Digital sales up 9.9% at Debenhams for 17 weeks till Dec

"The early weeks of the quarter were disappointing as the market remained volatile and competitive. We took tactical promotional action to improve our performance which resulted in a stronger 6 week Christmas period against tough comparatives, with like-for-like sales up 1.2 per cent in constant currency and digital growth of 15.1 per cent," the company said in a press release.

"The market has been challenging and particularly promotional in some of our key seasonal categories and we have responded in order to remain competitive for our customers, which has impacted our profit performance. Nevertheless, we are seeing positive early signs from the changes we have made as part of our Debenhams Redesigned strategy. The market dynamics we have seen have reinforced our view that we need to move even faster to implement the cultural and organisational changes needed to ensure Debenhams is in the best possible shape for today's fast-changing retail environment," Sergio Bucher, chief executive of Debenhams.

"I am grateful to my colleagues for their hard work and I am proud of the service improvements we have delivered, whilst maintaining a rapid pace of change throughout the organisation, including strong new hires to important management roles. I look forward to updating on progress with our strategy in April," concluded Bucher.

The company is accelerating some aspects of its strategic plan to deliver a long term sustainable future and will continue to review activities that could be more rapidly and profitably delivered through partnerships. (RR)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India