Mountain Warehouse has recorded a dizzying ascent in Christmas sales driven by strong international demand, Retail Week can reveal.

The outdoors specialist recorded a 38.2% spike in total sales in the six weeks to December 31, bolstered by a 33.1% jump in like-for-like sales.

The retailer’s online sales soared 76.6% during the period while international sales were up 43% and comprised 33% of total sales.

Mountain Warehouse’s festive sales were driven by Black Friday, which marked “the busiest ever day in the company’s 20-year history.”

The specialist retailer served 1.5 million customers during the period and sold over 250,000 pairs of socks and gloves, as well as 150,000 padded jackets and 80,000 snow boots.

Favourable cold snap

Chief executive Mark Neale said: “We had a cracking Christmas with remarkable growth across our UK stores, online and internationally.

“A business which equips customers to brave the elements will always benefit when it snows, and the December cold snap was a bit of an early Christmas present for us.

“Another was Black Friday, with sales reaching £2m in a single day alone for the first time in our history.

“The shape of Christmas has changed in recent years. It used to get gradually busier week by week from November onwards.

“More recently, since the Black Friday phenomenon came to the UK, there has been a spike in sales followed by a couple of quieter weeks and a late rush. This year, the bad weather meant we didn’t really see much of a slowdown after the Black Friday stampede.”

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