On the initial close of their fiscal year, UK retailer WH Smith is “encouraged by the improving trends” at their travel stores, which operated at 55 percent of fiscal 2019’s sales in the second half of the year. At their High Street bookstores, results have been flat or slightly declining during the fiscal year: The first quarter was up to 88 percent of pre-pandemic 2019 sales; Q2 was at 84 percent; and the second half was at 85 percent, but the most recent 8 weeks were are 84 percent. The company says, “We continue to focus on the return on […]
Booksellers
BookTok, Store Pick-Up Drive Indigo Gains in Q1
On Friday, Indigo announced results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2022 ended July 3, with sales of CA$172 million, up from $135 million last year, an increase of 27.4 percent. The net loss for the quarter was $21.9 million, compared to a $31.6 million loss last year. Print sales for the quarter were $104.6 million, up from $84.1 last year, driven by BookTok’s influence on backlist sales, particularly for teens, bringing a younger audience to their online business. Retail revenue increased 114.8 percent to $90.2 million, driven by store pick-up, which was up almost five times over last […]
BookTok, Store Pick-Up Drive Indigo Gains
On Friday, Indigo announced results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2022 ended July 3, with sales of CA$172 million, up from $135 million last year, an increase of 27.4 percent. Print sales for the quarter were $104.6 million, up from $84.1 last year, driven by BookTok’s influence on backlist sales, particularly for teens, bringing a younger audience to their online business. Retail revenue increased 114.8 percent to $90.2 million, driven by store pick-up, which was up almost five times over last year. Online sales were more than three times that of pre-COVID levels. During the quarter, Indigo reopened […]
Sales Remain Down at WH Smith
UK retailed WH Smith issued a brief trading update, covering the awkward period of the 18 weeks ending July 1 (e.g. roughly a third of the year). High street bookstore sales were down 14 percent compared to the norm in fiscal 2019 — or, as they like to put it, 86 percent of the previous level. Second quarter sales were down 16 percent, and first quarter sales were down 12 percent on the same comparison basis. “This performance reflects high street footfall which remains below pre-pandemic levels.” Their travel stores are recovering a little, though still suffering badly, at 48 […]
We’re Running Out of Ways of Telling You Barnes & Noble Education Had A Bad Quarter
Covid was hard on Barnes & Noble Education, which had been struggling even in normal conditions. Sales for the fourth quarter ending May 1 were $223 million, down 13 percent from $257 million a year ago (which was an unusual 14-week quarter), already a low bar given the impact of Covid last year. Two years ago, a more normal fourth quarter had sales of $334 million. The operating loss was a big ($59) million, worse than ($52) million a year ago. For the full year, sales fell to just $1.434 billion — compared to $1.851 billion in the previous year. […]
Waterstones Sales Fell to New Low
Waterstones filed a belated report for their fiscal year ending April 25, 2020, including only the earliest days of the pandemic, with sales falling £17 million to £376 million — the lowest level yet following a long period of general decline — down 4.3 percent from £393 million in the prior fiscal year. Operating profit was up modestly at £32.6 million (compared to £29.7 million), but pre-tax profit fell by £4 million to £22.5 million, down 15 percent. The company notes that Covid-19 “has had, and continues to have, a significant adverse impact on Waterstones.” They add that, “Footfall and sales […]