UK’s biggest greetings retailer sees double-digit sales growth with single festive cards up 37%
Positive momentum has seen Cardfactory deliver double digit like-for-like sales growth to £476.9million as store revenue climbed by 7.8% in November and December.
CEO Darcy Willson-Rymer applauded the UK’s largest greeting card retailer’s “strong performance over the Christmas period” in the trading statement coving the 11 months to 31 December, 2023, which was released yesterday, 16 January,
The retailer had committed to the industrywide #Cardmitment campaign by investing in an extensive nationwide radio advertising campaign reminding the public to send Christmas cards to those they care about, and also ran short adverts on social media to promote festive sales.
Improvements in stock management and replenishment processes enabled the company to capitalise on “particularly strong demand in the second half of December”, as l-f-l store sales in the last two months of the year were up 7.8%.
The retailer saw strong year-on-year growth in seasonal cards, driven by an increased number of transactions and average basket value – open card sales grew by 37%, which Cardfactory said was due to the range development, the continuing To The Pet trend saw a 49% rise, and Wife captions rose by 41%.
And an expanded gift offer and introduction of key licensed ranges is credited with a 45% increase in soft toy sales, and confectionery going up by 77%, marking a combined gifts and celebrations essentials growth of 9.9% l-f-l.
The company said the 10.2% uplift in total sales to £476.9m reflects “continued momentum across the business and execution of our strategy to become the leading, omnichannel retailer in the sector”, and the store revenue’s overall 8.2% l-f-l growth was said to be driven by the value and quality proposition and “the positive impact” of the store evolution programme.
There has also been a “continued positive performance” in everyday and seasonal card ranges, with growth hitting 5.4% in the 11-month period, while there has been a “profitable contribution” from the new partnerships with Matalan and Liwa Trading Enterprises, and the recently-acquired SA Greetings arm in South Africa contributed £9.1m revenue.
Given the strength of performance in the year to date, the Cardfactory board expects to deliver full-year adjusted profit before tax, excluding one-off items, at the top of the range of market expectations – between £58.4m and £62m – and said it “remains confident in the achievement of the long-term financial and operational targets” set out at its capital markets strategy update in May 2023.
Darcy added: “We are pleased to have delivered a strong performance over the Christmas period, further demonstrating the progress we are making on our strategic growth initiatives.
“Our value and quality proposition continues to resonate with customers at a time when value for money is as important as ever. Even during challenging times, consumers want to celebrate key life moments and this was reflected in the positive performance that we saw in the Christmas trading period and throughout the year to date.”
“Colleagues across all areas of our business have worked incredibly hard to deliver an improved experience for our customers this year. As we look ahead, we remain focused on delivering against our growth strategy by helping our customers to affordably celebrate all life’s moments.”
