Mothercare balances sales against profits online

Wednesday, July 30, 2014 - 09:13 by Mike Price

This month, Mothercare revealed that it has actually experienced a decline in the number of sales it is making via safe shopping online, with the retailer confirming that this was probably due to its decision to reduce the number of discounts it offers to customers who want to make purchases from its e-commerce site.

Internet Retailing reports that in spite of this, the firm has seen its profits made from online sales rise, because, of course, by refraining from pushing discounts as the main attraction, it is making more money on each product sold.

Internationally, the retailer saw its presence grow by 13.3 per cent, which helps to offset some of its sales slowdown experienced in the UK during the second quarter of 2014.

Chief exec, Mark Newton-Jones, explained that the company is undergoing an overhaul following his official commencement as the top decision-maker. He said that he is now preparing to help bolster its performance in the UK, with a return to the growth in sales made by safe shopping online sure to be an important part of this.

For many consumers, the web is the best place to look for bargains, which is why retailers like Amazon offer products at such a low price, even if this means that they are not making much of a profit on each sale.

For retailers with a slightly less expansive share of the market, it is important to find this balance between all-out affordability and actually generating revenues which can be reinvested to improve the quality of service.

Mr Newton-Jones said that both the in-store and online experience of shopping with Mothercare would be improved in the coming months, ideally leading to more people shopping across both platforms, as it embraces the omnichannel approach to retail.