Tesco wins new customers for fashion, even though non-food sales fall

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Oct 5, 2022

Tesco’s interim results on Wednesday included the news that more consumers than ever are buying its F&F fashion offer with customer numbers up 8% in the six months to late August. It also saw a 13% rise in customers for the home category.

Supermarket ranges have been popular for years and benefited during the pandemic from the enforced closure of non-essential stores. 

Now, post-pandemic, they’re expected to benefit further as cash-strapped shoppers’ prioritise essentials and seek out budget-friendly options for their fashion purchases. That should help F&F, as well as line like George at Asda, Sainsbury’s Tu Clothing and Nutmeg by Morrisons.

Tesco also said that while non-food sales overall during the half-year declined by 6%, clothing outperformed other non-food categories with a higher full-price sales mix this time.

In total, the retail giant’s pre-tax revenue for the 26 rose 6.7% year on year to £32.456 billion. Group sales rose 3.1% to £28 billion. But operating profit was down 9.8% at £1.3 billion as sales ‘normalised’ against the prior year’s first half that had included supermarket-boosting lockdowns.