All night long: Greggs feels benefit of evening opening hours
High street pastry seller Greggs posted a 20.8 per cent leap in sales in the third quarter, bolstered by evening trading and customers sniffing out loyalty deals via its app.
The no-frills bakery has opened 144 new shops and closed 62 shops, giving a total of 2,410 shops trading at 30 September 2023 – with this year poised to be a “record year” for expansion.
It forms part of chief Roisin Currie’s strategic growth plan for the brand, alongside plans to ramp up its evening trade – which sees more stores trade after 4pm.
This term, the company said that later trade represented 8.8 per cent of company-managed shop sales up from 8.3 per cent in the first half of the year.
The sausage roll maker recently won a battle to open a flagship site in Leicester Square until 2am from Thursday to Saturday.
Its Greggs App, which allows customers to get one free good after every ninth purchase, also performed well.
Usage was up 13.3 per cent from 10.6 per cent in the first half of the year .
The London-listed store said it was also bolstered by food deliver trials with UberEats and Just East.
“As we had expected, the rate of cost inflation has eased as we annualise on the significant commodity-led increases experienced in 2022”, the company said.
“At a time when customers are looking to make their money go further Greggs continues to offer exceptional value and grow market share. We have strong product and promotional plans for the fourth quarter and the extension of our delivery service will make Greggs accessible to more customers on more occasions.”
The firm is expected to spend around £200m on capital expenditure over the course of the 2023 financial year.
Mamta Valechha, equity research analyst at Quilter Cheviot: “Greggs delivered a strong trading update with total sales up more than 20 per cent in the quarter.
“The company has managed to find areas of growth in a difficult market and as such continues to gain market share, driven by increased customer visits, and the ongoing development of the evening trade and trading across the Greggs App.”
“Greggs has been really successful in recent years are diversifying its revenues streams and it is now seeing these efforts come to fruition.
She added: “Evening trading is gaining further traction, with post-4pm sales now making up 8.8 per cent of total transactions. Additionally, transactions made on its app have also accelerated to 13.1 per cent, which should drive higher purchase frequencies through the Greggs loyalty scheme.”