Outerwear retailer Macpac's sales suffered in Australia, following store closures and travel restrictions in the first half, Super Retail Group (SRG) has reported.
The business' sales fell 5.3% overall, while in Australia, Macpac's like-for-like sales decreased 15.3%, reflecting the store closures in Melbourne and the impact of offshore travel restrictions on thermal and insulation sales.
Across the pond in New Zealand, store closures in Auckland didn't have as much of an impact on sales, with like-for-like sales increasing by 15.6% in the region.
Excluding store closures across ANZ, Macpac's like-for-like sales increased by 6%.
Similarly to other SRG businesses, loyalty members were a key driver of sales for Macpac in the first half.
"Over this period, the Group’s active membership base of 7.1 million has grown by 48% compared to an 11% increase in store numbers," SRG CEO and Group MD Anthony Heraghty said.
Despite a 13% decrease in loyalty members to 410,000, these customers made up 64% of Macpac sales in the half.
Meanwhile, Macpac's digital sales proved key in H1 FY21, with online sales jumping up 93.8% to $12.8 million.
The business had the largest share of digital-only sales of the SRG businesses, with 19% of Macpac sales being home delivered, 2% click and collect, while in-store purchases remained the strongest sales channel, with 79% coming from here.
Heraghty added that ongoing investment in the Group’s omni-retail platform meant that the Group could capitalise on the shift to digital sales.
"This investment has supported 64% compound annual growth in Group online sales over the past four years.
"The strong operating leverage that the Group has been able to deliver in the first half, during a period of robust online sales growth, clearly reinforces the profitability of our digital sales and the scalability of our omni-retail platform," he said.
Best-performing categories across the Macpac business included tents, backpacks and accessories, following the successful launch of the summer family camping range.
According to the report, Macpac's segment EBIT increased by 52.2% to $3.5 million and segment EBIT margin increased by 210 bps to 5.6%.
Macpac closed out the half with 72 stores.