Boots sales rise thanks to 'record-breaking' Black Friday

Boots has delivered an 8.1% increase in sales for the first quarter ending 30 November 2024, bolstered by an "exceptional" Black Friday period.

The health and beauty retailer saw sales rise 20% during Black Friday week, with fragrance, beauty and Christmas gifts among the top selling categories.

On the Friday itself, the company's website achieved its biggest-ever day of sales, with almost five orders per second during its busiest hour. Store sales were also strong.

For Q1, Boots shared the following channel results:

Boots.com performed strongly during the quarter, with sales up 23%, accounting for 22% of total retail sales.

Price Advantage remained popular, contributing to a 3.5% increase in active Advantage Card members and over 700,000 more customers joining the programme in Q1.

Store sales also increased, with the high street chain's destination health and beauty stores and flagships performing "particularly well", as well as travel stores.

It comes as the retailer refurbished more than 30 stores during the quarter, including Bristol Cribbs Causeway, Manchester Trafford Centre, and Birmingham Bullring.

For Q1, Boots shared the following category results:

Beauty sales increased 11% year-on-year, driven by demand for fragrance, premium beauty and skincare.

The high street chain saw partricualy significant growth in Korean skincare and celebrated one year since launching its premium and professional haircare category.

Additionally, more customers were choosing own-brand products across vitamins, supplements and beauty.

In healthcare, comparable pharmacy sales were up 10.9%, primarily driven by continued strong performance in services including flu, COVID-19 and travel vaccinations.

It also delivered over 155,000 NHS Pharmacy First consultations in England in the quarter, enabling accessible treatment on the high street for seven common conditions, including sore throat, earache and urinary tract infections.

Anthony Hemmerdinger, Managing Director at Boots UK and Ireland, said: "This is another strong set of financial results, with sales seeing significant uplift alongside market share gains and increased customer satisfaction scores.

"These figures demonstrate that our ongoing transformation – from improvements to the in-store and digital customer experience to a focus on offering the very best product and service range across all price points – is working.

"We are relentlessly focused on our transformation journey and have more exciting plans ahead to further enhance the experience for our customers. Looking forward, we face heightened cost pressures in 2025 following the Budget, however with positive momentum behind us and a clear plan in place, the business is focused on navigating these and continuing to deliver long-term, sustainable growth."

The company's Christmas sales performance will be reported with its Q2 earnings later this year, however early indications suggest a "solid" Christmas trading period.