Original Factory Shop sees 12.5% rise in Q1 sales
The Original Factory Shop saw 12.5% growth in total sales in its first quarter as sales increased across all of its channels including its recently launched in-store catalogue.
Like-for-like sales in the 13 weeks to 1 July rose 5.5% while EBITDA increased by 20% on the same period last year.
The company said it benefited from a 50% uplift in sales of garden products during the warm weather in May while sales of homeware products climbed 25% in the quarter.
A total of eight new stores were opened in the period taking the total number of shops to 180.
Never Miss a Retail Update!Angela Spindler, CEO of The Original Factory Shop, said: “We are swimming upstream strategically and bucking the trend by opening stores and trading strongly on Britain’s small town high streets.
“We will always be committed to Britain’s small town high streets, and further to the 15 new stores we will open this year, we see there being scope for a network of 450 stores across UK high streets over the medium term.”
The company’s multi-channel sales continued to grow with online sales hitting a record high in the week ending 3 June.
Spindler added: “We bring our customers something unique – they are delighted to have the opportunity to shop for quality brands and a full non food assortment, locally. We know our customers well, they still enjoy face-to-face interaction, the convenience of compelling local stores and want to save time and money shopping on their local high street.
“Complimenting this is the fast growth of our transactional website and the recent launch of our in-store catalogue. We look forward to continued momentum and growth in 2012.”
