The latest trading update from Next, a prominent British retailer in fashion, homewares, and beauty, showcases its unwavering strength in the face of challenging market conditions.
During the three months ending November, a period marked by lackluster fashion sales in the broader retail landscape, Next managed to achieve an impressive 4% growth in full-price sales. This exceeded the company’s earlier guidance, which had projected a more modest 2% sales increase.
This noteworthy performance has led Next to revise its full-year profit before tax projection to £885 million, representing a £10 million upswing from its previous estimate.
Taking a closer look at the sales data, online full-price sales exhibited a substantial 6.5% surge during the quarter, outperforming the year-to-date increase of 4.9%. Conversely, full-price sales in Next’s brick-and-mortar stores recorded a slight 0.4% uptick for the entire year. However, these in-store sales experienced a minor dip of 0.6% in the latest quarter.
Considering the total product full-price sales (excluding finance interest income), they demonstrated consistent growth with a 3.8% increase in the quarter and a solid 3.2% uptrend in the initial nine months of the financial year.
Next’s official statement included a comprehensive chart illustrating the week-by-week sales performance. This graphic clearly illustrates how the unseasonably warm weather in September temporarily impacted sales. While the sales trajectory showed steady progress in July and August, there was a noticeable decline during September and the early days of October, with only one week registering a sales upturn. However, with the onset of more typical autumn weather in mid-October, sales rebounded significantly, surging by 16%. The positive trend continued with an 11% increase in the final week of the reporting period.
