Superdrug saw its like-for-like sales rise by 2.4% in the four weeks ending 30 December. The retailer said it benefited from the popularity of beauty advent calendars including exclusive calendars such as Beauty & The Beast which sold out in September and saw new stock delivered before December to meet demand.
The selfie generation drove makeup sales with highlighters and brow products being the festive winners as customers sought the perfect look for Christmas parties.
Online sales increased by 30% over the period as after the retailer opened up its online offering in Sweden, Denmark and Finland for the first time.
Winter health products also performed well and Superdrug’s pharmacies and nurse clinics offered flu jabs in 238 stores. Superdrug’s Health & Beautycard loyalty scheme increased its membership to 12 million customers.
The retailer also opened 12 stores in December, including two new stores in the Republic of Ireland and three in its new retail park format. During 2017, 25 new stores were opened bringing the total number of stores to 804.
Peter Macnab, chief executive of AS Watson (Health & Beauty UK), said: "We traded well during the festive period and I would like to thank all our colleagues for their hard work. Our continued focus on price, promotions and exclusive products gave customers more reason to visit our stores at the same time as offering them the beauty treatments such as gel nails and lash application from our Beauty Studio zones. Adding this extra level of service is something we’ll be building on over the next year and our new concept store opening in Fosse Park tomorrow is just the start.”
