Boots has reported “a strong first quarter” with total retail sales up 8.1% YoY, as the health and beauty retailer saw growth across all categories and channels.
Its latest results, for the three months ending 30 November 2024, saw digital sales increase by 23% YoY – now accounting for 22% of total retail sales.
Store sales also grew, with Boots destination health and beauty stores and flagships performing particularly well. Boots refurbished over 30 stores in the quarter including Bristol Cribbs Causeway, Manchester Trafford Centre, and Birmingham Bullring.
Boots credited “an exceptional Black Friday”, with sales up 20% during the week. On the Friday itself, boots.com achieved its biggest ever day of sales, with almost five orders per second during its busiest hour. Fragrance, beauty, and Christmas gifts were the top selling categories during Black Friday week both in stores and online with nearly two bottles of fragrance sold every second.
Additionally, beauty continued to perform well, with sales up 11% YoY for the quarter, driven by fragrance, premium beauty, and skincare. Boots added over 20 new brands to its leading selection of popular beauty brands with Neom Wellbeing, Fresh and Naturium launched in Q1.
Anthony Hemmerdinger, managing director, Boots UK and Ireland, said: “This is another strong set of financial results, with retail and pharmacy sales seeing significant uplift alongside market share gains and increased customer satisfaction scores. These figures demonstrate that our ongoing transformation – from improvements to the in-store and digital customer experience to a focus on offering the very best product and service range across all price points – is working. This kind of success requires collaborative working at pace, and I’d like to say a big thank you to all of our team members for their hard work over this important trading period.
“We are relentlessly focused on our transformation journey and have more exciting plans ahead to further enhance the experience for our customers. Looking forward, we face heightened cost pressures in 2025 following the Autumn Budget, however with positive momentum behind us and a clear plan in place, the business is focused on navigating these and continuing to deliver long-term, sustainable growth.”
A company profile in our first-ever RetailDNA Operations Value Chain Europe 2024 report looks at how Boots can offer fulfilment so flexible that customers can take possession of their online purchases in the most convenient way.
Focused on the Operations Value Chain, the wider report highlights how businesses boost efficiency through flexible delivery, collection, and returns. Packed with analysis, graphics, and profiles of 50 top-performing companies, it is your guide to benchmarking success and discovering best practices.
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