Cotton Traders sees sales and profits dip amid ‘challenging conditions’
As part of the brandโs investment strategy, it opened 10 new stores, two stores relocated to increase space, nine stores were refitted โ resulting in 81 (93%) stores all delivering profitable performance
British heritage fashion brand, Cotton Traders, has seen its FY23 operating profit fall 9.9% to ยฃ9.8m in what it called a โsteady performanceโ in the face of inflation and the cost-of-living crisis.
The brand also reported turnover of ยฃ109.4m (-1.7% vs. 2022) and an EBITDA of ยฃ11.57m (-7.9%vs.2022).
Amongst other factors, the company credits its consistent performance to a combination of โheavily invested, digital-orientated marketing activity, a growth in active customer retention (+0.9% increase YOY), and investment into the brandโs physical storesโ.
2023 saw Cotton Traders extend its partnership with TV star Will Mellor, and the introduction of two new female celebrity partnerships: Broadcaster Alex Jones, and โA Place in the Sunโ Presenter, Jasmine Harman. The online-focussed marketing strategy enabled Cotton Traders to sustain brand awareness at 95%, as well as reaching a new, younger demographic ensuring relevance for the brand.
Meanwhile, it saw online penetration increase +2.6% YOY, driven by continued new customer acquisition through digital channels, continued migration of traditional customers to online shopping and increased basket spend – with website sales +6.2% YOY and app-based sales +11.1% vs 2022.
Its menswear category also saw sales remain consistent YOY, with strong sales of shirts (+20%) and knitwear (+11%). Meanwhile, womenswear performed particularly well with an overall category increase of +10% YOY. This was driven by increased purchases in womenโs trousers (7%), woven tops (+13%) and significant range extensions in Cotton Tradersโ underwear and loungewear ranges, helping to contribute to the overall growth of the brandโs womenswear category.
2023 saw the resurgence of physical shopping in the retail industry. During this time, Cotton Traders invested into its physical stores, with 21.5% of its sales directly from stores (+0.6% YOY) and orders in-store growing by 11.4% YOY.
As part of the brandโs investment strategy, it opened 10 new stores, two stores relocated to increase space, nine stores were refitted โ resulting in 81 (93%) stores all delivering profitable performance.
Cotton Traders CEO Nick Hamblin said: โItโs promising to see our investment into physical stores paying dividends with an uplift not only in sales year-on-year, but also orders in-store. The cost-of-living crisis has resulted in low consumer confidence and macroeconomic turmoil and we are so proud our customers remain loyal to the Cotton Traders brand despite the wider economic challenges.
โContinued customer retention, combined with an 11% increase in app sales and a growth in online penetration year on year are all testament to the success of our wider growth strategy.Customer loyalty remains strong, which can be credited to our competitive price point in the market and strong product offering – customer loyalty plays a huge part in purchase decisions which is why weโve continued to invest in the right areas to enhance all our customer touchpoints.โ
He added: โWeโre looking forward to the next year which will see us implement our marketplace growth strategy, something weโve already experienced success with through our full year of trading on Debenhams.com and soft launching on Freemans.com late last year.โ