Boots is ramping up its multichannel offer this year after delivering a strong Christmas performance.

Boots health and beauty chief executive Alex Gourlay told Retail Week the retailer is “really serious” about developing its multichannel offer.

Boots opened an optimised warehouse, designed to speed up online orders, in time for Christmas.

Gourlay said the new warehouse means Boots is “well set up for multichannel”. He added that having a strong multichannel operation safeguards it from a fall off in demand on the high street where Boots has 2,699 shops.

“The retailers that have had a strong Christmas seem to be the ones that have a comprehensive online presence,” said Gourlay.

In the five weeks to December 31, like-for-likes jumped 4.1% at Boots and in the quarter to the same date inched up 0.6%.

Boots does not report online sales separately, but Gourlay said the website had performed well over Christmas and had driven customers in-store.

M-commerce will feature in Boots multichannel plans. Boots has launched several apps.

“Growth in mobile shopping has been significant, so we are looking to give this our full attention this year,” said Gourlay.

Despite the multichannel growth, Gourlay said Boots will continue to invest in more UK stores.

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