Boots welcomes ‘record’ beauty sales over Christmas period

Boots has revealed that for the three months to 28 February, Christmas trading brought a “record-breaking” performance for its beauty category which saw retail sales grow 16%. The business reported its eighth consecutive quarter of market share growth across all categories, with beauty performing the best for the quarter. Skincare reported three consecutive weeks of record sales in December driven by the ‘expert skincare’ category in which brands including No7, La Roche-Posay, CeraVe and Eucerin proved popular. This comes as the Christmas period was particularly strong, with retail sales increasing 17.4% and outperforming the market during the five weeks to 31 December. According to the retailer, footfall, basket size and the number of Advantage Card customers also increased, due to more people “choosing to shop at Boots”. Digital sales also increased for the retailer by 17% and now represents over 15% of retail sales, while the Boots App saw growth of 65% over the period year-on-year, now representing over 25% of digital sales. During the quarter, Boots also expanded its value offering, announcing its biggest ever savings as part of its continued focus on the affordability of life’s essentials. This included the addition of 60 new products to the Boots Everyday label as well as the extension of its Price Advantage scheme, which has to date resulted in £30m of customer savings and now includes discounts on over 800 products every month. Sebastian James, managing director of Boots UK&ROI, said: “More people are choosing to shop with Boots, largely thanks to our focus on value and our market leading beauty offer. This is reflected in our strong retail sales performance and our continuing market share growth, particularly in terms of Christmas trading. “We also delivered an increase in pharmacy sales, despite the challenging sector backdrop. I would like to thank our wonderful team members for their continued hard work and focus on delivering for our customers.”