Soaring online chocolate sales, from consumers looking for a morale-boost during lockdown, have helped Hotel Chocolat keep the ‘chocolate flowing’ and deliver increases in revenue and profits.
According to its latest accounts, revenue was up by 11 per cent to £102 million for the six months to 27 December 2020. While pre-tax profits grew 3 per cent to £15.5 million.
Total brand sales increased 16 per cent year-on-year, with strong growth in the UK, USA, and Japan.
Sales in the UK rose 12 per cent, driven, the company says, by its increased multichannel flexibility. Over half (51 per cent) of the UK sales during this period were online, with the rise ‘more than’ offsetting the impact from store closures.
The Group also expanded its global customer database, with active members in the UK up 38 per cent (over 600,000 people). In the USA and Japan, members were up 170 per cent and up 900 per cent respectively.
Angus Thirlwell, the Group’s co-founder and chief executive officer, said: “The Hotel Chocolat brand stayed strong during a difficult period for all of us. We certainly kept the chocolate flowing thanks to our online capabilities and multichannel expertise.
“We recorded superb results in the UK, USA and Japan despite Covid-19 restrictions affecting all our physical locations. We achieved sales growth during those periods when all UK physical locations were closed, demonstrating the brand’s appeal to our loyal customers, and our flexible business model.
“Databases of active customers grew substantially in all three markets, underpinning our confidence of growth in the years to come. In the UK, our multichannel model truly came of age, and excitingly, both Japan and the USA firmly stepped up from the ‘test and learn’ phase into ‘grow and scale’. Total brand sales, through direct-to-consumer and partner channels combined, increased 16 per cent year-on-year.
“Huge thanks go to all the Hotel Chocolat family who worked tirelessly to safely and creatively adapt the business and deliver these results. We know that we all played a role in maintaining morale and bringing happiness through chocolate in all the countries we operate in.
We look forward to building the Hotel Chocolat brand further as we move closer to our goal of becoming the leading global direct-to-consumer premium chocolate brand.”
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