Online up 60 per cent

Clas Ohlson’s sales decrease by 5 per cent in fiscal 2020/2021

07.05.2021

In its fiscal year 2020/2021 (May 2020 to April 2021), Swedish retail chain Clas Ohlson reported a drop in sales of 5 per cent to SEK 8,284 bn (EUR 813 mio) In local currencies and including newly opened stores ("organic growth"), the fall was 1 per cent, as it was for sales in comparable stores and local currencies. In contrast, online sales increased by 60 per cent to SEK 894 mio (EUR 88 mio).
New president and CEO Kristofer Tonström, who took up his post on 8 February 2021, struck an optimistic note in commenting the April figures: "The continued restrictions on our trading markets brought challenges in terms of temporarily closed stores and decreased footfall. During the month we had up to 40 Norwegian stores closed which is the leading contributing cause to the decrease of our total sales by 9 per cent. At the same time, we observed that many customers in the closed Norwegian areas chose to make online orders and pick up the products outside the store, which lead to more expensive handling but contributed to continued strong development of online sales. This is an example of how we have invested in our customer relations and in that way prepared for better market conditions. We are also now increasing our visibility through more marketing and are happy that we have been able to reopen several of the previously closed Norwegian stores from the end of April."
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