UK retailer Matalan records £291.4 million revenue in Q3FY21

“The results published for the third quarter and Christmas trading period reflect a strong performance in what continue to be challenging circumstances, not just for ourselves but for the broader sector. The flow of inbound stock has suffered delays and volatility, negatively impacting availability for customers. In addition, the UK logistics and labour markets have also suffered their own levels of heavy disruption, all adding significant extra costs for retailers. I’m pleased with the way in which our business has responded in managing these challenges, demonstrating unprecedented levels of agility in making stock available to customers as quickly and efficiently as possible,” Steve Johnson, executive chairman of Matalan, said:

“When ranges have become available there has been an extremely positive customer reaction with stock turning quicker than we’ve ever seen before. The reaction to our Ladies ranges has been particularly strong although we know that with a more consistent level of availability we could have satisfied even more of the high level of customer demand we were seeing for the great quality, design and value that we are famous for. As a result of this strong customer reaction and despite the lateness of stock arriving into the UK, we were still able to grow full price sales in the third quarter by over 10 per cent. Our strong stock management disciplines also enabled us to effectively re-shape our stock mix over the autumn months and enter the main winter sale on Boxing Day with volumes below those in recent years, protecting margins,” Matalan said in a press release.

“We successfully completed the first phase of our multiyear digital transformation programme with the implementation of online batch picking. This adds to the online fulfillment from store capability that we rolled out in 2020. Together these investments have enabled a significant scaling of our online channel over the last two years, with annual online turnover now in excess of £200 million. To further progress our ambition to be a truly multi-branded omni-channel lifestyle retailer, in December we announced a long-term partnership with THG Ingenuity, the market leading end to end tech solution provider. Later in 2022 we plan to migrate to the high performing Ingenuity platform to support and accelerate further extensive online growth via a multitude of customer focussed features that will transform the user experience,” Johnson explained.

“Our large and spacious out-of-town stores with convenient free parking remain a safe and appealing destination for customers. Our stores are very much complementary to a scaled up online channel and together they provide over 11 million savvy customers with convenient and flexible access to our ranges. We will therefore also continue to invest in our store portfolio in the years ahead, further enhancing the store environment and proposition to capitalise on what we see as an opportunity to add further range, breadth and choice for customers in relevant and adjacent categories. We’re excited about the opportunities ahead and avenues for growth in both store and online channels as we further build capability, while adding new own label ranges and growing our popular stable of third-party brands,” concluded Johnson.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (RR)