that success in retail requires a balance between the store and online channels and the ability to provide a great customer experience in both. Our recent sales performance indicates that this is still a priority for our customers.
“Although we have traded very well during the last 12 months, we expect the next six months to be tough. We will continue to invest in our planned digital transformation and in expanding our international presence but will otherwise be taking all necessary actions to manage our costs very carefully to ensure we are in the best possible position to accelerate our growth again later in 2023 when consumer confidence improves.”
