In half-year results posted today, House of Fraser recorded like-for-like sales growth of 6.5% and a 30.8% jump in online sales.
For the department store group, which recently poached John Lewis‘ CTO, online retail now represent 17.5% of the company‘s sales, compared to 14.2% in 2014/15. This reflects a general move towards online and mobile retailing across the retail industry, and the company is making moves to adapt. House of Fraser‘s current online proposition includes an updates version of its iPhone app, which will allow customers to scan barcodes in store. It also features an enhanced delivery proposition, which will include a midnight cut off point for ‘Buy & Collect‘ delivery to stores by midday the following day.
“We are pleased with the continued sales and profit growth in the first half of this year, House of said House of Fraser CEO Nigel Oddy. “Both stores and online have delivered positive sales and margin growth, building on the performance we have seen in both these channels in recent years, demonstrating the truly multichannel nature of our business.
We have continued to invest in our UK business to remain at the forefront of retail innovation by developing our multichannel offering, enhancing our store portfolio, growing House Brands and introducing exciting premium brands. This focus on our key strategic pillars has also been reflected in our current trading.
We continue to make progress on our international expansion plans and remain excited by our future growth opportunities both in the UK and abroad.”
The British retailer also outlined plans to open the first House of Fraser store in China in 2016.
