Big W’s sales has dropped in the first quarter of the year, with the retailer blaming “lower customer mobility” during January.
Total sales for the quarter were $989 million, down 3.5 per cent on the prior year. Bricks and mortar stores saw sales drop by 5.4 per cent, impacted by the January rise in Omicron community transmission.
This did, however, result in online sales increasing by 21 per cent, year-on-year to $93 million, now accounting for 9.4 per cent of all sales.
Woolworths operates 176 Big W stores across Australia, unchanged from the last quarter.
Brad Banducci, CEO of the Woolworths Group, said “the continued impact of Omicron as well as widespread flooding has resulted in another challenging quarter.”
Banducci said high levels of COVID-related team absenteeism and disruption to the broader supply chain “resulted in inconsistent customer shopping experiences.”