Leading health and beauty retailer Superdrug, has reported strong financial results for the full year 2022 with sales surging by 17% to £1,367 million (vs £1,168 million in 2021), thanks to improved store footfall in city centres, successful Own Brand product launches and a strong Christmas period.
The results also show that pre-tax profit increased by 71.7% to £77.8 million – over last period’s £45.3 million – with online trading volumes and continuing to track significantly ahead of pre-pandemic levels.
Superdrug.com was re-platformed over the year as a central pillar to Superdrug’s “O+O” strategy (offline plus online), providing seamless accessibility and experience, regardless of how customers choose to start or conclude their shopping.
The company also invested in 12 new stores, resulting in a trading estate of 789 stores in the UK and Ireland at the financial period end, and has recently announced plans to invest in 25 new stores in 2023, expanding its bricks-and-mortar retail footprint.
Superdrug’s CEO Peter Macnab commented: “Our annual report shows the real resilience and strength of the Superdrug business, despite ongoing inflation and upwards pressure on business costs. I would like to thank our 13,430 colleagues for their ongoing energy and passion, which has ensured Superdrug can continue to bring the best in accessible health and beauty to as many customers as possible.
“Throughout 2022 high food, energy and domestic costs continued to put severe pressure on household incomes.
“At Superdrug we remained committed to supporting customers through the Cost-of-Living crisis, working with Jack Monroe and becoming the first health & beauty retailer to introduce price freezes on essential products, ensuring we brought best-in-class health and beauty at competitive prices, the success of which we see reflected in the growth of our Own Brand offering and the great take up of Members Only Pricing.”
He added: “Christmas 2022 was a particularly positive trading period for Superdrug and we have certainly carried this momentum into 2023, with customer footfall continuing to increase and all of our categories performing well, particularly Cosmetics which had a turbulent few years throughout the pandemic.”
