Joules says sales boosted by strong ecommerce growth

In a year-to-date trading update, Joules said that sales for the period were ahead of the board’s expectations driven by strong year-on-year e-commerce growth of 35 percent, with e-commerce revenue accounting for 70 percent of the group’s retail sales in the period.

The company said in a statement that sales since the re-opening of Joules stores in July were down by 18 percent year-on-year, while the group’s wholesale and international sales have performed in line with expectations over this period.

Joules sales ahead of expectations

Commenting on the trading update, Nick Jones, CEO of Joules, said: “Joules has continued to trade well with sales in the financial year to date ahead of the board’s expectations. As we enter the peak trading season, the retail sector in England faces the challenge of having to close non-essential stores for the next four weeks.

“Despite this difficult backdrop, Joules has a very strong brand and a flexible business model, which has underpinned the group’s robust performance to date during Covid-19. In addition, we are well positioned from an operations and financial perspective, having built on the experience and lessons from the spring lockdown.”

In line with the latest UK Government restrictions on non-essential retail, the group’s retail stores in England are now closed during the four-week national lockdown until December 2, 2020 and the company intends to place all store colleagues in England on furlough during this period of closure.

The group currently anticipates that its stores in Wales will re-open on November 9, 2020 following a two-week lockdown. Joules stores across Scotland and Northern Ireland remain open.

As a result of Joules’ continued momentum, and notwithstanding the significant levels of uncertainty as the group enters the critical peak trading season, the company’s board believes that Joules remains on track to deliver its expectations for the FY21 financial year.

Picture: Joules, Facebook