Boots has reported a strong start to 2025 with bumper retail sales during the first quarter and increased growth across all categories and channels.
Comparable retail sales were up by 8.1% year-on-year for the three months ended 30 November 2024.
This was bolstered by a strong Black Friday trading period in 2024, with sales up 20% during the week.
Fragrance, beauty and Christmas gifts were the top-selling categories during Black Friday week both in stores and online.
Digital sales also jumped by 23% compared with the previous year and accounted for 22% of total retail sales.
Beauty, meanwhile, experienced an 11% year-on-year uplift for the quarter driven by fragrance, premium beauty and skin care.
“This is another strong set of financial results, with retail and pharmacy sales seeing significant uplift alongside market share gains and increased customer satisfaction scores,” said Anthony Hemmerdinger, Managing Director, Boots UK and Ireland.
“These figures demonstrate that our ongoing transformation – from improvements to the in-store and digital customer experience to a focus on offering the very best product and service range across all price points – is working.”
Supporting the strong financial start to the year was the addition of 20 new brands to Boots including Neom Wellbeing, Fresh and Naturium launched in Q1.
The UK beauty retailer also saw significant growth in demand for Korean skin care, introducing six new brands within the quarter such as Anua and Skin1004.
Boots refurbished over 30 stores in the quarter including Bristol Cribbs Causeway, Manchester Trafford Centre, and Birmingham Bullring.
“We are relentlessly focused on our transformation journey and have more exciting plans ahead to further enhance the experience for our customers,” added Hemmerdinger.
“Looking forward, we face heightened cost pressures in 2025 following the Autumn Budget, however with positive momentum behind us and a clear plan in place, the business is focused on navigating these and continuing to deliver long-term, sustainable growth.”