Shop Direct Group reports strong Christmas trading performance

Surge in sales via mobile and internet

The UK’s largest online and home shopping retailer today provides a Christmas trading update for the six weeks to 31st December 2011.

Trading highlights:

▪ Total sales for the six-week period (excl. VAT) up 9% on last year (against 2% for the 26 weeks to 31st December 2011)
▪ Christmas trading supported by strong margin growth
▪ Online sales up 20% with 74% of all sales completed online
▪ Sales via mobile devices accounted for 11% of all online transactions – 40% up on last year
▪ Sale started 23rd December with stock levels lower than last year

Product highlights:

▪ Stellar performance in computer products – sales of tablets and laptops up 87% on last year
▪ Clothing and footwear and electrical both grew in line with the headline sales figure
▪ Toys and gaming again a huge hit with more than 1.2 million units sold

Performance and outlook:

Group CEO, Mark Newton-Jones, said:

“This Christmas was all about online sales. Customers chose to shop at a time and place to suit them and increasingly used tablets and smartphones to browse and complete their orders.

“Whilst we are pleased with our strong Christmas performance, the pattern of trading in the Autumn/Winter season suggests that many customers deferred purchases until the peak Christmas period. Therefore, this level of sales is not representative of 2011 as a whole or what we expect to see in 2012.

“With the festive season now behind us, we believe the retail outlook for 2012 will remain subdued. Indeed, we expect it to deteriorate further as consumers continue to tighten their belts. As a result, we are forecasting lower overall sales for 2012.”

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For media enquiries, please call James Evans / Gill Hart / Lauren Jones at Shop Direct Group, 0844 292 4799 or Simon Sporborg / Charlotte Kenyon / Natalia Marisova at Brunswick on 0207 404 5959.

www.shopdirect.com        @ShopDirectHQ