• Boots Q3 retail sales up 13.4% year on year, with ninth consecutive quarter of market share growth
• Increase largely driven by volume with more customers shopping at Boots more often – both in store and online
• Standout performance from beauty, with biggest week outside of Christmas
• Record breaking launch of No7 Future Renew, with one product selling every two seconds on launch day
• Positive customer response to continued value initiatives including expanded Price Advantage scheme and always on 10% discount on Boots own label

Boots has delivered another strong quarter with retail sales growth of 13.4% for the three months ended 31 May 2023. This is the ninth consecutive quarter of market share growth with gains across all categories, led by beauty.

More customers are shopping at Boots more often, with the number of transactions up both in store and online, with footfall growth ahead of the wider retail market. City centre flagship and travel stores saw the biggest increase, while digital sales also continued to grow, up 25.2% year on year.

Beauty, especially skincare, continues to perform strongly with sales up over 18% year on year; May saw the biggest week for the category outside of Christmas.

Boots in-house brands were the stars of the show, with No7, the UK’s No1 skincare brand, having an exceptional quarter driven by the success of its new Future Renew range, with one product selling every two seconds on launch day and over half a million customer transactions in the first four weeks. The Boots suncare range, Soltan, performed particularly well in the quarter with sales up 19% helped by the warm weather. The Boots own brand range, offering thousands of quality products at affordable prices, delivered a strong performance, including 40% volume growth in the ‘Everyday’ essentials label.

Healthcare also fared well in the quarter, with pharmacy sales up 5.7%, the best performance in six quarters. Sales were driven by a good start to hay fever season and over the counter medication, including the launch of new erectile dysfunction range, Eroxon, selling one every 30 seconds on the day of launch.  Boots Online Doctor saw growth of 15%, with sexual health and weight loss amongst the most used services. 

New value initiatives launched in the quarter are proving popular with customers; a new, always-on 10% discount across thousands of Boots own brand lines launched for Advantage Card members, leading to a 65% increase in sign-ups to the loyalty scheme. Price Advantage also expanded, offering exclusive lower prices and instant savings on over 1,000 products each month.

The successful Boots transformation plan has created a strong and stable platform for growth and will accelerate further, including ongoing investment into the rejuvenation of the store estate. In addition to uplifting existing stores, over the next year Boots will continue to consolidate a number of stores in close proximity to each other.

Evolving the store estate in this way allowsBoots to concentrate its team members where they are needed and focus investment more acutely in individual stores with the ambition of consistently delivering an excellent and reliable service in a fresh and up to date environment.

Seb James, Managing Director, Boots UK and ROI, said: “Our focus on offering our customers the best in healthcare and beauty, together with a continued commitment to great value, has been well received, and it is lovely to see more people choosing to shop with Boots. It is particularly pleasing to see our owned brands proving popular, including an exceptional No7 performance. I would like to thank all of our team members for their hard work in delivering these results”