Home shopping group N Brown has said sales growth was hit by snow delays to catalogue mailings and as customers held off from making orders.
The firm, which is best known for the Simply Be, Marisota and Jacamo brands, reported like-for-like sales growth of 1.2% in the 19 weeks to January 8, but the weather disruption cost it around 1% in lost sales.
N Brown – a specialist in clothes for the fuller figure – is hopeful it can claw back some of the impact as the mailings backlog clears and given that trading had been encouraging before the extreme weather set in.
Sales recovered after uncertainty surrounding the general election and emergency budget and were up around 1.9% between July and August, rising to 2.1% in the first six weeks of the second half of the financial year.
The firm is also driving profit margins higher by discounting less and as fewer customers fall behind with repayments. It has been clamping down on credit since the recession led to higher bad debt charges – a move that has impacted sales, but helped profits.
The group said the outlook was “more difficult to judge” as consumer spending comes under pressure and ahead of price rises.
It confirmed earlier this year price tags were set to rise by between 4% and 5% due to rising cotton costs and higher wages in emerging markets.
However, Manchester-based N Brown hopes its niche offering will give it a “competitive edge”.
It recently bought lingerie brand Figleaves and High and Mighty as part of expansion plans, while it has launched Simply Be in the United States during the summer.
N Brown is also increasing its online business, with internet sales rising by 26% in the 19-week period and now accounting for 47% of group turnover.
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