Fast growth in ecommerce sales helped Ted Baker to report a 14.8% lift in half-year sales this week.
Online sales rose to £14m in the 28 weeks to August 9 from £9.4m at the same time last year, growth of 48.9%,, while retail sales hit £140m. Pre-tax profits grew by 33.8% to £15.6m on total group revenues of £182.2m, 17.4% up on last time.
Online performance was driven by growth across “all areas of our ecommerce business”.
The company statement said: “Our UK site has benefited from the launch of our new platform last year, providing a more relevant customer experience through improved design, performance and personalised content. This was followed by the successful migration of our US site in July, and we are pleased with performance at this early stage.”
Ted Baker founder and chief executive Ray Kelvin hailed a “strong performance across global markets and distribution channels” in the first-half.
He added: “The strength of our brand is testament to the passion and dedication of our team and has enabled us to attract customers both in the UK and overseas who recognise our unwavering focus on quality, design and attention to detail. Whilst our results for the full year will be dependent on the more weighted second half, we continue to look forward with confidence as we further develop Ted Baker as a leading global lifestyle brand.”
Retail sales grew ahead of retail space, which increased by 9.9% over the period. Wholesale was also up, by 26.8% to £42.1m, while licence income rose by 37.1% to £5.5m.
