Discount retailer Big W’s sales fell in the last half of 2024 with discounting taking its toll with profits falling 45.9%.
BIG W total sales declined by 0.4% to $2,584 million while EBITDA fell 0ver 35%.
While items sales grew by 4.1% driven by new seasonal ranges, Black Friday and Christmas sales, growth was offset by lower average selling prices due to a shift in mix towards lower priced items and price reductions to provide customers with greater value sales of CE products also declined.
The Woolworths owned retailer also came under pressure from archrival Kmart who last week reported that Sales at Kmart Group, which also owns Target, gained 2 per cent to $6.1 billion while earnings grew 7.2 per cent to $644 million in the first half.
Kmart Group outgoing managing director Ian Bailey said the push of Anko products into Target, which is now about 25 per cent of the offering, had lifted profitability, as had bringing the two retailers into one operating model.
ChannelNews understands that traffic into Big W stores has fallen this year after a busy Christmas trading period.
Combined Store and Online sales were also down driven by a decline in eCommerce sales.
Across the four trading categories, Everyday sales increased with Beauty Care a highlight driven by an affordable range and strong value offering.
In Play, Black Friday trading in AV/ Tech and Christmas trading in Toys more than offset the subdued performance of the gaming market.
Double-digit unit increases drove sales growth in Home with new Spring/ Summer ranges resonating with customers across categories.
In Clothing, the sales performance was impacted by the timing of stock receipts combined with shipping delays that affected availability of the Spring/ Summer range at launch and led to elevated levels of clearance activity in Q2.
Big W sales excluding Big W Marketplace declined 1.6% in the half to $279 million with eCommerce penetration of 10.8% decreasing in the first half of the 2025 financial year. 
Recently eCommerce sales momentum improved increasing by 0.8% compared to the prior year’s 2nd half.
eCommerce GMV increased by 40% to $408 million in H1 with penetration reaching 15% of sales.
TrafDiscount retailer Big W’s sales fell in the last half of 2024 with discounting taking its toll with profits falling 45.9%.
BIG W total sales declined by 0.4% to $2,584 million while EBITDA fell 0ver 35%.
While items sales grew by 4.1% driven by new seasonal ranges, Black Friday and Christmas sales, growth was offset by lower average selling prices due to a shift in mix towards lower priced items and price reductions to provide customers with greater value sales of CE products also declined.
The Woolworths owned retailer also came under pressure from archrival Kmart who last week reported that Sales at Kmart Group, which also owns Target, gained 2 per cent to $6.1 billion while earnings grew 7.2 per cent to $644 million in the first half.
Kmart Group outgoing managing director Ian Bailey said the push of Anko products into Target, which is now about 25 per cent of the offering, had lifted profitability, as had bringing the two retailers into one operating model.
ChannelNews understands that traffic into Big W stores has fallen this year after a busy Christmas trading period.
Combined Store and Online sales were also down driven by a decline in eCommerce sales.
Across the four trading categories, Everyday sales increased with Beauty Care a highlight driven by an affordable range and strong value offering.
In Play, Black Friday trading in AV/ Tech and Christmas trading in Toys more than offset the subdued performance of the gaming market.
Double-digit unit increases drove sales growth in Home with new Spring/ Summer ranges resonating with customers across categories.
In Clothing, the sales performance was impacted by the timing of stock receipts combined with shipping delays that affected availability of the Spring/ Summer range at launch and led to elevated levels of clearance activity in Q2.
Big W sales excluding Big W Marketplace declined 1.6% in the half to $279 million with eCommerce penetration of 10.8% decreasing in the first half of the 2025 financial year.
Recently eCommerce sales momentum improved increasing by 0.8% compared to the prior year’s 2nd half.
eCommerce GMV increased by 40% to $408 million in H1 with penetration reaching 15% of sales.
Traffic to the BIG W website and app increased by 17.5% due to distributors using the Big W marketplace which now has over 400,000 items.
At the end of the 2024 half year the total network comprised 179 stores following the opening of BIG W Port Adelaide in November.
Also down were gross margins which decreased 42 bps in H1 to 30.0%.
This was blamed on higher supply chain costs due to item growth.
This was partially offset by stock loss savings realised through the continued rollout of security mitigation initiatives.
CEBIT decreased 45.9% to $29 million with an EBIT margin of 1.1%, down 95 bps on the prior year.
According to Woolworths management closing inventory was above the prior year.
fic to the BIG W website and app increased by 17.5% due to distributors using the Big W marketplace which now has over 400,000 items.
At the end of the 2024 half year the total network comprised 179 stores following the opening of BIG W Port Adelaide in November.
Also down were gross margins which decreased 42 bps in H1 to 30.0%.
This was blamed on higher supply chain costs due to item growth.
This was partially offset by stock loss savings realised through the continued rollout of security mitigation initiatives.
CEBIT decreased 45.9% to $29 million with an EBIT margin of 1.1%, down 95 bps on the prior year.
According to Woolworths management closing inventory was above the prior year.
