Joules: Drop in stores sales offset by strong digital growth

For the 26-week period, Joules said, sales for were ahead of the board’s initial expectations driven by strong e-commerce growth, with total e-commerce sales up by 35 percent in the period and revenue from Joules’ own e-commerce channels up by 45 percent. The company added that revenue for the period was 94.5 million pounds, down by 15.3 percent, reflecting the impact of enforced store closures and the cancellation of country shows across the UK, with the group’s total store trading hours during the period at approximately 60 percent of their typical trading time. As a result of encouraging trading, the board anticipates reporting PBT between 3.5 million pounds to 4 million pounds.

Commenting on the trading update, Nick Jones, CEO of Joules, said in a statement: “The strength of our digital proposition, the increased number of Joules customers and the growing appeal of the brand has meant that Joules has continued to trade well during the period, despite the impact of enforced store closures. The retail sector continues to face a number of near and medium-term challenges, including the ongoing impact of Covid-19 on our communities and economy as well as Brexit-related uncertainties. I have no doubt that Joules, underpinned by the strength of our brand and our flexible and scalable platform that now includes our Friends of Joules digital marketplace, is well positioned to be one of the long-term winners against this challenging backdrop.”

Joules retail revenues decline by 6 percent

The company further said that despite the strong e-commerce sales growth, total retail revenue of 75.3 million pounds was 6 percent lower than the comparable prior year period as a result of the enforced store closures as well as lower overall footfall trends where and when stores have been open. When comparing the period that Joules stores were open against the prior year, store sales were 17 percent lower year-on-year and total store sales in the period were down by 46 percent. Retail gross margin decreased by approximately 3 percent pt in the period.

Wholesale revenue in the period was 17.2 million pounds, a 44 percent reduction year-on-year, reflecting the ongoing impact of Covid-19 on many of the group’s wholesale partners both in the UK and overseas. Joules said, as a result of the challenges faced by the group’s international wholesale partners and despite continued strong growth through the group’s international websites, total international sales in the period were down by 29 percent against the prior year and represented 14 percent of group sales.

Traffic to the Joules website increased over 40 percent and overall, gross platform demand increased by nearly 55 percent in the period. Joules’ active customers now stand at over 1.5 million, reflecting strong growth in new customer acquisition over the last three months.

Picture:Facebook/Joules