Superdrug’s CEO said spike in ‘own brand’ products shows consumers are seeking “quality products... at an affordable price”

In the four weeks ending 30th December 2023, total sales were up 7.1% on a like-for-like basis.

In particular, the retailer had experienced 10% growth across its own brand range, which it said was “driven by gifting and members only deals”.

The retailer’s cosmetics range, Studio London, was the fastest-growing and biggest own brand range and this contributed to Superdrug achieving 20% year-on-year category growth for Cosmetics and 9.1% volume growth in the month of December.

Its The Studio London eight-piece brush set was the top-selling own-brand product. 

Meanwhile, in this trading period, three own-brand gift sets were sold every second and three fragrance sets were sold every minute – with the fragrances of Ariana Grande, Versace Eros Flame and CK Euphoria being the biggest sellers.  

Driven by Oral care, Cosmetics and Fragrance categories​

Superdrug also noted that Oral Care was very popular category. In particular, the Superdrug ProCare Water Flosser, which had only launched in Q3 2023, sold three times the number of units that its branded counterpart had sold throughout the entire year. The same product also sold-out online and in-store numerous times during the Black Friday sales period.

Standout categories for the retailer were Cosmetics and Fragrance and Superdrug also said it “now holds 40% market share of mass market cosmetics in the UK” – its highest market share in 10 years.

Superdrug’s CEO, Peter Macnab said: “We understand the pressures customers are currently facing and are committed to supporting them and offering the very best in accessible health and beauty.”

He continued: “The strong sales growth in Own Brand really demonstrates that customers are seeking quality products from a brand that they can trust, at an affordable price.”

Instore services and an O& O strategy​

Macnab noted that the retailer’s continued investment in “expanding the store estate and digital services, as well as in innovation” had also contributed to these stronger sales figures.

Superdrug said that it had “put a continued focus on O+O (Offline plus Online) and investment in providing high-performance products at an affordable price” and that this was “a significant driver of growth,” as well as a strong uptake of members-only deals among Health & Beautycard customers “as they continued to battle the cost-of-living and inflation in the run-up to Christmas.”

Superdrug has invested heavily in the expansion of its instore Beauty Studio, which offers threading, eyelash and nail services, and this also recorded one of its biggest sales months in December – with sales up 20% on the same period the previous year.

Sales on its online app were up 74% year-on-year. Plus it saw 127,000 new registrations for its Health & Beautycard, and its total membership now reaches 18.1 million.