New product campaign and new customers boost Burberry's Q1 sales

Burberry’s comparable store sales rebounded strongly in the first quarter, rising 90 percent against last year and 1 percent from two years ago.

The company said in a statement that within comparable store sales, full-price sales growth accelerated to 26 percent against two years ago, driven by new, younger clientele; exited markdowns in digital; and mainline stores globally. Retail sales of 479 million pounds increased 86 percent on reported FX and 98 percent at CER.

“We have made an excellent start to the new fiscal year. Full-price sales accelerated as our collections and campaigns attracted new, younger luxury customers to the brand,” said Marco Gobbetti, the company’s chief executive officer.

“We saw strong growth across our strategic categories, in particular leather goods and outerwear, and exited markdowns in digital and mainline stores. With the company firmly set on a path of growth and acceleration, we are confident of achieving our medium-term goals.”

Review of Burberry’s Q1 performance

The strong like for like growth, Burberry added, was driven by markets where Americas saw full-price comparable store sales more than double, Mainland China increased more than 55 percent and Korea more than 90 percent compared to two years ago.

Since the end of Q1, Burberry opened its first flagship carrying the new global design concept in Sloane Street, London and plans to open three more flagships over the next year.

The company’s FY22 guidance remains unchanged except wholesale, which is now expected to increase by approximately 60 percent in H1 due to a stronger order book and FX that is expected to be a 114 million pounds headwind on sales and 40 million pounds headwind on adjusted operating profit for FY22 based on June 25 spot rates. The medium-term guidance for high single-digit top-line growth and meaningful margin improvement remains on track.

Burberry’s new product launches drive sales

In terms of brand activity, in the last quarter, the company launched a dedicated handbag campaign centred around its new handbag shape, the Olympia. In June, Burberry launched a men’s SS22 show and collection - ‘Universal Passport’.

The company further said that new product collections have proven successful, helping attract new customers to the brand with Q1 FY22 full-price sales to new customers growing mid 30 percent. Leather goods full-price sales grew double-digits and within outerwear, there was strong growth in jackets, quilts and downs. The company also achieved triple-digit growth in shoes.