• Q4 retail sales up 11.7%^₁ and full year FY23 up 12.5% YOY
• Tenth consecutive quarter of market share growth, with gains across all main categories
• Standout performance from skincare and premium beauty categories
• Footfall is up with city centre flagships, shopping centre and travel stores seeing the strongest growth
• Excellent boots.com performance with digital sales up almost a third
• Ongoing focus on customer savings, loyalty and own brand increases value perception ahead of the wider market.

Boots delivered a Q4 retail sales increase of 11.7% YOY, with a tenth consecutive quarter of market share growth. The strong final quarter contributed to an excellent retail sales performance of +12.5% YOY for the full year ended 31 August 2023.

Footfall was up ahead of the wider market, as more customers chose to shop at Boots, with increased transactions and volume supporting the sales growth. City Centre flagships, shopping centres and travel stores saw the biggest footfall growth, while boots.com delivered an excellent 28.9% sales increase over the same quarter last year.

Skincare sales were up nearly 25% in the quarter as more customers invested in looking after their skin with a daily routine. Boots own label skincare, including Boots Ingredients, Vitamin C, Collagen and Glow ranges led the way, with sales up over a third. The UK’s number one skincare brand, No7 was up over 20% driven by sales of new ‘age reversal’ range, Future Renew.

The premium beauty category continued to grow rapidly with sales up 20% for the quarter, with products from The Ordinary and Drunk Elephant performing particularly well. Dental had a strong quarter, with July and August proving to be the category’s biggest sales months on record, driven by teeth whitening products including TikTok sensation Hi-Smile.

Healthcare also had a strong quarter, with both pharmacy and consumer health sales growing year on year. Orders for Boots Online Doctor grew by 25% in the quarter, with Women’s Health Services proving particularly popular with orders up 100%. Almost 600,000 people visited Boots Health Hub, with new advice pages for travel health, digestive health and children’s health launching in the quarter.

A continued focus on value, promotions and loyalty led to improved value perception scores, ahead of the wider market that saw a decline on average. Value remains a key focus for shoppers with sales of the Boots Everyday essentials label up 25%. The number of active Advantage Card users is at a three year high as value conscious customers look to benefit from Price Advantage, the scheme that offers more savings for Boots Advantage Card members, including an always on 10% saving on Boots own brand products.

Seb James, Managing Director, Boots UK and ROI, said: “I am really encouraged to see continued strong performance as the work that we have done to expand our ranges, drive value and innovate in beauty seems to be resonating extremely well with customers. We have great plans for the year ahead including our new Beauty store in Battersea, a further extension of our beauty category, expansion of our online doctor service and much more. I would like to thank the 52,000 people that make up the Boots business for the hard work and resilience that has made this possible.”

 

 

  ¹ All figures on a year on year basis, unless otherwise stated.