Mixed Christmas for Dixons as it faces a weak market

DIXONS CARPHONE had a mixed Christmas, with its electricals division holding up well in difficult conditions but its mobile phone business continued to suffer.

Bosses revealed that sales in its electricals division – which includes Currys PC World – were up 2 per cent on a like-for-like basis over the 10 weeks to January 4.

But at Carphone Warehouse sales fell 9 per cent as the company gets to grips with the changing face of the market.

Alex Baldock, group chief executive, said: “We’ve had a good peak in a weak UK market and we’re on track to deliver what we promised for this year, and with our longer-term transformation.

He added: “Peak saw us continue to invest in our strategic initiatives with encouraging results.

“Credit and services adoption rates increased, online sales grew strongly, and our newly remodelled stores performed well.

“Coupled with our unambiguous ‘You won’t get it cheaper. Full stop’ price promise, alongside better availability and delivery, this led to big improvements in customer satisfaction and strong market share gains in electricals.

Mr Baldock added “Our customers loaded up on amazing technology this Christmas.

“The supersizing TV trend kept on giving as we sold 75 per cent more 65”+ TVs, Dyson health and beauty sales were up over 20 per cent, Shark vacuum sales almost doubled and we sold 8,000 smart speakers each day.

“We broke records on wearables like Fitbit and Apple Airpods, while gamers couldn’t get enough of the Nintendo Switch. Our new gaming battlegrounds showed the exciting potential of more enticing, immersive store experiences and drove strong sales and share gains.”

Mr Baldock said that none of this would have been possible without the thousands of capable and committed colleagues “who work hard to deliver a great customer experience every day”.