N Brown reports improving sales in October and November

For the 13 weeks to November 29, improvements have been made following changes to the business and the retailer reported sales growth in October and November.

The mild September weather resulted in a sales decline of down 10.8%. In October, sales improved to up 1.5%, and in November sales were up 3%. Overall, sales for the third quarter fell by 2.3% with year to date sales down 1.2%.

N Brown said it has continued with its changes to move the business further away from traditional mail order towards a multichannel fashion led retailer.

Following the relaunch of JD Williams, the retailer said it experienced a 30% increase in new customers in the quarter versus the period last year.

In the quarter it also reported growth in online, with online sales penetration now at 60% of total sales. 

N Brown said it is delivering steady growth in the US with product demand up 10% in the quarter.  

Gross margin is in line with expectations. It expects trading to remain competitive so therefore despite the improvements it has not changed guidance for the year.  

Angela Spindler, chief executive, said: “We are pleased with the strength in our customer activity levels and sales during November. We have seen an excellent response from both existing and new customers to planned higher profile brand activity on our JD Williams, Simply Be and Jacamo power brands. 

“We are continuing with our strategic plan to simplify and modernise the business. We have a clearly differentiated proposition and the longer range market projections for online growth and changing demographics are in our favour. These underpin confidence in our mission ‘to be the leading global retailer famous for making shopping for fashion easy and enjoyable regardless of size’.”