Retail giant Woolworths is expecting a huge hike in earnings while fighting off load shedding as more people return to stores.<\/p>\n
In a trading statement on Wednesday (16 November), the group said that showed that turnover and concession sales for the 20 weeks ended 13 November 2022 increased by 23.3% compared to the 20 weeks ended 14 November 2021.<\/p>\n
The group said that the return of customers to physical brick-and-mortar stores contributed to the increase in physical sales.<\/p>\n
In South Africa, Woolworths’ Fashion Beauty Home (FBH) business has a great start to 2022 as its turnover and concession sales grew by 10.8% and by 10.9% when compared on a store basis.<\/p>\n
Woolworths said that it is continuing to focus on improving the underlying financial health of its businesses, specifically the fashion, beauty and home sectors.<\/p>\n
The group reported its most profitable winter sale to date, with full-priced sales growing by 15.2% and clearance sales down by more than 20%.<\/p>\n
Despite their FBH business thriving, the group reported that trading space reduced by 2.4% over the prior period as online sales grew by 1.5% – contributing to 4.2% of South African sales.<\/p>\n
Woolworth’s food business also reported a growing turnover and concession sales by 7.3% and 5.1% on a comparable store basis.<\/p>\n
One of the most significant increases reported was the 26% hike in online sales for groceries and other store goods. This contributed to 3.6% of the group’s total South African sales – aided by the expansion of its on-demand offering, Woolies Dash.<\/p>\n
The group said that this was notwithstanding the considerable disruption caused by load shedding.<\/p>\n
Load shedding has had a pronounced impact on our predominantly fresh categories across the business, said Woolworths.<\/p>\n
Rolling blackouts contributed directly to:<\/p>\n
“Price movement averaged 6.3% for the period, with underlying product inflation of 7.9%, as we continue to invest in price to improve our overall value proposition.”<\/p>\n
Woolworths said that the trading space for its food business increased when compared to the year before, getting 3.2% bigger.<\/p>\n