Seasalt sees healthy Christmas trading, stores and marketplace partner sales boom

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jan 8, 2023

Cornish fashion lifestyle brand Seasalt enjoyed a strong Christmas trading season in its physical stores, but it warned that online and the first half generally could be challenging.

In the five weeks to the end of December, its sales rose 15% with in-store revenues up as much as 24% and online down 2%. It's yet another example of the surprising switch back to physical shopping on the part of consumers.

It had been predicted that consumers who’d been forced to go online during the pandemic might shun physical shopping for good post-Covid. But this doesn’t seem to have happened.

Despite online lagging, the company said sales via marketplace partners such as M&S Next and Zalando rose a hefty 57%.

Seasalt has been expanding its stores in recent years but its sales growth isn’t only about adding new space. It said that like-for-like sales across the year at its physical stores were 12% higher than pre-pandemic 2019 . 

CFO Malcolm Macdonald said: “We have always believed that success in retail requires a balance between the store and online channels and the ability to provide a great customer experience in both. Our recent sales performance indicates that this is still a priority for our customers.” 

Yet he added that the company expects the next six months to be tough. Even so, the company will continue to invest in its planned digital transformation and in expanding its international presence, while also controlling costs.