Even though it didn’t release specific numbers, fiscal 2011 is shaping up to be a good year online for Debenhams Plc.
In a recent financial update for the 43 weeks of fiscal 2011 ended June 25, Debenhams, No. 65 in the Internet Retailer Top 300 Europe, reported that year-to-date web sales have increased 77% over the same period in fiscal 2010.
Mobile commerce, for Debenhams, a department store based in the United Kingdom with 233 stores in Great Britain, the Republic of Ireland, Denmark and 25 other countries, is also beginning to generate solid transaction volume, says CEO Rob Templeman.
Since introducing mobile commerce in October, more than 500,000 shoppers have downloaded the retailer’s iPhone app. Mobile sales recently topped 1 million pounds ($1.6 million), the retailer says.
In February Debenhams updated its mobile commerce program with apps for smartphones and tablets that run on an Android operating system. In addition to a shopping cart, the Debenhams apps feature other tools such as a store locator, bar code scanning and access to personalized account information, including wish lists and gift registries.
“Improved ranging, availability and convenience for our customers through the expansion of multichannel access points continue to be a significant part of our strategy,” says Templeman.
Debenhams, which recorded web sales in fiscal 2010 of 103.8 million pounds ($167.0 million) and total sales of 2.11 billion pounds ($3.39 billion), will break out its financials for the full year in October.
For the first six months of fiscal 2011 ended April 14, Debenhams reported:
- E-commerce sales rose year over year about 81% to 92.3 million pounds ($148.5 million) from 51.0 million pounds ($82.2 million).
- Totals sales increased year over year 3.4% to 1.22 billion pounds ($1.96 billion) from 1.18 billion pounds ($1.89 billion).
- Net income increased year over year 14.2% to 91.5 million pounds ($147.2 million) from 80.1 million pounds ($128.8 million).
Internet Retailer calculates the web accounted for 7.6% of total revenue compared with 4.3% in the prior year.