A report published this week has revealed that high street department store Debenhams has seen a jump in profits in the past six months, up 1.4% when compared to the same period last year.
Debenhams reported overall profits of £127.1m in the first half of the financial year, and more significantly reported a growth in surge in online sales of 34% throughout this period.
As a result of the surge in online sales, the department store has announced that it will invest into its online platform with an aim to quadruple sales in this channel to over £500million in the medium to long term.
Mobile commerce has also proved to be a huge success for the company, with 20% of online traffic now generated by mobile devices. Debenhams described mCommerce as its “fastest growing channel” and will also be further investing in its mobile strategy to push it out to an international audience.
Debenhams chief executive Michael Sharp said: “It is clearly right to remain cautious about the strength of consumer confidence over the next 12 months given the uncertain economic outlook.”
“Overall we are optimistic about our prospects and believe that we have a clear strategy for growth and to meet our aim of being a leading international, multi‐channel retailer.”
The growth in online sales and profits is a positive move in the right direction for a company which also stated that the past six months had been ‘difficult’ for trading, due to economic weakness in the UK market, which is forecast to only get worse before the end of 2012.
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