Carpetright sales floored by heatwave
THE BRIGHTER July weather has put Carpetright’s first quarter sales in the shade as Britons spent less time indoors on fixing up their homes, the flooring specialist said yesterday.
Carpetright said the recent heatwave had dashed the steady progress made revamping stores and improving ranges in the first two months of the quarter, dragging like-for-like sales down by 1.9 per cent.
This compared with a 5.6 per cent growth in like-for-like sales in the previous quarter.
“Up until end of June we were trading at three per cent like for like… however, the last three weeks have been more difficult. Consumers have tended to shop more for out-of–home products,” chief executive Darren Shapland said.
The group estimates it has lost around £1m of sales a week over the last three weeks, though it hopes to recover some of those sales from customers who have delayed purchases during the summer.
Like-for-like sales in Carpetright’s Europe division – made up of Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands – fell 10.6 per cent, dragged down by tough conditions in the Netherlands.