Boots delivered a strong performance in its first quarter, ended 30 November 2023, with an eleventh consecutive quarter of market share growth and retail sales up by 9.8%, building on an 8.7% increase in the prior year.
These results were in part driven by a strong Black Friday period, which saw boots.com achieve its biggest ever month of sales in November and its biggest ever day of sales on Black Friday.
Store sales were also strong, up over 7% in Black Friday week. Electrical Beauty, Skincare, Premium Beauty, No7 and Fragrance were the top performing categories, with a bottle of fragrance sold every second of Black Friday week.
In stores, footfall continued to grow in the quarter, up 7%, as more customers chose to shop at Boots. All store formats saw sales growth YOY, with flagship and travel locations performing particularly well.
Digital sales now contribute 19.2% of total retail sales, with boots.com sales growing 17.5%.
Beauty sales were up 11.4% for the quarter, driven by continued strong performance of Skincare and Premium Beauty. Haircare saw sales growth of 10% bolstered by the launch of 10 Professional and Salon haircare brands to boots.com, while No7 saw sales growth of over 13%.
Consumer healthcare sales also increased, driven by an uptick in Gastro and Family Planning. Over 1m flu vaccinations were administered in the quarter, over 60% on behalf of the NHS, alongside nearly 90,000 COVID booster jabs and over 78,000 blood pressure checks. Boots Online Doctor continues to grow, with orders up 12% YOY, with emergency contraception, erectile dysfunction and period delay among the most-used services.
Furthermore, early indications suggest a strong Christmas period with sales from Black Friday week until the New Year beating last year’s performance.
Seb James, Managing Director of Boots UK and ROI, said: “I am very encouraged by the way in which people are responding to the changes that we have made, especially in our digital and beauty businesses. It is really good to see that market share has grown for the eleventh quarter in a row showing that more customers are choosing Boots.
“This strong start to the year, together with a good Christmas, sets us up well for another good year and I would like to thank most sincerely all of my colleagues for their hard work and resilience over this vital trading period.”
