// Boots posts strong Christmas trading with retail sales up 15% versus December 2021
// The retailer credited the continued focus on value and affordability for “life’s essentials” to be a significant driver of growth
Boots hailed a “very strong Christmas” as retail sales jumped by 15% in December.
The high street health and beauty giant achieved a record-breaking Black Friday with boots.com recording its biggest-ever day of sales and added that strong high street footfall helped sales increase over the latest quarter.
The company, which is owned by US Walgreens Boots Alliance, said like-for-like retail sales grew 8.7% over the three months to November 30, against the same period last year.
Growth was helped by a 13% rise in sales in its stores, as the group saw a continued recovery in high street footfall following the impact of Covid-19.
The retailer credited its continued focus on value and affordability for “life’s essentials” as a significant driver of growth.
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Boots UK & ROI managing director Sebastian James said: “It has been another positive quarter for Boots.
“Our focus on giving customers our best-ever value to help with cost-of-living pressures, as well as continued investment in our digital capability and in updating our store estate, has resulted in increased retail sales and market share growth for the seventh consecutive quarter.
“Our Black Friday and Christmas performance was particularly pleasing, and I would like to thank the teams for their huge efforts in bringing our customers genuinely fantastic offers.”
It came as Walgreen Boots Alliance revealed that total sales decreased by 1.5% over the latest quarter, compared with the same period last year.
The update comes seven months after Walgreens Boots Alliance abandoned its plan to sell the Boots business for £5bn last summer.
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