Debenhams delivered better-than-expected profits in the first
half of the year against the backdrop of a difficult market.
Pretax profit edged up 1.4 per cent to £127.1 million, while
gross transaction value grew 1.4 per cent to £1.48 billion.
Online sales continued to grow strongly, increasing by 34.7
per cent to £124.3 million for the first half (excluding
Debenhams’ Nordic business Magasin). Mobile is Debenhams’
fastest-growing channel and 20 per cent of online traffic is now
generated by mobile devices.
EBITDA in the multichannel arm increased by 36.4 per cent as
initiatives to cut fulfilment costs started to take effect;
Debenhams is now using an “endless aisle” model that
uses stock from the store base as well as fulfilment centres to
meet customer demand. The company estimates that some £10
million of potentially lost sales were captured during the
period.
The company has set its sights on achieving online sales of
£500 million in the “medium-term” and expects
£100 million to be generated by international sales. During
the first half of the year, the number of countries Debenhams
delivers to increased from seven to 40. This will increase again
to 67 by the end of the summer, it says. The first local
language, local currency website will be officially launched in
Germany this month to be followed by a number of other sites over
the coming months, facilitated by Debenhams’ investment in the
IBM Websphere 7 platform.
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