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Next online sales counter dire high street performance
Online sales at clothing retailer Next helped to offset a disappointing performance on the high street this Christmas.The company forecast full-year pre-tax profits of between £463 million and £473 million, more than analysts were expecting, and online and catalogue sales were largely behind the success.
High street stores experienced sluggish sales in the face of online competition over the Christmas period and online retail tracker IMRG estimates that internet sales increased by 50 per cent.
The group's chief executive, James Roper, commented: "This has definitely been an online Christmas. We think 25 million people now shop on the internet."
He also said that online Christmas sales look to have been worth around £7.5 billion – half a billion pounds more than industry forecasts that were already very strong – adding that online demand remained strong in the period after December 25th.
Next sales enjoyed a boost of almost ten per cent in sales at Next Directory, where around half of orders are placed online. This helped to offset a fall of 6.9 per cent at Next Retail and sales across the group rose by 2.8 per cent.
Shares in Next gained almost three per cent on the news. The company is Europe's largest online clothes retailer.
Next sales now on: Visit www.next.co.uk/sale
Corporate Internet news posted on 04 January 2007
