Home and DIY firm Wickes is looking to expand its store presence to areas of the UK where the group is currently not present or underserved, Retail Week can reveal.
Wickes chief executive David Wood said it is looking to expand its store estate from 230 to “close to 260” in the medium term.
“These will be in towns where we’re not present, or in conurbations where we think we’re underrepresented,” he said. “Glasgow would be a great example. We have one store on the east side of Glasgow, but we could definitely do with another as there’s a million people there.”
He said property is an “important growth lever” for the business, and he believes the group is “well placed” to invest in areas it has identified that could use more physical store formats.
Wood was speaking to Retail Week following Wickes’ half-year results, which saw revenues rise 5.6% to £847.9m in the 26 weeks to June 28. Statutory profit before tax increased 5.7% to £4.2m.
The retailer also noted that its TradePro business was performing strongly, with sales up 10% year on year, while DIY sales saw mid-single-digit growth as volumes were driven by increased customer transactions.
Wood also spoke about some of Wickes’ new customer propositions. He said the retailer’s click-and-collect times have reduced from 30 minutes to 15 minutes this year, and it has also launched its own fast delivery service, Wickes Rapid.
“We launched it to customers last week and it involves same-day delivery of up to 800 kilos of product,” Wood explained. “We can get to you at home or on site within three hours, and customer engagement has been super so far.”
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