Poundland has become the latest retailer to report bleak Christmas sales after shutting 150 shops.
A trading update from the discount retailer – which was sold for £1 to investment firm Gordon Brothers last summer – echoed miserable figures from Primark and B&M this week.
It said like-for-like underlying sales dropped 2.9 per cent in the three months to 28 December. Sales in shops rose 2 per cent in a volume basis.
The group put this down to a slew of price cuts as its new owners look to appeal to cost-conscious shoppers in a turnaround plan.
Poundland is returning to its roots with cheaper and simpler prices to lure back shoppers
Under its revival plan, it has priced its food products at £1, £2 or £3 – with around 60 per cent of grocery items priced at £1.
Poundland managing director Barry Williams said: ‘While there’s been significant progress as we refocus and re-energise the business with lower prices and a sharper offer, we know we still have much to do.
‘Our focus on our costs has, without doubt, given us a platform for future growth, but no sustainable turnaround can be based on cost management alone.
‘That’s why our focus in 2026 will be on delivering the kind of ranges and price simplicity our customers want right across the store – in clothing, homewares, as well as our core grocery aisles.’
Nearly 150 shops were shut after the group avoided collapse last year, resulting in 2,200 lost jobs.
It comes as the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said retail sales rose 0.4p per cent in December, thanks to a boom in demand for jewellery sold online.
It was a rare piece of good news for the sector, which has been grappling with low consumer confidence, plus higher energy and labour costs.
British consumers have been gloomy for a decade and the economy ‘resembles an untethered boat drifting slowly out to sea’, according to a report published today.
The closely-watched GfK consumer confidence barometer remained firmly in negative territory this month, falling five points to -22 – meaning it has clocked up ten years in reverse.
It comes as store chain B&M this week issued its third profit warning since the summer after sales fell 0.6 per cent in the quarter to December 27.
Primark, which counts singer Rita Ora as an ambassador, also confirmed a bleak update from two weeks ago, in which it blamed weaker sales over the key Christmas period on a ‘difficult clothing market’.
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