Mamas & Papas enjoys record festive season trading

By

Nigel TAYLOR

Published
Jan 4, 2023

Baby and toddler retail specialist Mamas & Papas has reported a strong performance for the Christmas shopping season, including record trading on Black Friday. In the eight weeks up to Christmas Day, its sales rose 16% year-on-year.

The company offers a wide range of products targeting young families, including children's clothing, and it said that 30 of its 52 stores set new records on Black Friday at the end of November.

In fact, children's clothing was actually its best performing category of all with sales up an astonishing, 43% on the year, well ahead of the 27% increase in sales of toys and gifts.

For the season as a whole, sales in its physical stores grew 27% as new store openings, boosted the figure, although it was also helped by double-digit like-for-like increases.

The company has been opening new physical spaces and via its partnership with Next unveiled 15 of them last year, as well as two concessions inside M&S stores. The firm is planning to open more concessions with both retailers in the year ahead.

CEO Mark Saunders said: "We're delighted to be reporting such a strong performance as we head for a record-breaking financial year. Our digital business made a positive contribution, but footfall and store-based sales significantly surpassed pre-pandemic levels over the Black Friday and Christmas trading period, which is a clear sign of Britain's love of the high street.”

He added that the company now has a 17% share of the nursery market and that business remains resilient, despite the cost-of-living crisis.