Moss Bros today said its ecommerce sales doubled in its latest half-year following the relaunch of its online platform last year.
Over the period, online transactions grew by 100% to account for 6.8% of total group revenue. Mobile traffic grew “strongly” to account for 9.1% of online sales. Meanwhile international online sales made up 5.9% of ecommerce sales in a half that saw an Australian site added to existing sites serving Eire, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands.
In the 26 weeks to July 26, total sales grew to £55.8m, 4.6% up on the same time last year. Like-for-like sales rose by 6.4% over the same period.
Pre-tax profits came in at £2m, down from £2.2m at the same time last year.
Highlights during the half-year included completion of a project to establish a single customer record database across the business, described by Moss Bros as “a significant milestone in our transition into a multichannel retailer.” That means customer records are now accessible across sales channels. Customers can also receive their in-store receipts via email, something that Moss Bros anticipates will increase email collection rates.
“Ecommerce continues to grow strongly,” said chief executive Brian Brick, “and our plans to develop a fully multichannel customer experience are on track. We continue to innovate and develop our service proposition and added ‘login and pay with Amazon,’ putting us among the first UK retailers to offer this functionality.”
Elsewhere a programme to refit stores “continued to deliver payback targets,” with 49 stores now trading in the new format. “There are increasing signs that this is helping to change customers’ perception of the business to a modern multichannel retailer that is also the leading brand in hire,” said the Moss Bros statement.
