Property News · January 9, 2018

Mothercare shoppers throw a Christmas tantrum


Customers just want cheaper stuff in the age of Amazon. The baby-centric chain’s poor festive sales means its lack of discounts is costing it dear“We do not want to be a company that goes on sale every two weeks as this does not build long-term trust from customers,” says Mark Newton-Jones, chief executive of Mothercare, scoring top marks for retailing righteousness. The trouble is, progress towards the high ground, assuming it still exists in the world of kids’ car seats and prams, can come at a heavy short-term cost. Sometimes shoppers just want cheaper stuff and throw tantrums until they get it.That, roughly speaking, was Mothercare’s experience in the Christmas period. Like-for-like sales fell by a painful 7% in the UK in the Christmas period, even though the margin-destroying clearance sale was said to be lively. The minus 7% figure wasn’t even distorted by a switch in trade from stores to the website. Sales via the two channels declined in tandem. The result is that full-year profits will arrive at a mere £1m-£5m, down from £19.7m. Continue reading…

Source : theguardian.com
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