Woolworths Metro sales increased 10.8 per cent to $284 million in the first quarter of FY2023, driven by new store growth.
Woolworths’ first quarter sales results revealed the supermarket giant’s group sales increased by 1.8 per cent to $1.636 billion from Q1 F22, featuring strong results by Australian B2B and Big W, which saw sales increase by 26 per cent and 30.1 per cent respectively.
Brad Banducci, CEO of Woolworths Group, said while year on year sales growth rates were impacted by Covid in the prior year, shopping behaviours and the trading environment continued to normalise during the quarter.
“In October, year on year sales growth trends in Australian Food have improved as we cycle out of the NSW and Victorian lockdowns of last year, with the three-year sales growth rate broadly in line with Q1.”
During the quarter, one new Metro and two new Customer Fulfillment Centres (CFC) opened while 10 new renewals were completed, bringing the total fleet to 91 Metro Food stores, 995 Woolworths Supermarkets, seven CFCs, and two e-stores.
Banducci said they identified signs of changing customer purchasing habits but were unsure how much of this was due to inflation compared to the impact of Covid.
“Inflation continued to accelerate in Q1 compared to the prior year with average prices in Australian Food increasing 7.3 per cent, and 5.3 per cent in New Zealand Food. We continue to see early signs of customer purchasing habits changing, but it remains unclear how much of this relates to cost-of-living pressures compared to Covid normalisation.”
With less than two months to Christmas, Banducci said the group is focused on delivering an affordable festive season for its customers.
“Ongoing supply chain volatility and the possibility of another wet summer will be key challenges to navigate but we are seeing strong early sell through of seasonal lines and we remain cautiously optimistic for the period ahead.”
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