Shoe Zone kicks back delivering 58 per cent boost from digital growth
Shoe Zone reported recovering revenues, as the shoe retailer continues to diversify its offering to survive.
It announced a revenue of £119.1m, compared to the previous year’s £122.6m.
Profit before tax was at £9.5m for the period up to October 2021 (2020: £14.6m loss) with an earnings per share of 14.0p (2020: (23.8)p loss per share)
Digital continues to be a key growth area and traded strongly throughout the year generating revenues of £30.5m (2020: £19.3m): an increase of 58 per cent due to increased revenues from its online range, Amazon and drop ship partners.
Digital gross margins increased to 57.8 per cent (2020: 51.7 per cent) due to a greater proportion of full priced sales and less markdowns. Digital contribution was £8.5m (2020: £4.5m) an increase of 89 per cent.
It comes after an ongoing slump for the budget retailer, which was hit hard by pandemic losses.
The announcement also revealed that Shoe Zone closed 50 “unprofitable” locations, but ended the year trading from 410 stores.
Anthony Smith, chief executive, added: “Our average lease length is now less than two years, giving us the opportunity and flexibility to respond to changes in any retail location at short notice. Property supply continues to outstrip demand and we therefore expect to take advantage of this environment and significantly improve our property portfolio over the medium term.”