Selfridges unique product offer propels Christmas sales growth of 20%

The premium department store said personalised product and its beauty and fashion categories had helped drive the strong performance from November 12, when the Oxford Street Christmas lights were switched on, up to Christmas itself.

The growth was not confined to the London store, with regional sales performing “very well” Selfridges said, following large scale capital investment, particularly in Manchester.

Selfridges UK managing director Anne Pitcher said beauty had been “on fire”, due to a number of exclusive products. The retailer did well on food too, recording a 25% surge in hamper sales.

In addition, Selfridges featured a gift personalisation offer, which included engraved perfume bottles, initialling on scarves and 3D printing.

Pitcher said: “There were over 40 different bespoke solutions in store, which you could only find here. It set us apart as a destination.”

She added that Selfridges held strong on its full-price stance despite blanket discounting in the beauty and fragrance sector and has even finished its post-Christmas clearance Sale within a week.

Pitcher said shoppers would “rather pay full-price for an engraved fragrance bottle” than a discounted off-the-shelf product that can be bought anywhere.

“I think people are so bored with discounts that they’re looking really at the value of products again,” she said.

Paul Kelly, managing director, Selfridges Group said: “You have to make sure you’re producing exciting product for the customers to buy or it’s dull and boring and needs to be discounted.”

Pitcher added: “The high street is a sea of red and we had to find new things to show so we were really pushing our suppliers hard to get newness in here. It’s been a policy of ours for long time.”

Selfridges said its online business more than doubled last year, with the website attracting 1.5 million people each week. The retailer added that two thirds of its online sales are from mobile devices including tablets.

Selfridges installed in-store Christmas Emporiums - selling Christmas decorations and gift ranges - as part of its Destination Christmas project. Kelly said despite the London flagship locating its Christmas Emporium on the traditionally quieter fourth floor it was as busy as the ground floor.

The emporiums provided entertainment from circus acts and a ‘roaming’ Santa Claus circus while it also had 40 ‘Elfridges’ walking around the shop floor to help customers with gift suggestions.