• Boots UK comparable retail sales up 8.7% LFL, on top of strong prior year growth of 16.3%
• Record-breaking Black Friday with biggest ever day of digital sales
• Focus on value helped to drive strong sales performance with Boots own brand essentials sales up over a third
• Boots.com sales doubled versus pre-pandemic, accounting for 18% of total retail sales
• Store footfall continues to recover from Covid at pace, up around 8%, ahead of UK retail footfall
• Very strong Christmas trading with retail sales growth of around 15%

Boots has delivered a strong performance in the first quarter ended 30 November 2022, continuing its impressive return to growth, with retail sales increasing and growing market share for the seventh consecutive quarter.

Boots achieved a record-breaking Black Friday with boots.com recording its biggest ever day of sales. Store sales were also up 13%. No7, Electrical Beauty and Fragrance were amongst the top performing Black Friday categories that drove the record-breaking performance. Top selling products were Benefit Gift Set, Paco Rabanne Fragrance and No7 Beauty Collection.  

Boots’ continued focus on value and affordability for life’s essentials continues to be a significant driver of growth. This includes the own brand Everyday Essentials range – offering quality essential products for £1.50 and under – which saw sales increase by 35%; Price Advantage - offering exclusive and best prices to Boots Advantage Card members, and Boots Price Lock - fixing the prices of essential health and beauty items.

Store footfall grew as recovery from Covid continues at pace, with in-store transactions up 8%, ahead of retail footfall in the UK[1]. City centre and travel stores benefited from a return to the office and tourism.

Digital sales growth continues to outperform the market, now accounting for 18% of total retail sales. The Boots App saw impressive growth of 26% and now represents over a quarter of boots.com sales.

Boots continues to enhance its beauty experience, with more premium beauty and spa brands introduced within the quarter and a further 19 new beauty halls opened, bringing the total of new or refreshed beauty halls to almost 150 across the UK.  

Whilst December trading will form part of Q2 results, reported in the Spring, early indications show that Boots had a strong Christmas season, with retail sales growth of around 15% versus last December 2021. Key categories including gifting, beauty and fragrance performed extremely well, along with an uptick in OTC, cold and immunity lines.

Sebastian James, Managing Director of Boots UK & ROI, commented: “It has been another positive quarter for Boots. Our focus on giving customers our best ever value to help with cost of living pressures, as well as continued investment in our digital capability and in updating our store estate has resulted in increased retail sales and market share growth for the seventh consecutive quarter. Our Black Friday and Christmas performance was particularly pleasing and I would like to thank the teams for their huge efforts in bringing our customers genuinely fantastic offers.”

 

ENDS

 

About Boots:

Boots is the UK’s leading health and beauty retailer. Its mission is to be the first choice for health and beauty - caring for people, customers and communities everywhere.

With over 51,000 team members and over 2,200 stores, ranging from local community pharmacies to large destination health and beauty stores, Boots serves its customer and patients’ wellbeing for life.

Boots is the UK’s number one beauty destination and largest pharmacy chain providing dispensing and essential healthcare services, and it offers an unrivalled depth and breadth of product offering including its innovative portfolio of brands, including No7, the UK’s No1 skincare brand, Soap & Glory, Liz Earle, Sleek MakeUP and YourGoodSkin. For over 170 years, Boots has listened, learned and innovated, and it continues to challenge itself to improve its products and services every day.

Boots is part of Walgreens Boots Alliance, which is a global leader in pharmacy-led, health and wellbeing retail.  More company information is available on boots-uk.com.

*Figures accurate as of 30 November 2022

 

[1]According to weekly data from Springboard