Total sales at global electricals group Dixons Retail fell five per cent on a like-for-like (LFL) basis over its last quarter period, results released today show.
In the 12 weeks ending January 7th 2012, UK LFLs dropped seven per cent year-on-year for the owner of Currys and PC World, a slightly bigger decline than seen during the pervious quarter but reportedly ahead of its competitors within the sector.
Heavy snow over the festive period last year will have helped comparative sales somewhat but the atmosphere of austerity surrounding the high street at present means the firm will not be too disappointed with these trading figures.
Dixons has been undergoing a major restructuring and store transformation process over the last couple of years, and also launched its new customer and after-sale service KnowHow in 2011.
While competitors in its domestic market such as Comet and Best Buy have had to scale down or abandon their operations in recent months, Dixons still remains in a strong financial position and will be buoyed by being able to keep margins flat during a discount heavy festive period.
John Browett, CEO of Dixons, commented: “This is a solid performance against a challenging backdrop. Our service-led business model continues to win over customers in all our key markets.
“We have made significant progress with KnowHow and see further opportunities to develop our services offering. Our multi-channel offer is going from strength to strength with customers appreciating the benefits of our Reserve & Collect model.”
The growing popularity of Reserve & Collect is underlined by the fact that 19 per cent of all group sales at the company are generated online, vindicating its investment in its multichannel services.
Stores in Central Europe & the Nordics again traded well for the group, with sales up three per cent LFL in the period, but its operations in Italy, Greece and Turkey saw LFLs drop ten per cent in response to the Eurozone crisis.
