Hotel Chocolat benefits from strong Mother’s Day and Easter sales
Hotel Chocolat is anticipating that trading for the full year to 27 June will be significantly ahead of expectations following a strong Mother’s Day and Easter performance.
In a statement covering the eight weeks to 25 April, the retailer said revenue increased by 60% year-on-year despite its stores being closed for six weeks of the period due to Covid-19 restrictions. Sales were also 19% higher than in the same period in 2019.
Hotel Chocolat attributed the growth to the performance of its its digital channels and subscription products, but said sales across all of its channels have been encouraging since stores reopened in England on 12 April.
Angus Thirlwell, co-founder and chief executive of Hotel Chocolat, said: “In the past year, we have added over one million customers to our database, an increase of 47% Our strong Easter is entirely thanks to them.
“It feels great to have our physical locations back open again and we have a strong pipeline of exciting new products to launch over the summer, including our Rabot Estate Coffee brand, Strawberries & Cream iced chocolate drinks for our Velvetiser system, and Neapolitan chocolate macarons for al-fresco dining.”
Hotel Chocolat has committed to repaying the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme funding its received from the UK Government during the financial year. The £3.1 million cost of the repayment will be accrued in its 2021 results.
Looking ahead, Thirlwell added: “I’m pleased we are able to look forward to further growth and significant investment this year with strong job creation, particularly in our UK chocolate making and supply teams as we turn on extra capacity for our creamy tasting vegan Nutmilk chocolate, our globally popular chocolate macarons, and our Velvetiser flakes for drinking chocolate.”
