Mamas & Papas reported record trading over the Black Friday period, underpinned by strong demand across both stores and online, the business said.

The nursery and baby products retailer said UK sales, including standalone stores, concessions and ecommerce, increased by 10% over the five weeks to 30 November. Performance was led by nursery furniture, which rose 13%, and travel systems, up 11%.

The retailer also said its newly launched Ocarro 2 pushchair performed ahead of plan during the period.

The business, which operates 22 standalone stores and 42 UK concessions with Marks & Spencer and Next, said sales in its expanded toys and gifts category continued to build momentum as Christmas approached.

Sarah Ashby, chief operating officer and interim CEO, said Black Friday drove record footfall and conversion both in-store and online, as customers responded to promotional activity.

“We saw record footfall in our store estate and online over the period as customers shopped our discounts, with record conversion rates,” Ashby said.

“We also booked our highest ever number of Buying for Baby personal shopping experiences, with customers looking for expert, tailored advice on their big purchases from our experienced store colleagues.”

She added that customer behaviour shifted this year, with more shoppers waiting for Black Friday deals to go live, resulting in slightly softer trading before and after the event.

However, she said demand and conversion during the promotional window were the strongest the business has seen.

“The shape of our sales performance changed this year, with more customers seemingly waiting for the big deals to land,” she said.

“Demand and conversion when our deals went live was the highest we’ve seen as customers bought into the Mamas & Papas brand and our curated range of third-party nursery brands.”

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