Heal’s has announced that it has achieved record sales, with its ecommerce division seeing transaction volumes double since March.
Founded in 1810, the brand has six physical retail spaces, including its iconic flagship store on Tottenham Court Road. While its stores were closed for four months over the course of two nationwide lockdowns, the brand pivoted to focus on its digital offering, leading to a more than +60% increase in web traffic over the last 10 months.
Black Friday proved to be an exceptional sales-driver, says the retailer, with ecommerce order value increasing by more than +125% YoY, thanks to the brand offering 10% off everything over an eight-day period. Traffic growth actually accelerated during the second lockdown, with more than twice as many customers visiting the website on most days.
With the challenges brought on by the pandemic, the company invested in its digital offering, giving customers six ways to shop at Heal’s. With varying levels of contact, the breadth of services ensured all customers could shop safely, whether in-store or from the comfort of their own homes. In addition to existing online and telesales services, Heal’s introduced new private store appointments and virtual design consultations led by the in-store teams, which further contributed to sales.
CEO Hamish Mansbridge comments: “I am incredibly proud of the team at Heal’s. This year has had an unprecedented impact on retailers, but the nature of our business enabled us to be agile, adapting to the new normal, with our customers at the forefront of everything we do.
“We quickly focused on expanding our digital offering, making considered decisions on how best to assist our customers and ensure that they were still able to get the incredible service that Heal’s is renowned for, even when they weren’t able to visit a physical store.
“The virtual consultation service, which was introduced in May, proved to be exceptionally popular, and also ensured that our in-store colleagues remained an engaged part of the business, tapping into their incredible breadth of product knowledge.
“While our stores remain a core part of the brand, this year has enabled us to push forward with the digitisation of the business, and we are proud to end the year in a strong position.”
